Technology vs Magic (reading recommendations)

[abraves247]

I am writing about an alien world where technology and magic exist. The technology is advanced far past our own, and both sides are constantly at war with each other.

Are there any good books you can recommend to read for this topic?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Plan out your system of magic rather than having it Harry Potter style.
Recluse series
Larry Niven Known Space series and figure out how you would add Magic.

 

[abraves247]

Thanks Ray, I'll check that out. Thanks for the help.

 

[chrispenycate]

Piers Anthony tries sime hybrid solutions - particularly his 'Split Infinity' and 'Iincarnations of Immortality' series. Harry Turtledove's 'Case of the Toxic Spell Dump' combines the philosophies rather nicely. And Melissa Scott's 'Five twelfths of Heaven' (Silence Leigh) sees the mechanical vibrations of mundane technology masking the celestial harmony that allows travel between worlds, so banned, or used as a blockage to further development.

But for competition between the animistic magic worldview, and the causalitous scientific explanation I would recommend Greg Key's 'The Age of Unreason' series (starting with 'Newton's Cannon, so set in the cusp point of separation between alchymie and physics). But I can't believe the dichotomy and confrontation would continue long; within a generation hybrid solutions would be coming to the fore. And engineers and technologists would just add an extra tool set to their panoply of problem-solving possibilities.

 

[abraves247]

Thanks for the suggestions Chrispenycate.

 

[Azzagorn]

Not an advanced tech vs magic story but Garth Nix's Abhorsen Trilogy has some interesting ideas of what happens when tech meets magic.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

It may be a little off target but do consider Roger Zelazny's Amber books. In essence the princes (and the bad guys) can travel through parallel dimensions - a process they call hell riding - and in each of those dimensions different rules apply. In some magic works and science doesn't, and in others it's the other way around. One of the big issues is in trying to get guns to work in certain dimensions, and another is that you can't really drive in all worlds as your car may stop working in some, so you ride horses instead. In one from memory, face powder is a natural explosive.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Magic Engineer and also the story telling about the arrival of the Angels (Really people fleeing a space battle that crash land) in the Recluse series.

I read one Amber book. Fun.

 

[Sancho]

Great challenge. I guess it depends on what you're approach is. I can think of Robin Hobb's Soldier son series or Julie Kagawa's Iron King series, where technology threatens a Magical kingdom. However the best one for me would be the Frank Herbert's Dune series, where witches hide within the intergalac ruling houses.

Also David Brinn (Fav author) quotes Tom Robbins which might be helpful:
"Science gives man what he needs,
But magic gives him what he wants."

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Also of course the later Discworld Terry Pratchett books, Particularly
The Truth (Moveable Type)
Going Postal (The Clacks were real before wired telegraph and worked very fast to send messages across Europe, even in code)
Raising Steam (Steam Engine)

 

[abraves247]

Wow, thanks guys for all the great suggestions. Looks like I have a lot of reading to do.

 

[Maggie Beare]

Just read Garth Nix and he was brilliant!

 

[David Evil Overlord]

The Sword And The Flame series by Joel Rosenberg had a group of college student roleplaying gamers from our world end up in the fantasy world of their game. After getting on the wrong side of the Slavers Guild, they accept the challenge to end slavery in this world. They start using their engineering knowledge to introduce firearms. But the Slavers Guild can afford to hire wizards to make a magic-technology combination that approximates black powder firearms.

P.S. In this world, wizards don't personally go to war, because the most important military strategy is "kill the enemy wizard first".

 

[Raincloud Man]

Glynn Stewart has done an entire series that is technically still updated called "Starship's Mage", where the only known FTL option is to use magic to teleport ships in one-lightyear increments. It features magic Vs. Tech in spades.

Brandon Sanderson has magic and tech in several of his series, but the one that jumps out is the Skyward series, it's more like psionics here but still should apply.

There's also an old YA series by Jack Campbell that features mages and engineers in rival ruling guilds. Can't remember the name though. The engineers are starting to go full AdMech after they control admission so hard that invention more or less ceases, and they run out of precursor tools to maintain and make more of the stuff they already have.

 

[Randy M.]

Plan out your system of magic rather than having it Harry Potter style.
Recluse series
Larry Niven Known Space series and figure out how you would add Magic.

While remembering that some readers find planned out magic boring: If it's entirely predictable, it's not really magic. (L. Sprague deCamp's and Fletcher Pratt's Enchanter stories are great for showing how "planned" magic can go awry.)

That said, magic should have limitations. My only real problem with Harry Potter was that the spell the bad guys used to kill was too easy to use, it didn't seem to have an effect on the user. I prefer Tim Powers works in which magic comes with a cost to the user.

 

[Swank]

D.O.D.O. by Stephenson is an interesting take.

 

[BAYLOR]

Hell's Gate by David Weber and Linda Evans

 

[Raincloud Man]

While remembering that some readers find planned out magic boring: If it's entirely predictable, it's not really magic. (L. Sprague deCamp's and Fletcher Pratt's Enchanter stories are great for showing how "planned" magic can go awry.)

That said, magic should have limitations. My only real problem with Harry Potter was that the spell the bad guys used to kill was too easy to use, it didn't seem to have an effect on the user. I prefer Tim Powers works in which magic comes with a cost to the user.

They had a bunch of other spells that could be used to kill in various ways, the only real unique thing with the killing curse is that the one using it has to WANT to kill the target.
So by definition using it means you have no excuse.

You could use the levitation charm to hang a big rock over a doorway and then crush someone's head as they exit, much harder to track.

 

[BAYLOR]

Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen

 

[JunkMonkey]

Season 9 of Stargate SG1 plays with the conflict of ideas when advanced technology (in the guise of magic/religion) struggles for dominance against advanced tech as advanced tech.