List of SF genres and sub-genres
A series of genres & sub-genres, with sometimes conflicting definitions.
alphabetical
- alternative history
- cyberpunk
- elfpunk
- fables
- fabulation
- fabulism
- fairy tales
- fantasy
- filk
- folklore
- folk tales
- ghost stories
- gothic
- gothica
- historical fantasy
- horror
- interstitial fiction
- magical realism
- mannerpunk
- myth
- mythic art
- myths
- mythpunk
- new wave fabulism
- new weird
- parables
- planetary romance
- satire
- science fantasy
- science fiction
- science fiction romance
- scientifiction
- sciffy
- sci-fi
- SF
- SF western
- slipstream
- space opera
- speculative fiction
- speculative sensibilities
- steam punk
- steampunk
- supernatural fiction
- surrealism
- urban fantasy
- utopian fiction (including dystopias)
- weird fiction
Based on setting
Based on earth era
Historical SF
- Alternative history (usually imagines the world as it would have been had a major event occurred differently)
- Secret history (secret conspiracy or organization or species; supposedly normal life persists. Secret history stories pop up particularly in science fiction. They are, effectively, a subcategory of alternate history; but rather than supposing some major event went another way, they suppose a group of manipulators, hidden conspirators, minor events, unknown events, that conspired to get us here, today, to the place we are.)
- Alternative universe (very similar to earth-normal but tweaked in significant, or insignificant, ways)
- Time travel
Based on plot
- Mystery
- Western
- Romance
Based on plausibility
- Speculative fiction - what if this happens?
- Science fiction - This could theoretically happen
- Fantasy - this could not happen
Based on technology
Based on a particular science/study
Based on sensibility / literary mode
- Horror
- Prose
- Poetry
Further reading
- Lee Masterson's "Science Fiction Sub-Genres"