Do novels using an experimental model science fiction?

ecoman · Post by **ecoman** » 05 Jul 2014, 13:46

Is a novel that uses a concept that is in its experimental stages considered Science Fiction? In my novel which takes place during the last Gaza/Israeli war and involves the CIA, Mossad and Hamas terrorists with lots of action, I feel this puts it into the thriller genre. However, the plot revolves around a Hamas bioterrorist hacking into the DNA component of the CIA computer, resulting in a real live virus which causes an epidemic.
Scientists have experimented with DNA based computers and have had some success. Also, as a microbiologist, I know that a virus is nothing more than a DNA molecule surrounded by a protein coat. Therefore, is my novel a thriller or science fiction?

RussetDivinity · Post by **RussetDivinity** » 05 Jul 2014, 17:06

I think it would count as science fiction, though it would be very close to the thriller genre. Science thriller, maybe? I'd call it a cross-genre.

This reminds me of a series (I can't remember the name, sorry) that an author gave up on because he had written it as science fiction but it was getting too close to reality. It dealt with an independent Scotland and a plot by terrorists to use MMORPGs to communicate in secret. The series started coming out a few years before Scotland began seriously considering separating from Great Britain, which happened at about the same time the US government began suspecting terrorists of using World of Warcraft to communicate among themselves. The author was frustrated by how close reality was getting to his fiction, though perhaps if he had adjusted his genre to "science thriller", it might have worked out.

desheikh · Post by **desheikh** » 16 Jan 2015, 07:57

I know that a virus is nothing more than a DNA molecule surrounded by a protein coat ?

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OMAIR

KS Crooks · Post by **KS Crooks** » 16 Jan 2015, 23:52

To me I would consider the story a thriller. Dan Brown's Angels and Demons has an antimatter bomb and Inferno has a virus that reduces the fertility of humans as a way to lower human population. I would not consider either of these novels science fiction. If a person is killed in a castle by a man using a sword it doesn't mean it is a fantasy novel. I would not say I have an exact definition, but for me Sci-Fi needs to have more than one aspect that deals with new science or technology and most of the main characters need to be dealing with this science and technology on a routine basis. good luck with your novel.

moderntimes · Post by **moderntimes** » 17 Jan 2015, 19:26

Technically it's not SF. Science fiction is about things that do not happen or are in the future so far as to be total fiction.

Techno-thrillers often deal with speculative events or slightly amped up events that are offshoots of reality. The simple fact that the item you mention hasn't yet occurred doesn't make it SF. That's because the item is very close to actual events. Now if the story involved human clones or using, say, an alien biological organism? Maybe that would be SF.