Fountain of Knowledge

Magic Realism connected to South America? That's new to me. I think your brief definition of it is pretty much right on. Succinct and to the point

Slipstream...we were having this conversation at home and that's what made me post the topic this week. I'll see if I can explain my understanding of it, and someone with more knowledge can correct me if they'd like. The definition you've got, Raven, seems like a good starting point. The fiction of feeling very strange. But as I understand it, it's more a psychological thing. It's frequently associated with science fiction because there are aspects of science fiction that aren't science based, but are still strange. It's also frequently associated with steampunk, but more because of the 'feeling' of both genre's than because they support or enhance each other.

Which probably still doesn't make a lot of sense. Two examples come to mind that I *think* are slipstream, or have elements of it. The Matrix and Alice in Wonderland. The thing they have in common is the main character spends a lot of time questioning their reality. Phillip K Dick probably also falls into the slipstream category, but since I've only ever see A Scanner Darkly and haven't read the book, I don't know if that's an accurate statement. There's a surreal kind of questioning of reality, and it frequently (though not always) has hidden metaphor in it for larger things.

That's what I've got. Anyone feel free to correct/expand/anything.