Originally Posted by CDSmith

Did the term 'science fiction' even exist before Frankenstien? I can live with Mary Shelly being dubbed the mother of it. There are always going to be 'softer' or lesser known works that came prior to hers, but it was her monster that served to be the 'big bang' of the science fiction genre. Before it there are bits and pieces, hints and mentions, and as I said several lesser known works or even known works that simply didn't have the massive impact that Shelly had. But after Frankenstien there are a host of books, movies, and later on TV series that flooded the world with aliens, rockets, space, planets, monsters, creatures, saucers, robots, and the unworldly bizarre.

The assertion isn't that she was the first. She wasn't. But when I think of the origins of what we now know as "science fiction" she and her creation definitely comes to the forefront. No better mother could a genre like this have.