near-future adj.
denoting a subgenre of science fiction set in a future recognizably similar to a contemporary setting, having only moderate differences in technology
SF Encyclopedia
SF Criticism
Genre
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[1949 Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr. 162/1
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In The Solitary Hunters Dr. Keller considers a near-future U.S.A. in which a private individual has taken over the job of handling all criminals.]
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1954
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A. V. Clarke
The Wishful Thinker…is a near-future fantasy concerning an Englishman able to read the thoughts of a leading Communist in Russia.
Fanfare & Suchlike in Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine (vol. I, no. 3) 41/1 -
1961
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Judith Merril
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Readers of previous S-F annuals will remember Theodore L. Thomas’s ‘The Far Look’ and ‘Satellite Passage’ particularly for the vivid personal realism of his near-future portraits of man in space.
in Year’s Best S-F 6 (1962) 93 -
1981
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Samuel R. Delany
I mean that, historically, far-future SF (space opera) developed in the pulps of the 1930s and ’40s before near-future SF developed in the late ’40s and early ’50s.
Some Remarks on SF Criticism in Science Fiction Studies (vol. 8, no. 3) Nov. 236 -
1986
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Brian W. Aldiss
David Wingrove
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Coppel made a different reputation with a near-future thriller, The Dragon (1977).
Trillion Year Spree x. 257 -
1987
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John J. Pierce
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Leinster’s ‘Politics’ (1932), a near-future war story, turns on the use of automatic range finders as the decisive element in a Pacific naval battle.
Great Themes of Science Fiction v. 86 -
2016
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1984 is an example of near-future science fiction—narratives that extrapolate from current technology and society to think about what life could be like in 10 years, or a year, or an hour.
What Black Mirror, Her and the Near-Future Genre Tell Us About Tomorrow in Guardian 21 Nov. (electronic ed.)
Research requirements
antedating 1954
Last modified 2021-08-11 13:34:06
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.