As we know from Terry Pratchett—and before him from Shakespeare—wizards and witches are very different. Wizards are old gentlemen, like Prospero in “The Tempest,” who practice magic out of books.

Young people who are hooked on watching fantasy or reading science fiction may be on to something. Contrary to a common misperception that reading this genre is an unworthy practice, reading science ...

Such a statement requires not only justification but considerable elaboration. Written science fiction is, of course, literature, although science fiction in other media (films, drama, perhaps even ...

Sylvia Spruck Wrigley is a speculative-fiction author and independent scholar based in Tallinn, who was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2014. Her short stories have been translated into more than a ...

When Henry James remarked, in his preface to “The Portrait of a Lady,” that “the house of fiction has . . . not one window, but a million,” he could not have anticipated the genre of fiction to which ...

Esther Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

The power of words Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, which begins with a form of sci-fi, led to the ban on DDT in agriculture, showing how sci-fi can influence real-world science. (Courtesy: ...

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the May 10, 1980 issue of America as “Science Fiction and Religion.” Science fiction and religion walking—or jetting—hand in hand? Shades of the ...

What does the future hold? In our new series “Imagining the Next Future,” Polygon explores the new era of science fiction — in movies, books, TV, games, and beyond — to see how storytellers and ...

What does the future hold? In our new series “Imagining the Next Future,” Polygon explores the new era of science fiction — in movies, books, TV, games, and beyond — to see how storytellers and ...

BOT or NOT? This special series explores the evolving relationship between humans and machines, examining the ways that robots, artificial intelligence and automation are impacting our work and lives.