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I know it's a subgenre of scifi and fantasy, but what are the defining characteristics? What makes a story slipstream?

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    I thought it was another name for a speculative FTL technology... now you've peaked my curiosity. – Rodger Cooley Jan 20 '11 at 0:07
  • That "it's a subgenre of scifi and fantasy" is open to debate in a manner similar to magical realism of which there are examples that some would consider Fantasy and/or Science Fictional but the 'Literary Establishment' would absolutely deny. – Strangeland Jan 12 '12 at 22:18
  • Is this slipstream the drive, or the genre? – Teknophilia Jan 13 '12 at 2:15
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Slipstream is genre fiction with sci-fi or fantasy elements that aren't crucial to the plot, but provide setting and background.

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    So... stuff like Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon or Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, or am I missing the point? – Goodbye Stack Exchange Jan 20 '11 at 6:53
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    @neilfein: Cryptonomicon doesn't count, as everything in that book is science fact, not science fiction. The plot is fiction, the settings were present and past. Slaughterhouse Five is a great example, although I have never before heard it labeled as such. – DampeS8N Jan 20 '11 at 13:40
  • I think Christopher Moore is probably another good example, though in the fantasy vein a little more than sci-fi. – scotty Jan 21 '11 at 2:05
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    @DampeS8N - NOT everything in Cryptonomicon is science fact. Enter Exibit A: Enoch Root. Besides, I vaguely recall Stephenson himself explicitly stating that Cryptonomicon is Sci-Fi or SciFi-yish, though I don't have a cite and not 100% certain. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Mar 26 '11 at 0:08
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    @DVK: Perhaps I missed something, what about Enoch Root was impossible? If you mean that little event in his life on page 541, I assumed a lying narrator. – DampeS8N Mar 26 '11 at 0:43
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Slipstream fiction may or may not have significant fantastical or science fictional elements. It seems the most critical factor in labelling a tale as slipstream is the sense of cognitive dissonance created by a realistic setting with elements of the sf&f genre introduced to produce a surreal effect. See Slipstream(genre) and this review.

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