29 of the best science fiction books everyone should read

Что такое стиль Sci-fi | Журнал Ярмарки Мастеров

Мария Джиа. Мастерская Bioo-Art.

Sci-Fi — (сай-фай) сокращённое название от Science fiction — весьма популярный жанр в искусстве нашего времени. Обобщенно это научная фантастика, характерная основа которой — техногенная цивилизация, с космическими кораблями, роботами, экзоскелетами, высокотехнологичными машинами, военным обмундированием, оружием необычных форм, битвами с инопланетными чудовищами, межзвёздными сражениями, противостояниями различных космических рас и многое другое. Также для Sci-Fi присущи элементы постапокалипсиса и киберпанка. Пластик, хром, плоскостные фактуры, холодный свет — неотъемлемая часть этой атмосферы. В живописи, к примеру, здесь могут выступать инопланетные пейзажи. В одежде, оружии чаще — холодный, резкий, современный дизайн.Sci-Fi в настоящее время является настолько популярным жанром, что используется практически во всех видах искусств — живопись, графика, иллюстрация, комиксы, литература, фотография, компьютерные игры, скульптура и так далее. Sci-Fi — это не обязательно место действия. Это определенная атмосфера фантастических миров.

Пейзажи.

Стиль одежды.

Робототехника

Техника.

В интерьере.

Оружие.

Арт.

Рейтинг

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★

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(4 голоса)

Мария Джиа. Мастерская Bioo-Art.

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Идеи и вдохновениеВсё о продажахМода, стиль, тенденцииХендмейд как бизнесМатериалы и инструментыОрганизация мастерскойИстория рукоделияЗанимательные историиИнтервьюХитрости и советы / Lifehack

Rock-throwing warfare

An illustration of an asteroid streaking toward Earth. The asteroid that hit Earth about 66 million years ago triggered a tsunami with mile-high waves. (Image credit: RomoloTavani via Getty Images)

Long, long ago our ancestors took the latest technological breakthrough at the time, sharpened rocks, and did their best to beat each other over the head with them. We have since progressed to more advanced means of armed combat, including spears (sharpened rock on a stick), swords (very long sharpened rocks), arrows (long-distance sharpened rocks), bullets (extremely fast, long-distance sharpened rocks) and even bombs (highly explosive, miniaturized sharpened rocks).

In the future, it will be no different. The solar system is chock-full of rocks whizzing around at tens of thousands of miles per hour. At those speeds, rocks pack a ridiculous amount of kinetic energy. Even micrometeoroids, less than a millimeter across, can bury themselves in our most well-protected spacecraft.

As NASA’s DART mission successfully showed, it doesn’t take much to alter the course of a massive asteroid. Hurling rocks at each other — with impacts powerful enough to end entire civilizations — will surely be a hallmark of future warfare.

9) Artificial gravity

In a 1952 series of articles written in Collier’s, Dr. Wernher von Braun, then Technical Director of the Army Ordnance Guided Missiles Development Group at Redstone Arsenal, wrote of a large wheel-like space station in a 1,075-mile orbit. The 250-foot-wide wheel would rotate to provide artificial gravity. (Image credit: NASA/Chesley Bonestell)

Sci-fi writers often introduce artificial gravity as a plot point to save budgets and film their actors on a normal soundstage; otherwise, they would have to use wires or complex visual effects to simulate weightlessness. 

But creating gravity at will is easier than you might think. The first trick is to replace acceleration with rotation. If you’ve ever been in one of those carnival rides that spins really quickly, you’ve known how strong the centrifugal force can be. So if future Earthlings set up a rotating space habitat and arrange everything so that the outermost edge is «down,» then people will feel right at home. Well, almost, because they’d have to deal with the dizziness from the rotation and the counterintuitive motions caused by the Coriolis effect.

The other trick to replicate gravity is to keep moving. Einstein realized that acceleration is the same, regardless of whether that acceleration comes from a massive gravitational object or the push of a rocket, and you can use that to your advantage. If you fire your rocket engines and maintain a constant acceleration of 9.8 meters per second squared, unless you look out the window, you’ll have no idea you’re in a spaceship. Of course, it will take a lot of fuel to maintain that kind of acceleration, but that’s a different problem.

