fabulism

The deadline has passed for the awesome August 2019 issue of Electric Spec. If you got your story in: Thanks! If you didn't get your story in: consider submitting for the notable November 2019 issue. :)

In our continuing series of obscure sub-genres of speculative fiction, today we consider fabulism. Fabulism is a form of magical realism in which fantastical elements are placed into an everyday setting. If you're thinking that sounds like magical realism, I agree. Some people consider fabulism to be a type of literary, rather than genre, fiction. In this context, Gulliver's Travels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Life of Pi would be considered fabulist.

In my graduate studies of popular fiction the consensus was fabulism is a bridge between fairy tales and magical realism. Magical realism is more real than fabulism. Fabulism is more real than fairy tales. Make of all that what you will.

Bottom line: send us your magical realism, your fabulism, or your fairy tale. We enjoy them all!

What's your favorite obscure sub-genre of spec fiction?