I began my author journey twenty years ago writing a political mystery, thriller, suspsense novel; the concept of poli-fi was not even a glint in my eye. I had written a typical present-day novel, relying heavily on realism and facts to drive the story along. After a year or so of work, it still lacked energy and excitement, so I threw it in a drawer and moved on with my career.
After much of the book’s plot came true between 2016 – 2021, I committed to publishing as an author and pulled that novel back out of the drawer. I rewrote it from start to finish with an exciting new vision to tell a even more terrifyingly plausible story, but this time using elements of a versatile genre the technothriller and hard science fiction.
When I first started writing twent years ago, science fiction had many fewer subgenres and to be honest, science fiction was rarely a genre of book I would pick up at the book store. I would most often gravitate to mystery, thrillers, & suspense, biographies, and current events. Today, science fiction & fantasy has become a richly diverse landscape of subgenres and sub-subcategories thrilling readers with scientific fact and theory as a basis for world building, plot development, the exploration of themes, and creation of characters.
Now that I have completed my second book and it is preparing for release, I have come to see that I am redefining two subgenres of two larger categories of reading: the mystery, thriller, suspense novel and science fiction & fantasy. I found it surprising to enjoy writing in these subgenre because I did not identify initially as a science fiction & fantasy nor a techno-thriller author.
So why is the definition of a new sub-subcategory of mystery-thriller-suspense and science fiction & fantasy so exciting?
Enticing Readers with Poli-Fi
Poli-Fi is the combination of political suspense, political thriller, and science fiction. It captures that this specific type of political thriller also combines elements of hard science fiction. Poli-Fi is two parts political fiction and one part science-fiction; the technology does not take a leading role in the plot or conflict of the story. However, without the fantastical setting of the future or alternate universe where such technology is possible, the story could not take place or would not be solved by the protagonist.
Political suspense and poliitcal thrillers are suspenseful reads where Machiavellian maneuvers between political rivals drive the main action of the book. Often the stories border on mysteries because a “whodunit” murder or crime and its ensuing coverup is at the center of the book’s driving tension. The characters are richly devleoped and drive the story as much as the tention. Usually set against the scene of American U.S. national politics involving the presidency, Congress, or the Supreme Court, a hero or heroine is often in a race against a deadline to reveal the bad actors and save the country from peril. Authors in this genre include Allen Drury, Stacey Abrams, Margaret Truman, and James Patterson.
Political thrillers often come in a series and feature a lead hero circumnavigating the globe to avert a potentially catastrophic confrontation between world powers. Military might, terrorism, and mass casualties are often a threat to be extinguisedh by a main character who is ex-military or ex-CIA or some other branch of foreign intelligence service. Books in this genre are often heavily plot driven, requiring fast scenes and intense action to keep the reader turning the pages. The “good guys” often win, but not without some just-in-the-knick-of-time solution and not without someone sacrificing themselves for the cause. Popular authors from political thrillers include Logan Riles, Daniel Silva, Jack Mars, Jessica James, Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, J.B. Turner, and Mark Greaney.
Retire Philosophical Science Fiction
Science fiction is a vast and complex forest of subgenres, but those most proximate to political suspense and political thrillers are the philosophical science fiction books, which can come in either the hard science fiction or soft science fiction categories. Let’s explain these further. But philosophical science fiction is not a high performing category of science fiction.
Philosphical hard science fiction relies heavily on projecting anticipated technological advancements based on currently available or known technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloning, space travel, deep sea exploration, weapons of war that are not laser or photon cannons, and other plausible advancements. Authors including Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz, N.K. Jemisin, David Mitchell, Octavia Butler, Aldous Huxley, and Hugh Howey would be at home in this category.
Philosphical soft science fiction might include elements of time travel, Matrix-like simulations of the mind, extensive world building, alien races, interstellar travel, flying cars, and other advancements that require the suspension of disbelief to entertain that the capabilities of the characters are possible in their world. George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, Lois Lowry, Ted Chiang, Douglas Adams, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Gabrielle Zevin, Aimee Pokwatka, Liu Cixin, and Frank Herbert are great examples of this genre.
Philosophy as the leading descriptor here is too cold. Philosophy as a descipline has an intellectural stigma these days, and it is in my opinion a disservice to the brilliant authors named above to refer to their writing with such a dry, stogey term. Let’s unleash a new wave of creative writing by carving out a space for poli-fi between the science fiction and thriller-suspsense shelves at your favorite book shop.
Closet Science-Fiction Fans
For years, when the term science fiction was mentioned, my mind immediately went to Star Wars, aliens, and Back to the Future when George McFly dreams of becoming a science fiction author. But today, science fiction has possessed a greater spectrum of the zeitgeist. This genre has become so expansive, creative, and inviting that it has welcomed in many more readers and watchers than might readily identify themselves as sci-fi fans when asked.
Think about the last ten movies or series you streamed at home. How many of them included a fantastical element such as time travel, aliens, futurist thinking, dragons, imaginary creatures, magic, or innovations not yet possible?
If the answer includes more than 2, you are exactly the type of closet sci-fi fan that would enjoy poli-fi.
Spectrum of the New Sub-Subcateogry
So where does Poli-Fi live on the spectrum of book categories. Look for books that categorize themselves in both Mystery-Thriller-Suspense (MTS) and Science Fiction & Fantasy to start. Look for the popular MTS subcategories of thrillers, suspense, and cime & mystery within science fiction. Other popular sub-subcategories for poli-fi titles for now would be conspiracies, assassinations, technothrillers, thrillers-political, or suspense-political.
That is until more authors find this new term pol-fi and we find a way to get Amazon to start offering this sub-classification.
