I think it is important to note here that that though speculative fiction can also be described as science fiction, science fiction is not always speculative fiction. Be that as it may, the “speculative tradition” has been, like so many other global cultural traditions, taken up and given a particular spin by western culture going back as far as Plato on the one hand, and the Book of Revelation on the other. I’m interested in the western thematic because that’s where I live. Since I began reading-and now writing-speculative fiction (more on what that is in a minute) I have come across what I’m calling the “speculative tradition.” I’ve written about that already in a previous post, “What is the Speculative Tradition.” What I will say here is that the speculative tradition in fiction and film is not necessarily a western thematic, for the Mayans had it too, and the Hindu tradition comes complete with an end of the world story, as do other traditions and cultures. Suffice to say that these faux-Casandras distract from real threats that face all of us even as they stand as symptoms for some greater sense that, well, things just ain’t right.Īs varied and diverse as culture and religion tend to be in this world, there is something in us that loves an end. Other prophets have warned us the end is nigh (or is it Nye?) but they and their predictions have come and gone, as will the latest Mayan prediction for reasons that go beyond the scope of this meager blog post. It reminds me of the most recent (of many) back in Y2K. It’s 2012, and we are fast approaching the latest apocalypse deux, at least according to Mayan calendar aficionados.
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