Science Fiction and Futurism

The late Ace G. Pilkington was a professor of English and history at Dixie State University. He was the author or editor of eight books and had published more than 100 articles, reviews, short stories and poems.

“Pilkington’s Science Fiction and Futurism is evidently a labor of love, and one that offers readers various avenues into the relationships among sf futurist thinking, and technological and scientific innovations...it firmly deserves a place in sf scholarship for its sheer verve, breadth of reference, and love of what sf does”—Science Fiction Studies; “Pilkington’s book shines both by being readable and being comprehensive. It is a must-have for all scholars and students of the field.”—Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, author of Star Trek as Myth: Essays on Symbol and Archetype at the Final Frontier; “Not simply an encyclopedia of terminology, but a primer for all degrees of specialty in science fiction, brimming with references that bring together two centuries of classic and popular literature, plus movies and television.”—Brian Taves, author of Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments deletexiForeword by David BrinKey and AbbreviationsPrefaceIntroductionPart One: The Terms of Science and Its FictionsAlter EgoAnachronismArtificial IntelligenceAsimov’s Three Laws of RoboticsAtomicsBad CodeBEM (Bug-Eyed Monster)Big Dumb ObjectsBobbleChronotransferenceClarke’s LawsCorpsicleCosmogony of the FutureCryonicsCyberspaceDeath RayDeep BlueDoomsday MachineFermisFirst ContactFrankenstein ComplexGas GiantGoldilocks Planet“He’s dead, Jim.”Internet of ThingsIon DriveJuno SpacecraftKludgeMacGyverMetalawMultiplex ParentingMutantNanotechnologyNeural LacePellegrino, Powell and Asimov’s Three Laws of Alien BehaviorPositronic BrainRailgunRealtimeRobotRoboticsSETISolar SailSolo ParentingStepford WivesTeleportationTime BunnyTime MachineTimequakeTimeskipTimeslipUncanny ValleyUpliftUterine ReplicatorUtility FogWolflingPart Two: Genre TermsAlternate (or Alternative) HistoryArchetypeCassandrasFantasyFaustFictions of Nuclear DisasterFixupHard SFLost ColonyLost World StoryMonomythProto–Science FictionRim WorldRuritaniaScience FantasyScience FictionScientific RomanceSci-FiSeparable SoulSpeculative FictionSpeculative HistorySpeculative NonfictionTechnothrillerWorks CitedIndex