Theme:
Write a science fiction story that uses gothic settings and tropes.
Gothic science fiction is the oldest kind. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, arguably the first sci-fi novel, is a gothic tale of monsters, galvanism, and dark places. Mary herself was the ultimate goth teenager, and her adventures, temptations, and tragedies are legendary.
I am writing this while on holiday in the beautiful, historic, and literary city of Edinburgh, Scotland where I am surrounded by Gothic architecture and daily visit some of the favorite haunts of famous gothic authors. Mary Shelley passed through here on her journey further north to Dundee (where, more recently, Grand Theft Auto was invented). She had her fictional Dr. Frankenstein visit the city in Chapter 19 of her novel:
But the beauty and regularity of the new town of Edinburgh, its romantic castle and its environs, the most delightful in the world, Arthur's Seat, St. Bernard's Well, and the Pentland Hills, compensated him for the change and filled him with cheerfulness and admiration.
Another famous gothic horror story was penned by an Edinburgh author: Robert Louis Stevenson. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde was written by Stevenson while confined to bed with a fever and, perhaps, indulging in hallucinogenic substances. The famous novella, a classic tale about the duality of man's character, was also an allegory based on a real-life acquaintance of Stevenson's named Reverend Walter Jekyll, who was homosexual and eventually forced to denounce his Anglican faith.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, also born in Edinburgh, is most famous for his Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Doyle was a physician/scientist and published several sci-fi books. One of the early ones was The Lost World (see link below) which has an uncanny similarity to a more modern blockbuster novel and movie: Jurassic Park.
And finally, there's Sir Walter Scott. An enormous statue in the center of Edinburgh is dedicated to this writer. Not a politician. Not a soldier. Not even a faithful dog (there's one of those here, too). But a writer, of all things! Scott wrote and published 27 novels in the final 18 years of his life. All but one of those were historical gothic romances where the strangeness and tragedy come mostly from natural circumstances rather than supernatural ones. The gothic castle depicted at the top of this article is a photo I took of Abbotsford, Scott's home on the banks of the River Tweed.
As far as I know, Scott never wrote any gothic sci-fi, but he did have some of his characters move from London to a misty alien world up above called Scotland, where the inhabitants spoke a language that was nearly indecipherable and whose customs were strange and otherworldly. After living here for several weeks, I get that.
What is Gothic Sci-Fi?
I'm no expert on gothic literature, but there are those in our writers' group who are. One SFS writer, in particular, has studied Walter Scott's work and recently written about one of his gothic romances, The Bride of Lammermoor. So be on your toes for this theme challenge.
There is plenty of information on the net about gothic story types. They typically have the following general characteristics:
Dark, gloomy settings, like ancient underground cities on an alien planet.
Specific character types, like a villain/monster, a hero, and a weaker character in some kind of distress (not necessarily a damsel).
Themes around tragedy, horror, and revenge.
An overarching examination of good versus evil.
Some of the best gothic stories, IMO, are ones where the hero wins in the end but then realizes it's not the monster they fear but the possibility of becoming the monster. One thing I do know about gothic tales is they rarely have happy endings.
Caveats and Warnings
Make sure your story is science fiction, involving some aspect of past, present, or future science. Simply writing a gothic romance or medieval horror story isn't enough to qualify for this prompt (or even SFS). Sometimes this is a matter of degree, but merely mentioning a ray gun or a spaceship in an otherwise conventional story might not be sufficient for the fickle editors at SFS. Remember, Frankenstein's monster could not have existed without the "science" of galvanism reanimating his tissues with electricity.
Given the dark and dangerous themes typically associated with gothic styles, and the often shocking and violent plot twists, we need to be careful not to overdo the mature content and overstep the longstanding PG rating of SFS stories. Leave the really dark stuff implied but unstated and your story will likely turn out better.
Your gothic tale need not be set in the middle ages, or even in a medieval castle. I've included a link below to one of my favorite Bradbury short stories that is decidedly not medieval but is still regarded (at least by me) as a great gothic sci-fi tale. With its brooding theme and shocking understated conclusion, The Veldt perfectly employs the gothic elements mentioned above.
Rules
Entries should be submitted in the usual way using the Write for Us submissions link.
Mention the title of the prompt (Gothic Sci-Fi) in the Notes field of the submissions form.
Submissions must be received by June 15 to qualify.
Entries must comply with all the usual SFS Guidelines.
Your work can be horror, romance, dystopian, alien, or whatever, as long as it’s Sci-Fi and addresses the prompt's theme.
Submit only one story for this prompt.
You may continue to submit stories to SFS that are outside the contest, and we encourage you to do so.
If you have more than one story that fits the theme, please submit your best one for the prompt and send us the others as non-theme entries. Also, if the editors feel your theme entry is good enough to publish but does not satisfy the theme requirements, we reserve the right to accept it as a non-theme submission.
After the prompt has ended and all the entrants have been processed (usually before the first day of the following month), we will list and link to the participating stories in a blog post. The editorial staff will choose one story for special mention as the Editors' Choice of the Month.
Exemplars
These vintage science fiction short stories exemplify the gothic style. Click the links to read a free online version of each story.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde — Robert Louis Stevenson, January 1886
The Lost World — Arthur Conan Doyle, The Strand Magazine, March 1912
The Veldt — Ray Bradbury, The Saturday Evening Post, September 1950
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Go ahead. Save a damsel (or a dude) in distress. Battle the monsters that live in that dark place. Tell us what really happened under the pointed arches. Let your goth out!
— The Editors
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