32-625: Naomi Novik (born 1973) is an American author of speculative fiction . She is known for the Temeraire series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her Scholomance fantasy series (2020–2022). Her standalone fantasy novels Uprooted (2015) and Spinning Silver (2018) were inspired by Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale respectively. Novik has won many awards for her work, including
64-536: A "no Martians " type of science fiction, "about things that really could happen." Speculative fiction is also used as a genre term that combines different ones into a single narrative or fictional world such as "science fiction, horror, fantasy...[and]...mystery". The Internet Speculative Fiction Database contains a broad list of different subtypes. According to publisher statistics, men outnumber women about two to one among English-language speculative fiction writers aiming for professional publication. However,
96-509: A bachelor's degree in English literature at Brown University and holds a master's degree in computer science from Columbia University . She participated in the design and development of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide , until she discovered that she preferred writing over game design. Novik's first novel, His Majesty's Dragon ( Temeraire in the UK) is the first novel in
128-476: A category ranges from ancient works to paradigm-changing and neotraditional works of the 21st century. Characteristics of speculative fiction have been recognized in older works whose authors' intentions , or in the social contexts of the stories they portray, are now known. For example, the ancient Greek dramatist, Euripides , ( c. 480 – c. 406 BCE ) whose play Medea seems to have offended Athenian audiences when he speculated that
160-446: A completely imaginary way or been followed by major new events that are completely imaginary (the genre of alternative history ). Or, it depicts impossible technology or technology that defies current scientific understandings or capabilities (the genre of science fiction ). Contrarily, realistic fiction involves a story whose basic setting (time and location in the world) is, in fact, real and whose events could believably happen in
192-453: A final sensitivity read has happened." On September 17, 2024, Novik published Buried Deep and Other Stories . Novik helped to organize the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of fan-media including fan fiction , fan videos (vids), and real-person fiction. In 2007, she was one of the three directors of the nonprofit. Novik
224-499: A genre term has often been attributed to Robert A. Heinlein , who first used the term in an editorial in The Saturday Evening Post , 8 February 1947. In the article, Heinlein used "Speculative Fiction" as a synonym for "science fiction"; in a later piece, he explicitly stated that his use of the term did not include fantasy. However, though Heinlein may have come up with the term on his own, there are earlier citations:
256-592: A piece in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1889 used the term in reference to Edward Bellamy 's Looking Backward : 2000–1887 and other works; and one in the May 1900 issue of The Bookman said that John Uri Lloyd 's Etidorhpa , The End of the Earth had "created a great deal of discussion among people interested in speculative fiction". A variation on this term is "speculative literature". The use of "speculative fiction" in
288-413: A short story retelling the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale, in the fantasy anthology The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales . Two years later, she expanded the story into her second standalone novel, Spinning Silver , which won the 2019 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, the 2019 Alex Award , and the 2019 Audie Award for Fantasy. In 2020, Novik published A Deadly Education , the first in a trilogy set in
320-763: A standalone novel "set in a fantasy world inspired by the Kingdom of Poland". It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel , the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel , and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award . Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to Uprooted ; Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman signed on to produce the film through their production company, A Very Good Production . In 2016, Novik published "Spinning Silver",
352-420: Is an American film and television production company founded by comedian, television host, actress Ellen DeGeneres and Warner Bros. Television 's Telepictures in 2003. It is known for producing the series The Ellen DeGeneres Show . The company co-founded the former record label, eleveneleven in 2010. In October 2010, the company signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. On March 17, 2021, it
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#1732855338193384-474: Is characterized by a lesser degree of adherence to realistic or plausible individuals, events, or places, while the umbrella genres of realistic fiction or literary realism are characterized by a greater degree of adherence. For instance, speculative fiction may depict an entirely imaginary universe or one in which the laws of nature do not strictly apply (often, the sub-genre of fantasy ). Or, it depicts true historical moments, except that they have concluded in
416-437: Is not limited to, science fiction , fantasy , horror , slipstream , magical realism , superhero fiction , alternate history , utopia and dystopia , fairy tales , steampunk , cyberpunk , weird fiction , and some apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction . The term has been used for works of literature , film , television , drama , video games , radio , and their hybrids. The umbrella genre of speculative fiction
448-399: Is sometimes abbreviated "spec-fic", "spec fic", "specfic", "S-F", "SF", or "sf". The last three abbreviations, however, are ambiguous as they have long been used to refer to science fiction (which lies within this general range of literature). It is sometimes also known as "the fantastic" or as fantastika , the latter term attributed to John Clute who coined it in 2007 after the term for
480-674: The Temeraire series , an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars in a "Flintlock Fantasy" world where dragons are abundant and are used in aerial combat. His Majesty's Dragon won the Compton Crook Award in 2007 and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel . Temeraire: In the Service of the King is omnibus volume collecting the first three books of the series ( His Majesty's Dragon , Throne of Jade , and Black Powder War ); it won
512-585: The Alex , Audie , British Fantasy , Locus , Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards . Novik grew up in Roslyn Heights on Long Island . She is a second-generation American; her father's family were Lithuanian Jews , and her mother's family were Polish Catholics . Displaying an interest in reading at a young age, she read The Lord of the Rings at age six, and developed a love for Jane Austen soon afterward. She received
