Sub-genres of Science Fiction

[ownedbycats]

The science fiction section in my Calibre library is getting just big enough that it'd be a help to split it up a bit.

So I've been going through my books and checking how the books are listed on goodreads and I realized that I'm not really sure how to define these, and there's a lot of overlap (e.g. post-apocalypse and dystopian, or military sci-fi and alien invasion). Also the people who add genres on Goodreads slapping 'space opera' on pretty much everything.

Is this kind of a pointless endeavor?

[Dazrin]

I like to add sub-genres or tags to mine but, yes, there is almost always a lot of overlap between sub-genres. Here are the sub groups I use.

Hard Science Fiction - These generally try to project forward from now and try to include real science. They may have a couple obvious non-science items but they generally have a reason for that. (Example: the dust storm in The Martian.)

Military Science Fiction - Honor Harrington, Old Man's War, etc. Naval battles in space or other obvious military applications.

Space Opera - Sometimes overlaps with MilSciFi, sometimes on its own. Hyperion or The Expanse are series that I would put in this but no MilSciFi.

Apocalyptic or Dystopian - self explanatory. I generally only tag these when it's relevant to the plot or a focus of the setting.

Time Travel - self explanatory. I read enough of these that I wanted to track them.

Steam Pump - I'm never sure whether this is science fiction or fantasy. Some of both I guess.

There are a lot more, but these meet my general needs. I'll also tag them thriller or mystery or more generic tags when they are also something else.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

The science fiction section in my Calibre library is getting just big enough that it'd be a help to split it up a bit.

So I've been going through my books and checking how the books are listed on goodreads and I realized that I'm not really sure how to define these, and there's a lot of overlap (e.g. post-apocalypse and dystopian, or military sci-fi and alien invasion). Also the people who add genres on Goodreads slapping 'space opera' on pretty much everything.

Is this kind of a pointless endeavor?

I'm with Darzin, a SMALL list that separates really big sets is probably the best way to go. The Library of Congress (and most local libraries) don't do classify via sub-genre. The Wikipedia category list might be useful to you in narrowing what you think you'd want to separate out.

I would use:

• Military Sci-Fi
• Hard Sci-Fi
• Space Opera
• Ecofiction (this one is probably unique to a small group, but there has been a lot more stuff about what happens when/if/how man manages to kill the planet)

I don't have enough of anything in a -punk genre to have any of those categories, but I am sure some might.

[Tarana]

I only have smaller categories because I am the keeper of the ebook library and family members have particular interests rather than a general genre preference. Sis only reads hard science and first contact while brother rarely reads beyond humorous (he's into fantasy). So my categories are hard scifi, humerous scifi, first contact, dystopian and military scifi. I am also adding a category to separate out scifi written before 1970 for my Mom.

edited to add: I include post-apocalyptic in the Dystopian category. Again, my categories are to make it easier for family members to select books from my library. If I've read it, I kindof know where it would fall for that family member.

[Wiggo]

My only sub category of SF is Dystopia.
Steam and Time Travel are subs of Fantastique, unless TT is clearly set in SF.

[ownedbycats]

Thanks

Based on this, and also borrowing from the list of sub-genres on the Kobo and Kindle stores, I've made a few so far: military sci-fi, space opera, alien invasion, post-apocalypse/dystopian.

I also have categories for artificial intelligence, first contact, and colonization, though I've found there's a bit more overlap with these ones.

Also, I'm not sure if 'first contact' should be expanded to 'alien contact' — I checked Amazon for examples and it was mostly romances where the so-called 'alien' looks suspiciously like a human, lol.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Also, I'm not sure if 'first contact' should be expanded to 'alien contact' — I checked Amazon for examples and it was mostly romances where the so-called 'alien' looks suspiciously like a human, lol.

That's a different kind of 'contact'

[McGonigle]

Sci-Fi subgenres are in my humble opinion a bit like country music; it is hard to define exactly what can be considered subgenres of sci-fi.

Others have mentioned hard sci-fi; emphasis on Science, military sci-fi; self-explanatory, Space Opera; humanity in space, doing what humanity has always done..

