Um, well — ahem … Pulp fiction art is retro-cool, but it doesn’t adequately represent the wide range of stories in the genre.

Science fiction is a subcategory of what’s known as “speculative fiction.” Within the sci-fi genre itself, there are a surprising number of subgenres. And, to further muddy the waters, “cross-genre” writing is also alive and well.

Do you prefer your sci-fi hard-boiled or soft?

First off, there’s “hard” science fiction, which means the story is rigorously based on current scientific theory and technology. Even if the story is projected ten or twenty years into the future, it must be based in real science of today. For example, the idea of faster-than-light travel (warp speed, hyper-drive, etc.) is currently considered scientifically impossible. Therefore any story that mentions it would automatically fail the Scientific Sniff Test.

Michael Crichton is a good example of hard science fiction. Readers of his Jurassic Park were treated to a rousing story about dinosaurs and an overview of DNA sequencing, and — in The Lost World sequel — chaos theory. Other examples of hard sci-fi include Isaac Asimov, Ben Bova, and Canada’s Robert Sawyer.

Some hard sci-fi authors insist that they alone represent “real” science fiction, and everything else is “merely” fantasy and therefore worthy of disdain. (Fantasy has its own laundry list of subgenres and cross-genre permutations as well, but that’s a post for another time.)

“Science fantasy” has been around for decades, and — while vaguely defined — allows for the combination of sci-fi and fantasy tropes. (I’ll let you take a wild guess what hard sci-fi proponents think of that.)

Ironically, British science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke postulated three “laws” for writing about the future, the third of which states: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Then there’s “soft” science fiction, which is free to explore a wider speculative range, including sociological, psychological, political, and anthropological elements. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, George Orwell’s 1984, and Frank Herbert’s Dune are good examples (although Bradbury insisted Fahrenheit 451 was hard sci-fi because the technologies were plausible — and as it turns out, he was right).

This is where the plethora of subgenres kicks in. Note: these definitions may be more tongue-in-cheek than Amazon/KDP would prefer. And don’t forget those pesky cross-genre permutations — for example, you can add “Romance” to any of the following.

Sampling the all-you-can-eat subgenre buffet

Cyberpunk

Basically, technology has drop-kicked society in the nether regions and now we have to deal with the implications of a computer-generated cyber-regime. Think: The Matrix.

Time Travel

Just like it sounds. Machines or wormholes or whatever moved you from point A to point B in the space-time continuum — future or past. Don’t date that cute girl; you don’t want to risk becoming your own grandparent or creating a predestination paradox.

Surgeon General’s Warning: Time travel, like “warp speed,” is considered impossible by today’s scientific standards. This tends to spark a vicious blood-letting rousing debate about whether it qualifies as science fiction or fantasy.

Military SF

War in space. Things go boom-splat (usually aliens). If not based on actual Xbox games, it sure reminds you of one or three.

Space Opera

Heroic, large-scale stories of infinite epic-ness set in space. All of space, not just a few measly planets. Think: Star Wars or Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series.

Apocalyptic

Living in paranoid terror of the imminent Big Boom — whether the threat is nuclear war, a global pandemic, environmental melt-down, alien invasion, or zombies. Unlikely allies agree to cooperate in order to prevent catastrophe. Oops … too little, too late. Nice knowing you.

Post-Apocalyptic

The Big Boom is yesterday’s news. Welcome to society’s new normal. Watch us put the “fun” in dysfunctional.

Wait for it … one final twist

Just when you think you’ve got a handle on where your book might fit, there’s also the dichotomy of utopian versus dystopian.

Utopian

Huzzah, perfection — the Garden of Eden! Fig leaves are available at the salad bar. Don’t talk to the snake.

Dystopian

A society where even the cockroaches are appalled (cf. POTUS Trump).

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Don’t let this list turn your creative brain cells into clam sauce. It is important — for marketing and promotion — to list your novel where it best fits. But don’t tie yourself in mental knots over it. If it helps, view this list as a smorgasbord of possibilities. When crafting fiction which is truly “speculative,” the sky’s the limit.

For the record, I decided to file Tracker under “Science Fiction/Dystopian” and let the chips fall where they may.