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Looking for books with magic and technology

Salcor

First Post
I was wondering if anyone knew of some books out there that integrate magic and technology into their world. I have read the Incarnations of Immortality with does this, and a number of Shadow Run novels, but I was wondering if there were anymore, less well know stories out there like this.


Salcor
 

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Salcor said:
I was wondering if anyone knew of some books out there that integrate magic and technology into their world. I have read the Incarnations of Immortality with does this, and a number of Shadow Run novels, but I was wondering if there were anymore, less well know stories out there like this.

Well, Incarnations leads us to Anthony's Apprentice Adept series; in Book 3, where the frames are juxtaposed, there's a lot of magic and technology working in conjunction.

Stop reading at book 3, though. The other books are awful.

Christopher Stasheff's The Warlock in Spite of Himself is another... though there's a pseudo-science explanation for the magic.

Simon Hawke's The Wizard of 4th Street has magic in a modern setting, from memory.

The SERRAted Edge novels... by Lackey and others. I've only read one, I think, so I can't tell you much about them.

The Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter books by Laurell K Hamilton.

Those are a few off the top of my head.

-Hyp.
 

Probably not quite what you're looking for, but J. Gregory Keyes' "Age of Unreason" series incorporates magic and technology on 18th century Earth.
 


Roger Zelazny has a two-book series, Changeling and Madwand, that sort of fit the bill, although they're more about two different worlds - one magic and one technological - and what happens when two people switch places in the respective worlds.

Johnathan
 


Anselm Audley's Aquasilva Trilogy features some kinds of tech (although not much you'd recognise) and some kinds of magic, and is quite atypical as a fantasy epic.

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is all about the supernature while simultaneously being full of science. I just have to read the last book, now...

Terry Pratchett occasionally throws technological advancement into the Diskworld, but it tends to have philisophical overtones and serves as a plot vehicle more than predictable technology.

Dianna Wynne Jones writes books which tend to feature magic outside the medieval genre; the only exception I can think of is A Tale Of Time City, which you should read anyway, as most of that tech might as well be magic.

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is set in the modern day, and while it occasionally features crossovers between magic and tech, it more often features magic doing trivial technological tasks better.

John Ringo's There Will Be Dragons (and possibly subsequent books) is set in a 41st century technological utopia, but things take a change for the strange and by the end of the book people are fighting siege battles against orcs where the highest-tech weapon is a longsword. Plus, the hardcover comes with a CD containing half the books Baen's ever published and a note saying 'do whatever you want with this CD's data, just don't charge money'. Great value there.

Diane Duane's books about young wizards, her related books about cat wizards, and the unrelated Stealing the Elf-King's Roses all feature a modern-day setting with magic in it. There's some good reading in there. You also get Tiger-Satan fighting T-Rex-Satan, and it makes sense.

As Pants said, China Mieville is all about the industrial-fantasy-punk whatchamacallit. Fantasy without limits.

An awful lot of generic fantasy fiction features a technological background; they tend to call it the Age of Wonders or something similar, but it doesn't factor into the story much. Probably the greatest exception is in The Lord Of The Rings, which throws lots of industrial processes into the hands of the villains (moreso in the books than in the more generic-fantasy movies, though).

But the ultimate place for mixing tech and magic? Comic books. I'll give you a rundown of three titles. Marvel's Avengers is headlined by three characters: Captain America (upgraded human), Iron Man (power armour and tech whiz), and Thor (god of thunder, whose portfolio was at one point taken over by an orange alien). The Justice League features the last survivors of two dead worlds; a Greek goddess; and a galactic space ranger (who happens to carry the most powerful weapon in the Universe on his finger). Crossgen's Mystic takes place on some other planet, somewhere, ruled by seven guildmasters with Great Powers, but also features flying taxis and looks rather like the 1920s. (Sadly, with Crossgen's recent troubles, tracking down this book may become difficult.)

Most of these stories are crazy, unique things, of course - trendstarters or their own beast altogether. But that's what you'd expect...
 

A number of books by Martha Wells incorporate both magic and technology (usually a pseudo-Victorian era version). I would suggest Death of the Necromancer as a good starting point.
 

Guys thanks for the input, I will have to look at the books you have recommended. So I guess I will refine the question a little more. I guess the books I am looking for would be more of a mix of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Looking for worlds where advance science, and fantasy magic overlap (star wars all ready noted). Once again thanks for the info.

Salcor
 

Salcor said:
Guys thanks for the input, I will have to look at the books you have recommended. So I guess I will refine the question a little more. I guess the books I am looking for would be more of a mix of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Looking for worlds where advance science, and fantasy magic overlap (star wars all ready noted). Once again thanks for the info.

One that doesn't completely fit the bill (why am I posting it then? ;) ) but is interesting to read nevertheless would be the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman. It mostly features magic, but on an alien world that was colonized by spacefarers from Earth. There isn't much technology per se, but the relationship of magic and technology is explored, and there are reasons behind it all. Which may or may not be what you're looking for.
 

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