Ever since Frankenstein created his Monster, science fiction has been characterized as consisting of stories of mad scientists hunched over laboratory benches. Certainly it is true that science fiction is distinguished from other literature of the fantastic by its use (and some would say abuse) of science.

Gregory Benford notes that it is a common science fiction convention, one that is ignored by writers of pure fantasy, that the author should not contradict known scientific fact, though he may do what he wishes with commonly-accepted scientific theory (33).

Thus, a writer of science fiction would not ordinarily change the boiling point of water at sea level on Earth, but he would feel free to invent a warp drive that would enable a spaceship to overcome theoretical barriers to moving matter faster than the speed of light.

As David Samuelson points out, science fiction, especially hard science fiction, employs extrapolation, the process of imagining relatively-probable worlds of the future by utilizing logical and sometimes chronological extensions of scientific and culture curves and trends of change and development (49).

• "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin
• "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov
• "Schrödinger's Plague" by Greg Bear

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• Benford, Gregory, "Science and Science Fiction," in Science Fiction: The Academic Awakening, ed. Willis E. McNelly, A CEA Chap Book, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Shreveport, LA: The College English Association, Nov. 1974).
• Samuelson, David. Visions of Tomorrow. New York: Arno Press, 1975.