Speculative Fiction

Speculative Fiction is an umbrella term that incorporates Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Speculative Fiction is also a friendly term that gives a home to works that don't fall into these categories, but still have a weird or amazing feel to them.

As a term Speculative Fiction was developed to distinguish some writers and their works from the less literary "flying saucer" Sci Fi or to overcome the limits of Sci Fi. Speculative Fiction is an immensely useful term where a growing number of writers produce works that draw from multiple sub-genres. In a very general sense, the goal

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1 Dune

By Frank Herbert. A famous series that takes place in a sprawling universe. The story explores the interactions of politics, religion, technology, and ecology.
2 Wool

By Hugh Howey. A five-book series set in a post-apocalyptic world. A world where optimism and dreams are punished. 3. Felix Gilman The Half-Made World. A Steampunk novel set in a world similar to the Wild American West.
3 The Half-Made World

By Felix Gilman. A Steampunk novel set in a world similar to the Wild American West.
4 The Windup Girl

By Paolo Bacigalupi. Hard Sci Fi and environmental apocalypse make up this weird, future world.
5 Surface Detail

By Iain M. Banks. The story of what happens to Hell in a galaxy where humans live without physical form eternally.
6 How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

By Charles Yu. A challenging and funny novel written by a Sci Fi geek that uses pop culture to make the reader reflect on the nature of consciousness.
7 The Left Hand of Darkness

By Ursula K. Le Guin Le Guin's novel is thought-provoking and explores culture, gender, and psychology on an alien world where gender is a choice.
8 1984

By George Orwell. A classic novel that is definitively a dystopia.
9 Fahrenhheit 451

By Ray Bradbury. A classic "What if?" story about book banning, happiness, and knowledge.
10 Stranger in a Strange Land

By Robert Heinlein. A Martian visits Earth and teaches humanity a few things--some believe it to be a guide to social change.

Other Features of Speculative Fiction

Level of Real Science
Variable. Hard Sci Fi writers can write Speculative Fiction and so can Fantasy writers, so scientific realness in Speculative Fiction spans the whole spectrum.
Level of Grand Ideas/Social Implications
High. Speculative Fiction is a kind of "What if?" story and has a tendency to engage with grand questions about the universe, humanity, and society.
Level of Characterization
Moderate-High. Speculative Fiction is full of unfamiliar settings so characterization is important to grounding readers in the story and allowing readers to fully experience whatever may be strange, weird, or unfamiliar about the world. While developed characters are necessary, characters are not frequently a story's driving force.
Level of Plot Complexity
Moderate-High. Compelling and intriguing plots are ubiquitous in Speculative Fiction. Indeed, the sense of being on the edge is common in order to keep readers engaged and pondering possibilities not just about events, but ideas.
Level of Violence
Variable. There is a whole spectrum of violence from apocalyptic events that wipe out most of the population to blissful utopian cities where violence has been eliminated--all of which are included in Speculative Fiction.

Related Science Fiction subgenres

Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction. A speculation on what the world and human society be like should a cataclysmic event end life as we know it.
Steampunk. A retro-version of Speculative Fiction where steam technology is the jumping off point.
Alternate History. Alternate History is a speculation on what if, insert a historical event, happened differently or not at all.
Slipstream. Slipstream takes the weird/strange/amazing feeling of Speculative Fiction to new heights. All of them. Speculative Fiction is an umbrella term and a Speculative Fiction story may borrow characteristics from any sub-genre Sci Fi or not.