GENRE CONTENT DECISION TREE

(Note: At each level, the “yes” response leads to the next level in; the “no” response to the next level down.)

I.        The narrative has at least one central, salient SF element

A.     The narrative world displays logic consistent with the reader’s

1.      The salient SF content is one or more individual characters

a)      The story depends on the persistent nature of the SF character

(1)   The character is fundamentally like those in the text’s normative social world (e.g., of the same species)
(a)    The character is separated from society by its commitment to science

(i)      MAD SCIENTIST

(ii)    PSI POWERS

(2)   The characters are fundamentally unlike those in the text’s normative social world
(a)    The character by its nature transgresses some natural boundary

(i)      MONSTER

(ii)    ALIEN

b)      The story depends on the changed or changing nature of the SF characters

(1)   The change is in the physical capability of the characters
(a)    CAPABILITY SHIFT – PHYSICAL
(b)   CAPABILITY SHIFT – MENTAL

2.      The salient SF content is one or more social systems

a)      The social system or systems reflect the near-term consequences of an apparently ubiquitous disaster

(1)   POST-APOCALYPSE

b)      The social system or systems reflect some more or less steady state alternative to that of the implied reader

(1)   The reader clearly is intended to endorse the system
(a)    EUTOPIA
(2)   The reader clearly is intended to reject the system
(a)    DYSTOPIA
(3)   The reader is not clearly intended to endorse or reject the system
(a)    UTOPIA

3.      The salient SF content is the setting or the treatment of setting

a)      The principle use of the setting is as a domain for exploration

(1)   EXPLORATION

b)      The principle use of the setting is to present one or more alternatives to the reader’s world or expected world

(1)   The narrative world is based on an extrapolative  alternative
(a)    One or more characters has the ability to more voluntarily through time

(i)      TIME TRAVEL

(b)   Characters cannot voluntarily move through time

(i)      ALTERNATE HISTORY

(2)   The narrative world is based on the literary model of pseudo-medieval, often magical adventure
(a)    SWORD & SORCERY

4.      The salient SF content is an invention

a)      INVENTION

B.     The narrative defies logic consistent with the reader’s

1.      SURREAL NOVUM

II.     NOT APPLICABLE (The narrative does not have at least one central, salient SF element)