VII. Related Terms

Fantasy

Fantasy a genre of fiction that concentrates on imaginary elements (the fantastic). This can mean magic, the supernatural, alternate worlds, superheroes, monsters, aliens, and so on. Many science fiction works involve elements of fantasy, like imagined worlds, made-up beings from other galaxies, paranormal powers etc; so the two genres tend to overlap. However, the primary distinction is that that elements of fantasy in science fiction always have a basis in science, whereas fantasy is strictly imaginative.

Space Opera

A space opera is one of the most popular forms of science fiction where the whole story or majority of the story takes place in outer space. Its name comes from the idea of a television “soap opera”; but it has nothing to do with a musical opera. Space operas usually feature conflicts in space with beings or societies who have advanced technology or supernatural powers. Usually, space operas are action and adventure themed, featuring space travel, interstellar wars or heroes trying to save the universe (i.e. Star Wars).

I. What is Science Fiction?

Science fiction, often called “sci-fi,” is a genre of fiction literature whose content is imaginative, but based in science. It relies heavily on scientific facts, theories, and principles as support for its settings, characters, themes, and plot-lines, which is what makes it different from fantasy.

So, while the storylines and elements of science fiction stories are imaginary, they are usually possible according to science—or at least plausible.

Although examples of science fiction can be found as far back as the Middle Ages, its presence in literature was not particularly significant until the late 1800s. Its true popularity for both writers and audiences came with the rise of technology over the past 150 years, with developments such as electricity, space exploration, medical advances, industrial growth, and so on. As science and technology progress, so does the genre of science fiction.

Solaris, by Stanislaw Lem (1961)

If you think you know Solaris from the 2002 Steven Soderbergh film, the original book may come as a bit of a surprise. Written by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem in 1961, this short novel is heavier on philosophy than plot. It follows a team of humans on a space station who are trying to understand the mysterious living ocean on the planet Solaris, with little success – their research is limited to lengthy descriptions that paint a vibrant picture of the alien planet but fail to elucidate how it works. As they poke and prod, Solaris ends up exposing more about them than it does about itself, with the book demonstrating the futility of humans trying to comprehend something not of their world.

How are science fiction and fantasy alike?

Both fantasy and science fiction entail imagining other possible worlds. They explore hypothetical futures (or pasts).

Both genres require rules. Just because fantasy is not based on scientific facts or speculation doesn’t mean that anything goes in fantasy. Certain laws must govern a fantasy world as well; the difference is that in fantasy, the author makes up the rules.

In sci-fi, the author may make up some of the world’s rules, but these are often drawn from taking scientific realities (such as AI or the search for new technological abilities) to new conclusions.

Surprisingly, science fiction and fantasy cannot always be distinguished by settings or other elements. Many would argue that Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series is science fiction despite the existence of dragons while others say the Star Wars films are clearly fantasy despite the space setting.

For a deeper dive into fantasy fiction, this complete guide shares popular subgenres, worldbuilding tips, fantasy-writing tips from masters of the genre and more.

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Science fiction vs fantasy: Key elements

Let’s explore key differences between science fiction and fantasy:

Science fiction tends to focus on technological advancement

Alien civilizations with advanced spacecraft. Humans creating robots that spell their doom. Science fiction most often grapples with the question of technology and its capacity for good and harm.

Sci-fi makes the implausible possible

Science fiction deals with scenarios and technology that are possible or may be thanks to scientific discovery.

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Some science fiction such as far-future space opera or time travel stories may seem implausible, but they are still not beyond the realm of scientific theory.

7) Easy fusion

In fusion, two or more particles collide to form a more massive product. In this illustration, deuterium and tritium combine to make helium with the emission of a neutron. This is how stars make their energy. (Image credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty Images)

Even the wildest sci-fi spaceships need some sort of power source, and sci-fi writers seem to have three standard go-tos: some sort of made-up substance, like dilithium crystals; antimatter; or good old-fashioned nuclear fusion. That last one is perhaps the most plausible as a long-term, sustainable source of energy for everything from spaceships to off-world settlements.

