“For me, the term slipstream (which I never encountered all that much, as evocative as I found it) was for a time a portal to the worlds I wanted to visit: so many of my favorite writers could be collected under such a term, people like Aimee Bender, Kelly Link, Ted Chiang, Jeff VanderMeer, Jonathan Lethem, Jeffrey Ford, and the others who appeared in Feeling Very Strange,” Bell wrote in an email to me. But Sterling wrote that’s the trouble as well:Īuthor Matt Bell, of the upcoming novel Appleseed and well-known for his speculative fiction, counts Feeling Very Strange as his first encounter with slipstream: When successful, slipstream authors can jump into genre or literary/mainstream circles. Although they may add it might be a bit on the weirder side. On the other hand, a mainstream reader may also recommend a slipstream novel. Slipstream novels are categorized as not strictly under science fiction, fantasy, or horror, but may be recommended by their ardent readers. In a nutshell he wrote, “this is a kind of writing which simply makes you feel very strange.” Most of the essay brainstorms and then acknowledges arguments against the term. Sterling admitted it’s not clearcut what slipstream is. Sterling then goes on to name “slipstream” for a group of books that straddle the fence of mainstream and genre, even acknowledging the term as a parody of the word “mainstream.” He referred to an interview with Carter Scholz, who hailed mainstream/literary authors as shouldering the weight of successful, meaningful speculative fiction of the times: Margaret Atwood, Don Dellilo, etc.
In the end, you the reader will ultimately be the judge for where on the spectrum of weird or speculative fiction slipstream resides. Is it a sub-genre? Is it its own animal? And how do contemporary authors feel about the term?įor this overview, we’ll tackle slipstream’s origins, its modern uses, a couple author interpretations, and give some examples on what may currently be considered slipstream (though some of you may disagree, and that’s okay!). Like speculative fiction, slipstream’s definition varies depending on who you ask and with what context. That is where slipstream comes into play. Like speculative fiction, there is another term that lingers somewhere between literary fiction, mainstream, and genre. In early 2020, I tackled the definitions and interpretations of speculative fiction. She lives with her family in a suburb of Indianapolis. When she’s not nesting among her books and rough drafts, she’s chasing the baby while the dog watches in confused amusement.
She holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has worked in web production and content management. Lyndsie Manusos’s fiction has appeared in PANK, SmokeLong Quarterly, and other publications.
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