Slipstream (literature)

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Slipstream is a term for a style of fiction which pushes conventional genre boundaries and doesn't sit comfortably within the confines of either science fiction/fantasy, or mainstream literary fiction.

The term slipstream when used in reference to literature, was coined by cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling in an article originally published in SF Eye #5, July 1989. He says in part: "...this is a kind of writing which simply makes you feel very strange; the way that living in the twentieth century makes you feel, if you are a person of a certain sensibility." Slipstream fiction has consequently been referred to as "the fiction of strangeness," which is as clear a definition as any others in wide use.

Slipstream falls into the gap between speculative fiction and mainstream fiction. Fans of mainstream literature may find it too strange, whereas fans of SF may find it not strange enough. While some slipstream novels employ elements of fantasy or magic realism, not all do. The common unifying factor of these pieces of literature is some degree of the surreal, the not-entirely-real, or the markedly anti-real. Many readers who have never heard the term slipstream, will still recognize the names of authors whose works have been categorized as slipstream. These include Paul Auster, Margaret Atwood, Douglas Coupland, Angela Carter, Steve Erickson, Karen Joy Fowler, Robert F. Jones, Haruki Murakami, Christopher Priest, Steve Aylett, Jan Wildt, J. G. Ballard, Jorge Luis Borges and William S. Burroughs.

In films, Memento, Being John Malkovich and Intacto are recent examples that have been called slipstream.

External resources

[Bruce Sterling's original article on slipstream from SF Eye #5, July 1989]
[Sterling and Lawrence Person's combined slipstream list from Nova Express, Volume 5, Issue 2]
James Patrick Kelly covers slipstream in two of his "On the Net" columns from Asimov's Science Fiction: [Slipstream] and [Genre]
[Fantastic Metropolis.com]

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