As a consequence of dispositions by some editors past of science fiction magazines (SF&F), somehow fantasy was seen as a valid extension warranting a subgenre, deservedly or not.

Ballardian is a nice general phrase for all dystopian fiction which may or may not contain an element of Cli-Fi, short for climate fiction; Novels about how we will all burn, freeze, or drown to death, while novels such as Orwell’s 1984 may now be considered non-fiction and historical documentary.

One might wish for a subgrenre to identify Futurism, or Scientism; old and almost forgotten terms for conveying an optimistic and hopeful view of the future.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by McGonigle

As a consequence of dispositions by some editors past of science fiction magazines (SF&F), somehow fantasy was seen as a valid extension warranting a subgenre, deservedly or not.

Heh! Most science fiction is fantasy from a scientific point of view. Faster than light travel and communications, time travel, transporters, normal gravity on space ships, no worries about radiation in space, high-volume trade between planets and star systems,... That "science" is just as imaginary as the magic in fantasy novels.

The mixing of SF and F is all about marketing. I'm sure that there is a large cross-over of fans that enjoy both and not much else, and many authors put the two together (e.g. Witch World series by Andre Norton).

[fduniho]

In my LibraryThing collection, I have Science Fiction and these subgenres: Alternative History, Dystopian, Martians, Robots/A.I., Star Wars, and Superhuman. I'm thinking of adding something for Aliens, but most of them would be Martians or Stars Wars aliens, and I already have a UFO/Aliens genre for nonfiction titles. Martians can include natives of Mars or people who come from Mars, such as Stranger in a Strange Land. Superhuman/hero can include mutants (Odd John), cyborgs (Alita: Battle Angel), enhanced humans (Flowers for Algernon), and superheroes (DC and Wild Cards books).

[HLS]

Horror. Many sci-fi can be classified as horror. I am currently reading Blood Music and it's scary! Won science fiction awards but it is just as much a horror novel as a science fiction novel. Basic plot is a scientist creates an intelligent virus( or whatever it is) that spreads rapidly. It is as intelligent and self-aware and begins changing us from the inside out.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Heh! Most science fiction is fantasy from a scientific point of view. Faster than light travel and communications, time travel, transporters, normal gravity on space ships, no worries about radiation in space, high-volume trade between planets and star systems,... That "science" is just as imaginary as the magic in fantasy novels.

Yup! Call it all "speculative fiction" and feel free to attempt to subdivide from there. The best definition for F/SF I've been able to come up with is that it asks the question "what if?" (This is why alt-history is so often included in F?SF too.)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by HLS

Horror. Many sci-fi can be classified as horror. I am currently reading Blood Music and it's scary! Won science fiction awards but it is just as much a horror novel as a science fiction novel. Basic plot is a scientist creates an intelligent virus( or whatever it is) that spreads rapidly. It is as intelligent and self-aware and begins changing us from the inside out.

Blood Music has been on my TBR forever. I believe I have it classified as Horror and Science Fiction in Calibre and on my Kobo.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

The science fiction section in my Calibre library is getting just big enough that it'd be a help to split it up a bit.

So I've been going through my books and checking how the books are listed on goodreads and I realized that I'm not really sure how to define these, and there's a lot of overlap (e.g. post-apocalypse and dystopian, or military sci-fi and alien invasion). Also the people who add genres on Goodreads slapping 'space opera' on pretty much everything.

Is this kind of a pointless endeavor?

Don't forget, it's your library. Looking at Goodreads or something might help I guess. But I only use tags in Calibre that make sense to me. And don't be afraid to make up tags to suit your needs.

I mostly stick to major categories: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and I label most general fiction as Literary, because I just wanted to have something to call it.

I like nautical tales. So I label anything from Jaws to The Ghost from the Grand Banks to Something's Alive on the Titanic as Underwater in addition to whatever genre tags I assign.

[Quizlit]

I've got Blood Music on my to read list to.
Under Sci-Fi, I've got Alternative History, Dystopian and Cyberpunk, if not in these 3 I label it as Sci-Fi. As pointed out, Sci-Fi is a genre with lots of overlap