544-476: The Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2007. In September 2006, Peter Jackson optioned the rights to the Temeraire series, intending to produce three or more live-action films, but the rights have since reverted to Novik. The Temeraire series has also been released in audiobook format. The first five audiobooks were released by Books on Tape , beginning in 2007, and read by Simon Vance . The sixth audiobook
576-463: The Scholomance , the retelling of folklore about a school of black magic . The main character, Galadriel "El" Higgins, a half-Welsh, half-Indian sorceress, must survive to graduation while controlling her destructive abilities. Universal Pictures purchased the film rights to the Scholomance series in advance, assigning Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films to develop and produce
608-452: The context of the real world. One realistic fiction sub-genre is historical fiction , centered around true major events and time periods in the past. The attempt to make stories feel faithful to reality or to more objectively describe details, and the 19th-century artistic movement that began to vigorously promote this approach, is called "literary realism", which incorporates some works of both fiction and non-fiction. "Speculative fiction"
640-713: The creative design and generation of lore and mythology for works of fiction. The term's definition comes from its use by J. R. R. Tolkien , whose novel, The Lord of the Rings , demonstrates a clear application of this process. Themes common in mythopoeia, such as the supernatural , alternate history and sexuality , continue to be explored in works produced within the modern speculative fiction genre. The creation of speculative fiction in its general sense of hypothetical history, explanation, or ahistorical storytelling , has also been attributed to authors in ostensibly non-fiction modes since as early as Herodotus of Halicarnassus (fl. 5th century BCE), for his Histories , and
672-451: The films. Upon its release, A Deadly Education was criticized for a passage where the hairstyle known as dreadlocks is described as susceptible to an infestation of bug-like magical creatures. Novik later apologized for "evok[ing] a racist stereotype" about Afro-textured hair . She revised the passage for future reprints, and promised that the sequel novels will not be sent to reviewers and publishers before "revisions are fully complete and
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#1732855338193704-451: The genre in some Slavic languages . The term has been used by some critics and writers dissatisfied with what they consider to be a limitation of science fiction: the need for the story to hold to scientific principles. They argue that "speculative fiction" better defines an expanded, open, imaginative type of fiction than does "genre fiction", and the categories of "fantasy", "mystery", "horror" and "science fiction". Harlan Ellison used
736-410: The percentages vary considerably by genre, with women outnumbering men in the fields of urban fantasy , paranormal romance and young adult fiction . Academic journals which publish essays on speculative fiction include Extrapolation and Foundation . Speculative fiction may include elements from one or more of the following genres: A Very Good Production A Very Good Production
768-603: The sense of expressing dissatisfaction with traditional or establishment science fiction was popularized in the 1960s and early 1970s by Judith Merril , as well as other writers and editors in connection with the New Wave movement. However, this use of the term fell into disuse around the mid-1970s. In the 2000s, the term came into wider use as a convenient collective term for a set of genres. However, some writers, such as Margaret Atwood , who wrote The Handmaid's Tale , continue to distinguish "speculative fiction" specifically as
800-500: The term to avoid being pigeonholed as a science fiction writer. Ellison, a fervent proponent of writers embracing more literary and modernist directions, broke out of genre conventions to push the boundaries of speculative fiction. The term suppositional fiction is sometimes used as a sub-category designating fiction in which characters and stories are constrained by an internally consistent world, but not necessarily one defined by any particular genre. Speculative fiction as
832-591: The titular shamaness Medea killed her own children, as opposed to their being killed by other Corinthians after her departure. Additionally, Euripides' play, Hippolytus , narratively introduced by Aphrodite , Goddess of Love in person, is suspected to have displeased his contemporary audiences, as his portrayal of Phaedra was seen as too lusty . In historiography , what is now called "speculative fiction" has previously been termed "historical invention", "historical fiction", and other similar names. These terms have been extensively noted in literary criticism of
864-481: The works of William Shakespeare , such as when he co-locates Athenian Duke Theseus , Amazonian Queen Hippolyta , English fairy Puck , and Roman god Cupid across time and space in the Fairyland of the fictional Merovingian Germanic sovereign Oberon , in A Midsummer Night's Dream . In mythography the concept of speculative fiction has been termed "mythopoesis", or mythopoeia . This practice involves
896-409: The world, and responds to it by creating imaginative , inventive , and artistic expressions. Such expressions can contribute to practical societal progress through interpersonal influences, social and cultural movements , scientific research and advances, and the philosophy of science . In its English-language usage in arts and literature since the mid 20th century, "speculative fiction" as
928-476: Was a co-founder of Archive of Our Own (AO3), a project of OTW that began in 2007 to create an online archive of fan fiction. At the 2019 Hugo Award ceremony, AO3 won the award for Best Related Work; Novik accepted the prize on behalf of all AO3's creators and readers. Novik is married to entrepreneur and writer Charles Ardai . They live in Manhattan. They have one child, a daughter named Evidence Novik Ardai, who
960-445: Was already both practiced and edited out by early encyclopedic writers like Sima Qian ( c. 145 or 135 BCE–86 BCE), author of Shiji . These examples highlight the caveat that many works, now regarded as intentional or unintentional speculative fiction, long predated the coining of the genre term; its concept, in its broadest sense, captures both a conscious and unconscious aspect of human psychology in making sense of
992-593: Was born in 2010. Novik has won the British Fantasy , Locus , Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards , and received nominations for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards . Speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from realism , or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural , futuristic , or other imaginative realms. This catch-all genre includes, but
Naomi Novik - Misplaced Pages Continue
1024-589: Was released by Tantor Audio in September 2010, also read by Vance. In September 2007, Novik was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for best new science fiction writer of 2006. In 2011, Novik wrote Will Supervillains Be on the Final? , a graphic novel about the next generation of high-flying costumed crusaders. Yishan Li illustrated the comic with manga -styled art. In 2015, Novik published Uprooted ,
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