James Gunn and Matthew Candelaria, eds. Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005. 374 pp. $30.00 pbk. Every time I've taught a course on science fiction, I've thought it would be useful to be able to offer...

Derek Littlewood and Peter Stockwell, eds. Impossibility Fiction: Alternativity, Extrapolation, Speculation. Rodopi Perspectives on Modern Literature, 17. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996. 211 pp. $15.05. THE ESSAYS COLLECTED HERE set out to explore and chart the landscape of "impossibility fiction," a nebulous term intended...

Speculative fiction is an umbrella term that describes the blending of literary genres and subgenres such as science fiction and fantasy. Authors of speculative fiction create in their writing imaginative, alternate worlds to challenge and provoke controversy and debate about possibilities in the human experience. Negative connotations attached to speculative fiction, due to 1950s pulp fiction, have contributed to its lack of recognition as a legitimate classification of literature.