Fluid Futures: Science Fiction and Potentiality

How does science fiction envision new forms of life — plausible yet radically different from what we know?

Fluid Futures explores how science fiction offers bold, thought-provoking scenarios that challenge our assumptions about time, technology, and the limits of human experience. Rather than predicting the future, sci-fi reveals how emerging developments could unfold in unexpected and transformative ways. As Rod Serling famously said, science fiction is “the improbable made possible.”

This book examines three core methods science fiction uses to imagine the future: extrapolation, speculation, and fabulation. Through literature and film, Fluid Futures showcases how sci-fi rethinks time, reconfigures narrative, and constructs possible worlds that stretch our imagination. Instead of imposing a single theory of science fiction, it highlights how the genre itself theorizes and reimagines concepts we take for granted.

Key Features:

• Extrapolation, speculation, and fabulation—the three essential techniques sci-fi uses to construct futures
• Deep dives into literature and film, showing how sci-fi envisions alternative realities
• Exploration of time and narrative, revealing how science fiction reshapes our perception of possibility
• A fresh perspective on sci-fi theory, emphasizing how the genre creates new ways of thinking

Perfect for readers of speculative fiction, futurism, and literary theory, Fluid Futures is an essential guide to how science fiction opens doors to new worlds of thought.

Steven Shaviro is the DeRoy Professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit, and a recipient of the Science Fiction Research Association’s award for lifetime achievement in science fiction scholarship. Besides his work in science fiction scholarship, he has also written about film theory, music videos, speculative realism, and the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.