denoting a subgenre of science fiction set in a future recognizably similar to a contemporary setting, having only moderate differences in technology
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.]
The Wishful Thinker…is a near-future fantasy concerning an Englishman able to read the thoughts of a leading Communist in Russia.
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.
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.
Coppel made a different reputation with a near-future thriller, The Dragon (1977).
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.
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.
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.