Did Anyone "Invent" Science Fiction?

Quick thoughts on the impossible-to-pin-down nature of genres.

For the last few days, my timeline has been filled with angry reactions to a tweet. (Shocking, I know.) In this case, it was sparked by a dubious claim by the NYT that H.G. Wells “invented the genre of science fiction” along with Verne and Gernsback. As you can see from the ratio below, thousands of people mocking the tweet with most of them declaring t…