Science Fantasy

[Fishbowl Helmet]

Now, I love me some science-fantasy, and I'm sure I'm not entirely alone in that around here.

Came across this article on the subject and it's got me jazzed for tracking down some of the titles listed.

Any one have favs they're interested in sharing?

 

[Ryan Mueller]

I do like science fantasy, and I feel there isn't enough of it. What's better than combining my two favorite genres? You seem to see it a lot more in video games these days, but not so much in books.

That's where I'm excited for Brandon Sanderson's long-distant Mistborn series set in a futuristic setting.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I could put in a plug for a fab space opera with a distinct space fantasy feel to it coming out next month....

I love space fantasy (evidently, given what I write) but think finding it as a genre can be hard. To get the feel of it I hang around the outer edges of space opera and usually find something I like there.

I'll give a quick plug to Kameron Hurley. I'm not sure she's entirely space fantasy but she does play with the genres nicely. Also, Bujold is pure sf but I suspect most space fantasy lovers would dig Vorkosigan where Miles runs around like a knight errant (an analogy she makes a lot). Looking at the article, it's identifying not just magic as a requisite but picking up on the fantasy themes, andBujold does that, I think.

And I think the best blending of the genre recently is Guardians of the Galaxy. Again, not in terms of visible magic but in terms of the quest feel of it. (At which point my hand claws and I whimper two years until the sequel. Two years....)

 

[Toby Frost]

Would steampunk fit into this? The Victorian SFF from which it largely derives used fantasy as well as pure SF without really defining them very clearly as two genres. Then you have books that mix the two, like the John Carter stories, which are nominally SF but really pretty much fantasy. I'd be tempted to include anything involving psychic powers, too.

And how about Chris Wooding's novels? They have robot-type creatures and airships, but it all seems to be magically powered.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I really miss Science Fantasy; maybe it was a 'seventies thing. I reckon the ultimate Science Fantasy is Dune - so far future... A lot of my stuff would count as Science Fantasy, not least Urbis Morpheos and the Memory Seed novels. That combination of ultra-far-future with a dollop of science and some seriously weird environments... fantastic.

 

[Vince W]

I really miss Science Fantasy; maybe it was a 'seventies thing. I reckon the ultimate Science Fantasy is Dune - so far future... A lot of my stuff would count as Science Fantasy, not least Urbis Morpheos and the Memory Seed novels. That combination of ultra-far-future with a dollop of science and some seriously weird environments... fantastic.

I've never considered Dune science fantasy, but if I think about it... feudal society, limited lasers, man to man combat, duels... you're probably right Stephen.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think once there are psi powers you're in the hinterland...

 

[Vince W]

If you're referring to 'The Voice' in Dune springs, that's not psi, but a learned physical skill based on psychology.

But perhaps this isn't the answer you're looking for... *waves hand across screen*

 

[Ray McCarthy]

that's not psi, but a learned physical skill based on psychology.

Ah, the Bene Gesserit "witches"

That's what they want you to believe.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

If you're referring to 'The Voice' in Dune springs, that's not psi, but a learned physical skill based on psychology.

But perhaps this isn't the answer you're looking for... *waves hand across screen*

of course it is.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

/me suspects @springs of belonging to a certain organisation that I'm hoping never notices me.

 

[Richard HR Penn]

Since my visit to a Star Trek Convention in the mid 90's where Steve Arnold and other Star Trek brass (ok, its getting late... misspelling easily) nearly caused a riot at a Creations Convention in NYC by stating that Star Trek was not Science Fiction but Science Fantasy, I really dislike the term science fantasy. Fantasy is just that fantasy. Science Fiction is the authors interpolation of science today and conjecturing what it may be tomorrow. Fantasy is something we know will never be in tomorrow. So Dune and so many others are Fantasy, not science fantasy. I am a stickler on that because there is no real science to base fantasy on.

Don't get me wrong, as far as fantasy goes, Lord of the Rings and Dune are phenomenally great fantasies.

PS Creation conventions were NOT the first Star Trek Conventions. Joan Winston and her friends put on the first Star Trek Convention, and there is even a debate if there was one before that one in 1972. I know, my friends and I were encouraging Creations to run Star Trek Convention back in the mid to late 70's and they said, it was not there cup of tea. They were only interesting in Comic Conventions. This was at their Long Island Store where they started. Creations was the first Trade Marked ST Convention which put most if not all the fan run conventions out of business.

 

[Foxbat]

I've always considered much of Moorcock's work as Science Fantasy. Having said that, however, there are really only two types of literature - good and bad.

 

[Kylara]

I'd suggest some of Ann mccaffrey's works as science fantasy. A few of the later PERN novels but the one that really springs to mind is the crystal singer trilogy. Some SF bits in and F bits, a sort of one foot in each, which I would say is Science Fantasy. I would consider Dune to be science fantasy too if we are specifying science fantasy as a further descriptor for the SFF genre

 

[BAYLOR]

Abraham Merritt The Moon Pool , The Ship Of Ishtar , The Metal Monsters, Dwellers in the Mirage . Those fit into that category and they are good reads.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

For those who read YA, quite a lot of Andre Norton's books are science-fantasy.

Harrison's Viriconium books (mentioned in the article) could be called science-fantasy, I suppose, but to me they really read more like fantasy in a far future setting. Does a future setting and some fiddling around with ancient machines make a story that would otherwise appear to be fantasy into science-fantasy? Clarke's Third Law notwithstanding, when the plot would not be any different were the machines magic spells -- when the machines seem to be nothing more than the trappings of science, to bolster the futuristic setting -- does Clarke's Third Law really apply? The same questions apply to C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine books -- though whichever side of the line these books fall, I would say they are close enough to appeal to readers who are looking for science-fantasy.

 

[tinkerdan]

I just finished Emma Jane Holloway's Trilogy of books about Sherlock Holmes Niece. The Baskerville Affair.

They read much like steampunk but would tend to fall more in the GasLamp or GasLite category. There are many machines including automatonics. Plus a bit of magic and life imbued into electronics through magic that often are mistaken for clever devices because magic is forbidden and the maker would be burned if they admitted having magicked them. There's enough science in the whole thing to make me easily put it in the Science-Fantasy category.

Even so in a way it reads much like a Harry Potter with Eveline Cooper taking Harry's place and being transported to an alternate universe of Sherlock Holmes time with Airships Automatons and Alchemy. It's quite clever and well written despite the fact that the novels are epic in size.

Emma Jane Holloway previously has written a number of Paranormal Romance as Sharon Ashwood; so the novel contains an element of Romance, which seemed quite suited to this mixed genre.

Another series I started recently is the Steerswoman Series by Rosemary Kirstein : She's written a tale of the future when something terrible has happened and the moon is gone. She wraps in a bit of misdirection by having dragons and demons in a world dominated by wizards. As the story unfolds the wizard's power sounds more and more like technology so I could easily place this in that Science Fantasy category.

Kirstein crafts the story quite well with some awesome world building so that though this could be a future Earth it has a unique enough feel of it's own that it might be another misdirection. I'm heading into the third novel and there seem to be two more so I'm not sure how epic it might be eventually.

 

[BAYLOR]

Magus Rex by Jack Lovejoy This is a really fun book. It should be a classic.

 

[soulsinging]

And how about Chris Wooding's novels? They have robot-type creatures and airships, but it all seems to be magically powered.

First one I thought of too... daemonism in his Ketty Jay series was always basically magic.