National Science Fiction Day

“Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.”- Isaac Asimov. Many of us live in a world of escapism. This fictional space is necessary to counter the stress and toxicity of everyday life. When it comes to fiction writing, the stories are only limited by one’s imagination. Regardless of your taste in fiction stories chances are a few of them involve some sort of science fiction topics. The word fiction is described as literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation. Types of literature in the fiction genre include the novel, short story, and novella. The word is from the Latin fictiō, “the act of making, fashioning, or molding.” Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that explores the effects of scientific discoveries, technological innovations, natural events, and evolution on people and their relationships. It is often set in the future and typically deals with imaginative concepts such as space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. The selection of January 2 as the annual date for National Science Fiction Day is no accident. This date was chosen in order to correspond with the official birth date of famed science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, who is thought to have been born January 2nd, 1920. The theme of National Science Fiction Day is to celebrate the genre of science fiction, its history, creators, and different media. Mr. Asimov is responsible for some incredible works of science fiction literature during his lifetime, such as Nightfall and the Foundation Trilogy. Isaac Asimov was originally trained as a biochemist. However, he is most known as one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books. He is widely considered a master of hard science fiction. Additionally, he was also a long-time member and vice president of Mensa International. Interestingly, many scholars of the genre believe that the first piece of recorded fiction the Epic of Gilgamesh was also the first work of science fiction. Others believe that sci-fi became a legitimate genre of fiction during the late 16th and 17th century with the emergence of modern science. Today, science fiction is a well-read genre of literature and a huge part of popular culture also in movies and television series. In fact, many of us will remember one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, E.T which was released in 1982 and directed by the renowned Steven Spielberg. National Science Fiction Day has expanded not only across the United States, but has also made its way across different parts of the world. Asimov was responsible for a variety of terms related to National Science Fiction Day. He coined the term “robotics” in his 1941 story Liar!. In addition, he also came up with the term “spome” in a paper titled, There’s No Place Like Spome which was published in Atmosphere in Space Cabins and Closed Environments. Women Sci-Fi Fantasy Authors. Fantasy and science fiction have historically been dominated by men. Notwithstanding, Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley has been called the first science fiction novel, although women wrote utopian novels even before that, with Margaret Cavendish publishing the first (The Blazing World) in the seventeenth century. Naomi Novik: Naomi Novik is the fantasy author of the Temeraire series, which reimagines the Napoleonic Wars with dragons. The first in the six-book series is His Majesty's Dragon. Most recently, Novik penned the award-winning fantasy novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver, which are loose retellings of the fairy tales Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin. Uprooted won the Nebula Award and was a Hugo Award finalist; Spinning Silver was a Nebula Award finalist. Dr. Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian American writer of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an academic. Okorafor often promotes young Black girls as superheroes in her work, and her writing investigates racial inequality, sexual violence, and other social issues. She attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she received a master’s degree in English literature in 2002 and a doctorate in creative writing in 2007. She has written the Binti trilogy, a powerful saga of a girl who is the first of her people to attend Oomza University in another galaxy, only to have her journey derailed by a terrible animosity between the university and an enemy species. For teens, she's written Akata Witch, about a Nigerian-American girl with magical powers who joins a school of other magically gifted teens who soon find themselves pitted against a magical criminal. She's also written Who Fears Death, a novel set in post-apocalyptic Africa, about a young woman born as the sole survivor of her people's genocide who is destined to become their savior. Katherine Arden's fantasy debut is The Bear and the Nightingale, a fantasy set in imperial Russia that explores the tensions between old magic and new Christianity in a tiny, snowy village. It incorporates many classic fairy tale elements and is followed by The Girl in the Tower and The Winter of the Witch. Katherine also writes spooky fantasy for kids. Her first middle-grade novel is Small Spaces, about a girl who encounters deadly scarecrows when her bus breaks down on a field trip. Celebrating National Science Fiction Day can be an enjoyable way to have fun, to learn and to use one’s imagination. In the words of Nnedi Okorafor, I see the world as a magical place. Therefore, it was only natural that magic wafted from my fiction like smoke. Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues. waykam@yahoo.com @WayneCamo © #NationalScienceFictionDay