Heck, humans already harness nuclear power in portable ships on Earth, under the ocean. But those are fission-based power planets, which derive power from splitting atoms apart. Fusion — in which two small atoms are smooshed together to form a new, larger one — is a whole different animal. Fusion requires much more sophisticated technologies to control and harness the energy produced (we already figured out how to trigger uncontrolled fusion reactions, which is what hydrogen bombs are). 

In 2022, scientists with the Department of Energy’s National Ignition Facility made a huge advance: For the first time ever, they generated more energy out of a fusion reaction than went into it. That remarkable achievement is only the first step, however. That net-positive energy gain didn’t include the power lost to inefficiencies in the lasers themselves or a method to capture that energy and put it to useful work.

Still, scientists and engineers around the globe are hard at work to crack the fusion puzzle, and it may yet become a staple of our future.

Sci-fi novel conventions & tropes

Science fiction (often shortened to simply “sci-fi”) is similar to fantasy in the sense that it’s imaginative and can have some highly creative worldbuilding elements, but the key difference is that everything is based in science. Some novels may rely more on theories, whereas others stay strictly to scientific facts or theories to ensure that their fantasy worlds are as realistic or plausible as possible.

Science fiction is usually associated with futuristic content, aliens, space travel, or other concepts similar to the Star Wars franchise, but sci-fi books can reach far beyond these ideas. Since sci-fi is based in both imagination and scientific quandaries, anything is possible. Stories can exist in any type of world, real or imagined, feature characters that the author created themselves, take place in an alternate timeline, reimagine past events, and all kinds of other scenarios. But, despite the limitless possibilities that sci-fi authors can conjure up, there are some basic guidelines that most novels tend to follow:

• • • Stories take place in an authentic, or believable, world. No matter what the chosen setting is, the audience should have a solid understanding of how the world operates, what conditions are like there, and other details that make the setting unique. For example, if a character is able to teleport, the author should explain the mechanics and technicalities of this ability. An unexplained capability is simply fantasy.
    • Novels feature exciting, unfamiliar elements. The beauty of sci-fi is that readers get to explore a new world of the author’s invention, while also being privy to the scientific explanations that make the characters and world function. Cyborg characters, aliens, time travelers, and other unusual protagonists add excitement and intrigue to the story.
    • Authors shouldn’t take shortcuts. Unlike fantasy worlds, sci-fi authors should feel compelled to explain the scientific technologies and ideas that their ideas are founded on. For instance, if an author wanted to write a story that dealt with the possibility of extending the human lifespan by another century, they would have to do serious research abou current medical technologies to make their imagined situation believable. Then, they should be able to succinctly describe how this technology would be further improved, eventually leading to an extension of human lives in their novel.
    • Stick to the scientific facts. Sci-fi authors should resist the urge to introduce more fantastical elements for the sake of their story or to further embellish their characters. Although rules can often be broken in fiction, authors should strive not to break any laws of science in their writing (at least, not without repercussions for the characters).

III. Types of Science Fiction

Science fiction is usually distinguished as either “hard” or “soft.”

Hard science fiction

Hard science fiction strictly follows scientific facts and principles. It is strongly focused on natural sciences like physics, astronomy, chemistry, astrophysics, etc. Interestingly, hard science fiction is often written by real scientists, and has been known for making both accurate and inaccurate predictions of future events. For example, the recent film Gravity, the story of an astronaut whose spacecraft is damaged while she repairs a satellite, was renowned for its scientific accuracy in terms of what would actually happen in space.

Soft science fiction

Soft science fiction is characterized by a focus on social sciences, like anthropology, sociology, psychology, politics—in other words, sciences involving human behavior. So, soft sci-fi stories mainly address the possible scientific consequences of human behavior. For example, the Disney animated film Wall-E is an apocalyptic science fiction story about the end of life on Earth as a result of man’s disregard for nature.

