History Main / SlipstreamGenre

* ''WebVideo/TheBoothAtTheEnd'': An anonymous figure brokering deals with, or simply making absurdly accurate predictions about, people's destinies.

Often a form of PostModernism. Similar to MagicalRealism, which can also give a feeling of strangeness, but involves a little more than that. Compare also MaybeMagicMaybeMundane, NewWaveScienceFiction, BizarroFiction, and NewWeird.

* The works of Creator/ThomasPynchon tend to start out here. They veer towards MagicalRealism as the protagonists uncover more and more weirdness.

* Any film by Creator/DavidLynch (Save ''Film/TheElephantMan'' and ''Film/TheStraightStory'').

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' is generally like this, by virtue of the title character being a sort of [[WeirdnessMagnet Weirdness]] ''[[RealityWarper Generator]]'', while simultaneously being too rational to notice any of the weirdness she created. So, there are time travelers, but we never get to see what time machines or time-travel look like. The "alien" characters ''appear'' completely human, but are really StarfishAliens with [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens incomprehensible abilities]]. Other random oddities like spontaneous laser-vision or formerly extinct species of birds tend to pop up whenever Haruhi gets bored (a very frequent occurrence). All the characters have competing [[HandWave meaningless explanations]] for her abilities.

Originally coined by CyberPunk author Creator/BruceSterling, Slipstream is often referred to as "the fiction of strangeness," and that's about as clear a definition as you can get. It falls somewhere between SpeculativeFiction and mainstream or LitFic, depending on the work. Above all, Slipstream is about a feeling of surreality.

* ''Film/TwoDistantStrangers'': Similar to ''Film/GroundhogDay'', this film revolves around a GroundhogDayLoop in which the protagonist, a young black man named Carter, has no idea how he's gotten stuck in the loop. It's a much darker version of the trope in which Carter continually gets into confrontations with a beat cop in which Carter is killed.

* In ''Film/GroundhogDay'', the protagonist is caught in a [[GroundhogDayLoop trope-naming time loop]] with no explanation whatsoever. A few theories are discussed, but story-wise his reaction to it is more important than the reason.[[note]]In the original script the time loop was caused by a curse put on the protagonist by his bitter ex-girlfriend. This was dropped from the movie.[[/note]]

* ''Film/StrangerThanFiction''

* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' has plenty moments of this, particularly in the earlier seasons. Examples includes Kevin the Sapient Robot, Screech picking up radio waves or seeing into the future, or various suggestions that Zack's ability to stop time may not be entirely non-diegetic. Not to mention some various joint [[DreamSequence daydream sequences]].

* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' has plenty moments of this, particularly in the earlier seasons. Examples includes Kevin the Sapient Robot, Screech picking up radio waves or seeing into the future, or various suggestions that Zack's ability to stop time may not be entirely non-diegetic. Not to mention some various join [[DreamSequence daydream sequences]].

Originally coined by CyberPunk author Bruce Sterling, Slipstream is often referred to as "the fiction of strangeness," and that's about as clear a definition as you can get. It falls somewhere between SpeculativeFiction and mainstream or LitFic, depending on the work. Above all, Slipstream is about a feeling of surreality.

* The 1976 ''Film/FreakyFriday'' provides no explanation for the FreakyFridayFlip; it simply happens after the mother and the daughter make a simultaneous wish that they could be in the other's shoes for a day.

* Any film by Creator/DavidLynch (Save Film/TheElephantMan and Film/TheStraightStory).

* In ''Film/GroundhogDay'', the protagonist is caught in a [[GroundhogDayLoop trope-naming time loop]] with no explanation whatsoever. A few theories are discussed, but story-wise his reaction to it is more important than the reason.

* ''Film/GroundhogDay''

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' is generally like this, by virtue of the title character being a sort of [[WeirdnessMagnet Weirdness]] ''[[RealityWarper Generator]]'', while simultaneously being too rational to notice any of the weirdness she created. So, there are time travelers, but we never get to see what time machines or time-travel look like. The "alien" characters ''appear'' completely human, but are really StarfishAliens with [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens incomprehensible abilities]]. Other random oddities like spontaneous laser-vision or formerly extinct species of birds tend to pop up whenever Haruhi gets bored (a very frequent occurrence). All the character have competing [[HandWave meaningless explanations]] for her abilities.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'': The only fantastic elements in the game are Max's time travel powers and their apparent connection to the coming storm, which are never given any explanation. Take those out, and you have a fairly mundane (if very dark, towards the end) high school teen drama.
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''. Most of the, well, events aren't strictly impossible, other than the occasional fabricated species of snake; but things get... rather odd, and more than a little sadistic, as you get further into the series. A lake filled with ravenous leeches? [[MorePredatorsThanPrey What are they subsisting off of?]]. Probably the most surreal bit is when they're hunted by a sea monster shaped like a question mark. The narrator/author [[NoFourthWall breaks the fourth wall constantly]] and is supposedly a journalist of some sort within the universe; he seems to be nearly as unlucky as the protagonists. The weirdness is [[PlayedForLaughs mostly for comedy]], but it [[CerebusSyndrome gets increasingly serious]] towards the end.