A Canticle for Leibowitz

Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural... fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as related static, motion, and virtual arts. Speculative fiction as a category ranges from ancient works to both cutting edge, paradigm-changing and neotraditional works of the 21st century. Speculative fiction can be recognized in works whose authors' intentions or the social contexts of the versions of stories they portrayed is now known, since ancient Greek dramatists such as Euripides whose play Medea seems to have offended Athenian audiences when he fictionally speculated that shamaness Medea killed her own children instead of their being killed by other Corinthians after her departure, and whose Hippolytus, narratively introduced by Aphrodite, Goddess of Love in person, is suspected to have displeased his contemporary audiences because he portrayed Phaedra as too lusty.
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Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe... such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural phenomena, divine judgement, climate change, resource depletion, zombies or some other general disaster. Post-apocalyptic fiction is set in a world or civilization after such a disaster. The time frame may be immediately after the catastrophe, focusing on the travails or psychology of survivors, or considerably later, often including the theme that the existence of pre-catastrophe civilization has been forgotten . Post-apocalyptic stories often take place in an agrarian, non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of technology remain. There is a considerable degree of blurring between this form of science fiction and that which deals with dystopias. The genres gained in popularity after World War II, when the possibility of global annihilation by nuclear weapons entered the public consciousness.
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Post-holocaust is a sub-genre of science fiction dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophe---usually nuclear war, but not invariably. It rose to... prominence following World War II, because for the first time it was believed that man had the capacity to destroy his civilization. One early example, though, was written in the 1930s Stephen Vincent Benet's story "By The Rivers of Babylon." Most post-holocaust stories feature primitive descendants of modern-day people, usually in a pseudo-medieval society. Those whose backstory includes nuclear warfare often also feature mutation, of animals, plants and humans alike. Mutants may be anything from the heroes of the story to inveterate enemies of the protagonists. A seminal work in this subgenre was Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz. Many subsequent stories were clearly derivative of this novel. Things like a recrudescent Church , pseudo-medieval society, and the theme of the rediscovery of the knowledge of the pre-holocaust world were central to this book.
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Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, literature has composed the majority of fantasy works. Since the 1960s however,... a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other media. Stories involving , paranormal magic and terrible monsters have existed in spoken forms before the advent of printed literature. Homer's Odyssey satisfies the definition of the fantasy genre with its magic, gods, heroes, adventures and monsters. Fantasy literature, as a distinct type, emerged in Victorian times, with the works of writers such as William Morris and George MacDonald. J. R. R. Tolkien played a large role in the popularization and accessibility of the fantasy genre with his highly successful publications The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . Rarely does one consider modern fantasy without conjuring the memory and image of Tolkien and his creations. Tolkien was largely influenced by an ancient body of Anglo-Saxon myths, particularly Beowulf, as well as modern works such as The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison.
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