Is there any fantasy with gunpowder?

[Nesacat]

Am going to second Naomi Novik's Temeraire books. Gunpowder battles and dragons combined and they work very well together too.

And a big yes to China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, Iron Council and Scar. Lots of old-fashioned gunpowder here too.

 

[Marky Lazer]

I don't know whether this counts, but Warcraft has guns my mate told me. And I believe there's stories written about that world, too, yeah?

Edit: Look! Amazon.com: WarCraft Archive (Warcraft): Books: Blizzard Entertainment

 

[Joel007]

Usually in the fantasy books i read, gunpower is used by dwarves or gnomes. This would be the books that draw heavily on the world Tolkien created.

 

[suupaabaka]

You could try The Dark Tower books by Stephen King. They have elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror and westerns. The main character is a cross between a knight and a cowboy.

 

[Connavar]

Wolf in Shadow (Sipstrassi : Jon Shannow, book 1) by David Gemmell


Weird no body mentioned Gemmell and Shannow.

Shannow is all about his pistols.

If you arent strictly rifles fanboy you will like that series.

 

[Werthead]

I disagree with Wert. The best fantasy author to use gunpowder is China Mieville, in his Bas Lag books (start with Perdido Street Station).

Besides, you want to hold off on The Monarchies of God until the omnibus--with the heavily revised fifth book--is released next year.

I haven't read The Scar or Iron Council, but gunpowder doesn't play much of a role in Perdido Street Station. It's certainly not as central to the narrative as in Monarchies. But Perdido Street Station is nonetheless a major work and certainly worth reading.

 

[Moraven]

As mentioned: Dark Tower.

Also, Michael A. Stackpole's DragonCrown War Cycle.

 

[dwndrgn]

Just about every modern type fantasy has guns but these are usually individual use - pistols and the like - so wouldn't fit into your war-like theme from your original post. However, if you feel like giving them a try, I'd recommend Butcher's Dresden Files and Codex Alera books. Then there are the recent rash of 'paranormal' which take our modern world and introduce magic, werewolves, vampires, etc. and all include the use of guns. Some good authors there are Patricia Briggs (Blood Bound, Moon Called), Rob Thurman (Nightlife, Moonshine) and Ilona Andrews (Magic Bites).

 

[rai]

What I mean is, I'm really kinda tired of all the lame magic and swords and what not. I always feel that a good ol' real life pike and musket army could kick the ass of any lord of the rings army, Gustavus Adolphus would wipe the floor with those guys, magic or not (unbelievably geeky statement). But are there any fantasy novels where some faction has gunpowder in the form of firearms at all? I don't mean historical fiction either, but actual hard fantasy?

The chronicles of Amber have this to an extent.

 

[Snowdog]

Glen Cook's Instrumentalities Of The Night series uses gunpowder to an extent (though not called that).

 

[Pyan]

Try the Walk in the Dark trilogy, by Alison Spedding.....has as one of its themes the introduction of gunpowder to a pre-explosives culture.

 

[nj1]

Wolf in Shadow (Sipstrassi : Jon Shannow, book 1) by David Gemmell


Weird no body mentioned Gemmell and Shannow.

Shannow is all about his pistols.

If you arent strictly rifles fanboy you will like that series.

Also Gemmells last two RIGANTE novels, RAVENHEART AND STORMRIDER. Both have rifles etc in them and are both good stories, I'd recommend that read the first two RIGANTE books first though,SWORD IN THE STORM and MIDNIGHT FALCON. OK, the weapons are swords etc but they give you the background history for the last two.

 

[Reading_fanatic]

The Warhammer world has a fair portion of gunpowder. The Empire in this world uses muskets and when I last looked (many years ago) dwarves had blunderbusses. Games Workshop have published their own novels set in that world but I haven't read any so couldn't tell you whether they're any good or not.

Warhammer books are good for gunpowder and most are quite well written and well set out also they don't overhype the guns either (Eg have guns dominating everything) so they are quite good

 

[Happy Joe]

I can't beleive that no one has mentioned H. Beam Piper's; Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen.
Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
He also wrote "A Catalogue of Early Pennsylvania and Other Firearms and Edged Weapons..." A Catalogue of Early Pennsylvania and Other Firearms and Edged Weapons at "Restl - Project Gutenberg.
Enjoy!

 

[Rosemary]

Don't the Bridgeburners of Erikson's world use gunpowder, or is it some type of dynamite for blowing up things?

 

[kaelcarp]

I disagree with Wert. The best fantasy author to use gunpowder is China Mieville, in his Bas Lag books (start with Perdido Street Station).

I'd never pass up a chance to recommend China Mieville, and this is one of them. Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council make use of gunpowder.

"Steampunk" stories, as they've been called, are kind of like fantasy stories taking place in gunpowder-usage times.

 

[Wiglaf]

Well His Majesty's Dragon is somewhat historical, and I have never read the series. So I guess it wouldn't qualify.
Do you think there is something technologically simular to World War I with trench warfare and fantasy elements? Instead of Central Powers and Allies perhaps Elves and Orcs? Or men but with dragons instead of biplanes? Or even magic spells that obscure troop movements simularly to the way smoke screens were used by battleships?

 

[chrispenycate]

Well His Majesty's Dragon is somewhat historical, and I have never read the series. So I guess it wouldn't qualify.
Do you think there is something technologically simular to World War I with trench warfare and fantasy elements? Instead of Central Powers and Allies perhaps Elves and Orcs? Or men but with dragons instead of biplanes? Or even magic spells that obscure troop movements simularly to the way smoke screens were used by battleships?

You could try the Harry Turtledove "Darkness" series (into the darkness, through the darkness, lords of darkness, etc which is a fairly accurate inversion? distortion? of the second world war, with parallels and differences that you almost need to be an expert in the original conflict to follow.
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (the father of modern warfare) would have been wiped out in months, possibly weeks in that environment.

 

[DeepThought]

Another vote for Stephen King's The Dark Tower, not only the kick-ass gunslingers but a chaotic and wired mishmash of fantasy, horror and sometimes even bits of science fiction interwoven to great effect, only something perhaps he could pull off? A really unique take on fantasy IMO that every fan of the genre should try.

Cheer's, DeepThought

 

[Overread]

Well His Majesty's Dragon is somewhat historical, and I have never read the series. So I guess it wouldn't qualify.

Not count?
Not true; the tale certainly bases itself in the Napolionic (SP) Wars, but from the first book it is a strong fantasy tale. As the series progresses the degree of divergance from the original increases dramaticall as the whole world is brought into the text. Granted there are not elves or orcs or goblins to fight - just men on one side and men on the other - with dragons on both and in the middle.