In truth, most works use a combination of both hard and soft science fiction. Soft sci-fi allows audiences to connect on an emotional level, and hard sci-fi adds real scientific evidence so that they can imagine the action actually happening. So, combining the two is a better storytelling technique, because it lets audiences connect with the story on two levels. Science fiction also has a seemingly endless number of subgenres, including but not limited to time travel, apocalyptic, utopian/dystopian, alternate history, space opera, and military science fiction.

The Lady Astronaut series — The Calculating Stars/The Fated Sky/The Relentless Moon

(Image credit: Solaris (2020))

• Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
• Publisher: Tor Books (2018-2020)

What if space exploration wasn’t a choice but a necessity, driven by the knowledge that Earth would soon become uninhabitable and powered by international coalitions built after a catastrophic meteorite impact? That’s the alternative history novelist Mary Robinette Kowal explores in her Lady Astronaut series. 

The books follow mathematician and World War II pilot Elma York, who dreams of becoming an astronaut herself. Kowal intricately melds real history with her fictional plot to create a series that is simultaneously hopeful and pragmatic. The Lady Astronaut offers a powerful vision of how spaceflight could be a positive force in society.

Что такое Sci-Fi?

Многие до сих пор до конца не понимают что же такое жанр Sci-Fi, и чем он отличается, скажем, от киберпанка? Но если вникать более подробно, то можно заметить разницу, да еще весьма существенную. Хотя, в целом, эти жанры имеют некую обобщенную подоплеку, и порой, даже «ходят» рука-об-руку совместно.

Стоит отметить, что Sci-Fi – это особый жанр в кинематографе и литературе, и некоторых других видов творческой деятельности, который представляет собой научную фантастику. Считается, что Sci-Fi – аббревиатура от английского Science Fiction, поэтому в данном жанре можно внедряется все, что так или иначе связано с этой темой. Это могут быть самого разного рода невероятные допущения и фантазии связанные с наукой, при этом направление науки не определяется, это равнозначно могут быть и естественные и точные дисциплины.

Чаще всего, в этом жанре олицетворяются сюжеты, которые несут в себе всевозможные контакты с пришельцами или созданиями генетики, клонами и так далее. Также, часто используются некое предсказание исхода рода человеческого в целом, неких исторический ход. Могут воплощаться идеи влияния на развитие человечества как вида и прочее. В доминирующем случае жанр затрагивает события будущего, поэтому его относят к футуристическим.

Frank Herbert’s Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1

(Image credit: Harry N. Abrams (2020))

• Author: Frank Herbert
• Adapted by: Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
• Illustrators: Bill Sienkiewicz (cover), Raúl Allén, and Patricia Martín
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (2020)

With the success of director Denis Villeneuve’s epic rendition of the seminal 1965 sci-fi novel last year, you might want to check out this stunning graphic novel rendition adapted by Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, and collaborator Kevin J. Anderson. This pair of writers has vastly expanded the scale and scope of the original “Dune” with over a dozen prequel and sequel novels over the last 22 years. This is the first time the masterwork has been offered in a premium illustrated format (the debut release of a trilogy), now richly adorned with artwork by artists Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín, and an epic cover by Eisner Award-winning illustrator Bill Sienkiewicz. 

“His vast library did not include very many comics or graphic novels, but in his newspaper career he was not only a feature writer but also a professional photographer,” Herbert told Space.com, speaking about his father’s cinematic eye. “He used to tell me that he wrote scenes in his novels – and especially in “Dune” – with a camera in mind, as if he were looking at each scene through the lens of a camera.”

Buy “Frank Herbert’s Dune: The Graphic Novel, Book 1” now on Amazon (opens in new tab)

The Martian

(Image credit: Random House (2014))

• Author: Andy Weir
• Publisher: Random House (2014)

«The Martian,» by Andy Weir, is a truly great science fiction book that’s heavy on the science. Weir tells the story of Mark Watney, a fictional NASA astronaut stranded on Mars, and his difficult mission to save himself from potential doom in the harsh Red Planet environment. Watney seems to have everything against him, yet Weir deftly explains not only what Watney’s survival needs are but also how he goes about trying to make them work. «The Martian» also was made into a movie, which was released in 2015. The film stars Matt Damon as Watney and is directed by space movie veteran Ridley Scott.

