How (and why) do we point at a story and say, “This is science fiction”, and what does such a gesture reveal about the genre and our own attitudes to its concerns? In this module, we will explore the territories that Science Fiction ranges over, historically and conceptually. From “A Planet Called Science Fiction” (weeks 1-4), which examines the space that science fiction marks out for itself, we will move into the complicated relationship that Science Fiction has with fantasy, and analyse the ways in which it has been sub-divided into various effects and sub-genres in “Travels in Genre Space” (week 5-8). The final section of the module, “Re-drawing the Genre Map” (weeks 9-12), explores the burgeoning field of sf production, its relevance to society, and the ways in which its tropes and techniques relate to other “fantastic” modes of literary production, alongside recent controversies in the field.