I enjoyed the latest story published by Daily Science Fiction, "Anatomy of an Arrow". However, it doesn't look like Science Fiction to me, which surprised me. I'm not sure that I know what 'Slipstream' is, so maybe it's my ignorance at fault. I think we're not allowed to post links here, but googling DSF and the name of the story seems to work. What genre is that? If it's not 'slipstream', then what is slipstream? EDIT: The Wikipedia page for Slipstream explains. Pretty much anything that includes even slight fantastic elements or which makes you feel uneasy seems to quality. Which the store mentioned above does.
For what it's worth - you can link to stuff you're asking about. Just don't use the forum to advertise or spam-promote websites. For anyone else reading - here's a link the story in question. I'm not particularly familiar with Slipstream - but if we're defining it as something that crosses the boundary between speculative and literary fiction, and is generally concerned with strangeness...which is roughly what Wikipedia says...this fits. Not a lot of science (I noticed that the site filed it under fantasy not sci-fi) but definitely a lot of strange. You're right that there's no science, and not a lot of genre elements. It's a very literary piece with heavy surrealist elements, and I think it probably would do fine in a literary, non-sci-fi setting. It also shares a lot with Magical Realism - a literary genre that flirts with the fantastical in non-speculative ways. I'm not familiar with the author, but I'm guessing it's probably someone who operates broadly in the Slipstream milleu, and this is probably an example of one of her works that leans more toward the literary than the speculative. Either way, it's a cool little story - whether you're calling it Slipstream, Magical Realism, or just literary surrealism.
This is not surrealism by definition and it is not magicial realism. It would be better in the urban fantasy if you had to give it a marker, but this is based on a checklist approach. I could make a compelling argument why they are dead and this is a type of purgatory, but my English teachers hated me for a reason. The guy is a new arrival in more ways than one.
Well to be fair I am no expert of sci-fi or sci fi literature, although I enjoy it. But I want to say that Slipstream is used in a decent amount of sci-fi. The only one I can name off the top of my head is the show "Andromeda". you know the one with the guy from Hercules. Not Disney's "Hercules" but the live action "Hercules". Oh yeah, his name was Kevin Sorbo. I remember because he was in that dark comedy, "God's Not Dead". On "Andromeda" (created by Gene Roddenberry, that same guy that popped out Star Trek) he was Captain Dylan Hunt... Anyway, the point is the ship they had used Slipstream, and I would consider sci-fi, maybe not perfectly scientifically accurate (theory wise) for some, but close to good enough as warp drive....maybe.
Hi, Oddly I think it may be romance - maybe even a wierd version of paranormal romance. It has a strange fantasy element and it's really about two strangers falling for one another bound by their common flaws. The literary merit in it such as it is, is about the human condition of people born with / living with flaws not always wanting to be fixed. I'm not sure it works. Cheers, Greg.
Thanks all. I think that Daily Science Fiction really shows how it's important to read the contents of a website/magazine/etc. well. Recently they have published a ghost/spiritualism story, and a genie in a bottle story. Both good stories, but neither what I would have expected from the name of the publication. @psychotick : Rotorua? Nice, if smelly, place to live. I remember staying at the Blue Lake both when a teenager, and in a visit to NZ with teenagers.
The quality of the stories in DSF is consistent. However, genre isn't. Today's story is about as far from SF as you can get. I liked the story, but it most certainly isn't SF.