Science art — научное искусство, помогающее популяризации знаний

Сегодня многие видят искусство и науку как полюса особой культуры. Есть и те, кто считает, что искусство, технологии и наука вовсе начинают сливаться в новую область под названием sci-art, или science art.

Такова точка зрения Артура Миллера, профессора Лондонского университетского колледжа, который популяризировал эту идею в своей книге «Сталкивающиеся миры: как передовая наука переосмысливает современное искусство». Он считает, что sci-art — это новое авангардное движение, или «третья культура», рождающая работы, которые радикально отличаются от всего, что было раньше. Искусство становится неотъемлемой частью научной коммуникации, оно привлекает аудиторию на эмоциональном уровне. Но, к примеру, научная иллюстрация или рентгеновские снимки цветов — это не сайнс-арт.

Сайнс-арт — это, например, магнитно-резонансная визуализация человеческого тела, изображение мухи на кристаллах сахара, захваченное микроскопом, или причудливый узор из кровеносных сосудов или раковых клеток, ярко светящихся благодаря внедрению в них гена флуоресцентной медузы.

Из наиболее громких проектов sci-art можно вспомнить прозрачные стеклянные скульптуры вирусов (вроде ВИЧ, гриппа H1N1, малярии и других патогенов), представленные в рамках проекта «Микробиология в стекле». Их автор Люк Джеррам таким образом показывает, насколько сложны структуры микроорганизмов, которые безжалостно уносят множество жизней.

Другая художница — Анна Думитриу — сотрудничает практически с каждым британским университетом и создает работы с использованием реальных бактерий. Тем самым она показывает аудитории, сколько микроскопических существ населяет наши тела, поверхности домашней мебели и не только. Так, один из ее авторских экспонатов представлял собой интерактивную панель, имитирующую чашку Петри. Любой желающий мог поднести руку к ее поверхности, «оставить» на ней микробы со своей ладони и посмотреть, как они будут себя вести. Так Анна Думитриу предложила поразмышлять о наших представлениях о чистом и грязном, о больших и самых маленьких организмах.

А, к примеру, лаборатория молекулярной физики в европейском CERN, где находится Большой адронный коллайдер, учредила целую программу под названием COLLIDE. В рамках этого проекта художники мирового класса приезжают в лабораторию и университетский городок в Женеве на срок до трех месяцев, чтобы пересказывать историю исследований арт-языком.

Не отстает и легендарный MIT (Массачусетский технологический институт). Там в 2012 году открылся Центр искусств, науки и технологий с целью интеграции искусств в научные исследования и инженерные разработки. Таким образом один из ведущих мировых вузов признает роль искусства в науке и технологическом образовании, а также в культивировании творческой атмосферы, которая помогает раскрыться потенциалу студентов и ученых.

Все эти примеры говорят об одном. Продвижение науки через искусство — это отличный способ расширить доступ к достижениям ученых. Ведь обмен информацией интересным или необычным способом помогает улучшить распространение знаний и вовлечь более широкую аудиторию. Наука может подвести к истине, в то время как искусство позволит почувствовать ее. Поэтому, когда наука встречается с искусством, горизонты представлений расширяются, а пробелы в нашем понимании обеих этих сфер заполняются.

Когда впервые появился термин

Точно сказать, когда зародилось направление, невозможно. Впервые научную фантастику в 1914 году опубликовали в журнале под названием «Люди и природа». Это был рассказ «Завтрак в невесомой кухне», написанный известным автором Яковом Перельманом. До этого термин использовали такие писатели, как Уэллс и Александр Куприн. В переводе с английского языка science fiction – это вымысел о науке в художественном стиле. В русском языке вариант не прижился, но его позаимствовали французский, немецкий и многие другие европейские языки.

