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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12I thought it was another name for a speculative FTL technology... now you've peaked my curiosity.– Rodger CooleyJan 20, 2011 at 0:07
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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.– StrangelandJan 12, 2012 at 22:18
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Is this slipstream the drive, or the genre?– TeknophiliaJan 13, 2012 at 2:15
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2 Answers
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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1So... stuff like Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon or Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, or am I missing the point? Jan 20, 2011 at 6:53
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2@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.– DampeS8NJan 20, 2011 at 13:40
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I think Christopher Moore is probably another good example, though in the fantasy vein a little more than sci-fi.– scottyJan 21, 2011 at 2:05
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1@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. Mar 26, 2011 at 0:08
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1@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.– DampeS8NMar 26, 2011 at 0:43
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.
