What is speculative fiction?
Take the X-men films- that’s science fiction. What I wanted to write was not about people with crazy, impossible powers, that’s been done very successfully (0r not depending on your point of view).
Besides, real life is almost as crazy. Take the animal kingdom, there’s creatures out there who can do all kinds of amazing things like re-growing their limbs when they’ve been cut off and changing the colour of their skin to match their environment. Not to mention navigating by electromagnetic fields or by echolocation.
Genetic manipulation already allows us to transfer genes between species and there’s plenty of known genetic mutations that give humans animal-like attributes. Combine this with any other genre (thriller, crime, romance) and you’ve got speculative fiction.