Направление появилось благодаря промышленной революции в XIX веке. Изначально к нему относили все материалы, которые описывали достижения техники и науки, а также перспективы их развития. В XX веке оно начало активно развиваться благодаря американским писателям Роберту Хайнлайну, Рею Брэдбери, Айзеку Азимову. Чуть позже появились авторы-фантасты и в других странах. В 1980 году востребованным стал киберпанк. В нем высокие технологии объединили с массовым общественным контролем и неограниченной властью различных корпораций. Сегодня направление не стоит на месте. Его активно используют не только в литературе, но и в кинематографе.

The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View

(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

• Authors and artists: Tom Angleberger, Sarwat Chadda, S. A. Chakraborty, Mike Chen, Adam Christopher, Katie Cook, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Tracy Deonn, Seth Dickinson, Alexander Freed, Jason Fry, Hank Green, Christie Golden, Rob Hart, Lydia Kang, Michael Kogge, R. F. Kuang, C. B. Lee, Mackenzi Lee, John Jackson Miller, Michael Moreci, Daniel José Older, Mark Oshiro, Amy Ratcliffe, Beth Revis, Lilliam Rivera, Cavan Scott, Emily Skrutskie, Karen Strong, Anne Toole, Catherynne M. Valente, Austin Walker, Martha Wells, Django Wexler, Kiersten White, Gary Whitta, Brittany N. Williams, Charles Yu, and Jim Zub
• Publisher: Del Rey (2020)

To help celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Del Rey released a stout, 576-page hardcover stuffed with 40 short stories featuring unsung supporting Star Wars heroes, villains, droids, and aliens from the 1980 film. Ever wondered what it’s like caring for tauntauns on the icy world of Hoth? Or about the goings on in the dark depths of Cloud City? Well, now you can find out!

This entertaining anthology showcases contributions by bestselling authors and well-known artists like Austin Walker, Hank Green, Tracy Deonn, Delilah Dawson, Alexander Freed, John Jackson Miller, Anne Toole, and many more. Participating writers generously donated compensations for their tales and proceeds will be given to First Book, a nonprofit providing learning materials to educators and organizations serving kids in need.

Buy “The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View” now on Amazon (opens in new tab)

Ender’s Game

(Image credit: Tor Books (1985))

• Author: Orson Scott Card
• Publisher: Tor Books (1985)

This classic science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card should be ever-present on any space fan’s bookshelf. Card’s novel follows the life of Ender Wiggin as he learns to fight the Formics, a horrifying alien race that almost killed off all humans when they attacked years and years ago. 

Wiggin learns the art of space war aboard a military space station built to help train young people to fight the cosmic invaders. Basically, this book is a coming-of-age tale that makes you want to fly to space and also forces you to think about some serious social issues presented in its pages. (The book is the first in a quintet, and inspired a much larger body of work that takes place in the same universe.)

II. Example of Science Fiction

Read the following short passage:

As the young girl opened her window, she could see the moons Europa and Callipso rising in the distance. A comet flashed by, followed by a trail of stardust, illuminating the dark, endless space that surrounded the spacecraft; the only place she had ever known as home. As she gazed at Jupiter, she dreamed of a life where she wasn’t stuck orbiting a planet, but living on one. She envisioned stepping onto land, real land, like in the stories of Earth her father had told her about. She tried to imagine the taste of fresh air, the feel of a cool, salty ocean, and the sound of wind rustling through a tree’s green leaves. But these were only fantasies, not memories. She had been born on the ship, and if they didn’t find a new inhabitable planet soon, she would surely die there too.

The example above has several prime characteristics that are common in science fiction. First, it is set in the future, when humans no longer live on Earth. Second, it takes place on a spacecraft that is orbiting Jupiter. Third, it features real scientific information—Europa and Callipso are two of Jupiter’s moons, and as Jupiter is a planet made of gas, it would not be possible for humans to live there, explaining why the ship is currently orbiting the planet rather than landing on it.

Science Fiction Genre

As is true for all genres, scholars are divided on the absolute definition of science fiction. There are a myriad of texts set hundreds of years in the future, as well as hundreds of years in the past. Does science fiction always have to be futuristic? What about technology that features steampunk or cyberpunk aspects? Are they ‘science-y’ enough to count as science fiction?

As you can see, the genre poses questions that have no easy or absolute answers. However, there are some characteristics that science fiction texts share, which make for the following ‘loose’ definition of science fiction:

Science fiction narratives highlight an aspect of their world — including characters, events, and premises — that underlines science. Problems and obstacles are overcome by the use of scientifically designed equipment or machinery within the narrative. Even if the science may seem to verge on the ‘fantastic’ (time travel machines, talking computers), it is still based on a theory or evidence that such things might at some point be possible.

For example, an episode of Doctor Who might be set in the 15th century, but it highlights science through the spaceship TARDIS, or the presence of aliens, thus marking it as science fiction. H.G. Wells’ Time Machine (1895), as the title suggests, features a time machine — an invention explained by science, thereby also making it a text of science fiction.

1) Wormholes

Traveling through a wormhole could be possible in certain gravity conditions. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

The idea of a wormhole —a shortcut through space that allows almost instantaneous travel between distant parts of the universe — sounds like it was created as a fictional story-driver. But under its more formal name of an Einstein-Rosen bridge, the concept has existed as a serious theoretical concept long before sci-fi writers got hold of it. It comes out of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which views gravity as a distortion of space-time caused by massive objects. In collaboration with physicist Nathan Rosen, Einstein theorized in 1935 that points of extremely strong gravity, such as black holes, could be directly connected with each other. And so the idea of wormholes was born.

The forces around a black hole would destroy anyone that came close to it, so the idea of actually traveling through a wormhole wasn’t given serious consideration until the 1980s, when astrophysicist Carl Sagan decided he was going to write a sci-fi novel. According to the (opens in new tab), Sagan encouraged fellow physicist Kip Thorne to come up with a feasible way to travel interstellar distances in a flash. Thorne duly devised a way — possible in theory, but highly improbable in practice — that humans might achieve interstellar travel by traversing a wormhole unscathed. The result found its way into Sagan’s novel » (opens in new tab)» (Simon and Schuster: 1985) which was subsequently adapted into a film with Jodie Foster in the lead role. 

While it’s highly unlikely that wormholes will ever become the simple and convenient methods of transportation portrayed in movies, scientists have now come up with a more viable way to construct a wormhole than Thorne’s original suggestion. It’s also possible that, if wormholes already exist in the universe, they could be located using the new generation of gravitational-wave detectors.

Notable authors[edit]

• Douglas Adams
• Brian Aldiss
• Isaac Asimov
• Iain M. Banks
• Stephen Baxter
• Alfred Bester
• Ray Bradbury
• Edgar Rice Burroughs (his space related works could be regarded as fantasy, but were highly influential to the science fiction genre)
• Octavia Butler
• Orson Scott Card
• C.J. Cherryh
• Arthur C. Clarke
• Samuel R. Delany
• Phillip K. Dick
• Greg Egan
• Harlan Ellison
• William S. Gibson
• Joe Haldeman
• Robert A. Heinlein
• Frank Herbert
• L. Ron Hubbard
• Ursula K. Le Guin
• Damon Knight
• Stanislaw Lem
• C.S. Lewis (in The Space Trilogy)
• Larry Niven
• Frederick Pohl
• Kim Stanley Robinson
• Robert J. Sawyer
• Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, arguably both the first science fiction novel and the first horror novel.
• Robert Silverberg
• Dan Simmons
• E.E «Doc» Smith (Early SF writer whom many claim is responsible for the space opera)
• Olaf Stapledon
• Neal Stephenson
• Bruce Sterling
• Charles Stross
• Theodore Sturgeon
• A E. Van Vogt
• Jack Vance
• Jules Verne (precursor)
• Kurt Vonnegut
• H.G. Wells (precursor)
• Gene Wolfe