Futuristic Fantasy

[rune]

Im not sure I always like this kind of fantasy and I suppose in someways they can be thought of as horror and or Sci fi

I read Forest of Teeth and Hands by Carrie Ryan, which was quite well written. But the subject didnt appeal to me. Im like this about bleak future Sci Fi too. So little hope in these kinds of books

Have others read this kinda of fantasy, and are there any that arent a bleak view of the future

[Roland 85]

Could you give a few examples? I don't really get what futuristic fantasy means.

[rune]

A fantastical view of the future. Not necessarily Sci-Fi though - so a sci - fi example would be Minority Report say by Philip K Dick

This book I mentioned in the thread, thats a book about a virus that is let loose and how the world has evolved for folks afterwards

[Roland 85]

Uhm, but this is still science fiction, not fantasy?

[KatG]

No, it's not science fiction just because it's set in the future if it's got fantastic elements. Bleakness is sort of in the eye of the beholder. Futuristic fantasy tends to have a bleak side, but that doesn't mean it isn't hopeful. So some of the ones I know of off the top of my head:

Terry Brooks, Shanara series -- The most famous perhaps, a post-apocalypse fantasy series set on Earth and the future stuff creeps in mostly as humor, though it becomes more relevant as the series progresses and it creates some of the species present through mutation and magical mutation.

Steven R. Boyett -- Ariel and Elegy Beach -- Also post-apocalypse, Ariel was written in the 1980's and was quite famous and Elegy Beach is the follow-up written twenty years later.

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison -- Keltaid series -- elves, Celts settled in another galaxy.

Kit Whitfield -- Bareback -- technically this one might not be seen as futuristic, but I think it qualifies enough. It's an alternate near-future Earth where most of the population are werewolves. (Whitfield just got a World Fantasy Award nomination for her historical fantasy In Great Waters.)

Stephen King -- Dark Tower series -- the series jumps through alternate universes, so some are futuristic and some are not.

There are more, but I'll have to go hunting.

[Siberian]

Sterling Lanier, Hiero's Journey. It's apocalyptical story with some fantasy elements.

[Bastard]

The Vampire Earth, but it has the bleak-vibe to it and a lot of characters die, but it's a fun read which balances out the bleakness with some fun banter between characters.

What about The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe? I haven't read it, but it seems to have a mixture of sci-fi and fantasy.

Recently read the urban fantasy, The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay and though it's set in the present, it has a bit of a sci-fi vibe to it since a scientist developed some sort of gateway that connected 3 worlds. And then we get specialized weapons, but other than that it's a magic filled world with a lot of different being/races. And it's not a bleak world, but we'll see where the story takes us from here on. Really enjoyed the book myself, and I recommended it with little reservation for UF fans.

[Randy M.]

No, it's not science fiction just because it's set in the future if it's got fantastic elements. Bleakness is sort of in the eye of the beholder. Futuristic fantasy tends to have a bleak side, but that doesn't mean it isn't hopeful. So some of the ones I know of off the top of my head:

Terry Brooks, Shanara series -- The most famous perhaps, a post-apocalypse fantasy series set on Earth and the future stuff creeps in mostly as humor, though it becomes more relevant as the series progresses and it creates some of the species present through mutation and magical mutation.

Steven R. Boyett -- Ariel and Elegy Beach -- Also post-apocalypse, Ariel was written in the 1980's and was quite famous and Elegy Beach is the follow-up written twenty years later.

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison -- Keltaid series -- elves, Celts settled in another galaxy.

Kit Whitfield -- Bareback -- technically this one might not be seen as futuristic, but I think it qualifies enough. It's an alternate near-future Earth where most of the population are werewolves. (Whitfield just got a World Fantasy Award nomination for her historical fantasy In Great Waters.)

Stephen King -- Dark Tower series -- the series jumps through alternate universes, so some are futuristic and some are not.

There are more, but I'll have to go hunting.

Zothique by Clark Ashton Smith
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
The Northwest Smith stories by C. L. Moore


Randy M.

[algernoninc]

C J Cherryh - Morgaine books are set in the future with gateways between worlds, but also with sword and sorcery.

C S Friedman - Coldfire books are also set in the future, I found the concept of dreams becoming reality very interesting and they prose ok, but the are somewhat dark.

Anne Mc Caffrey - Dragons of Pern : you probably already read those, but I mentioned them anyway

Brian Aldiss - Helliconia - a mix of science fiction and epic fantasy

[Twinner]

Not sure if Herbert's original DUNE series qualifies as fantasy or not but I did enjoy them when I read them long ago. Not sure if I would love them as much if I read them again as an old grumpy guy as I did as a young man, but I would still think they would make a good read for someone looking for 'futuristic fantasy' (whatever that is!).
Good reading-

[KatG]

There are a batch of science fiction novels and series that fantasy fans like and claim for their own often. They are science fiction but it is unlikely that you are going to care. Some of them are:

Gene Wolfe's New Sun and Ur Sun series
Anne McCaffrey's Pern books and Dinosaur Planet series
C.S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy
C.J. Cherryh's Riders at the Gate series
Gayle Greeno's Ghatto series
Robert Charles Wilson's Darwinia
Jack McDevitt's Eternity Road
Frank Herbert's Dune series
Tad Williams' Otherland

But for books with actual fantasy, you need something like Boyett. And I don't know why I always keep forgetting Jack Vance's The Dying Earth, but that one too. There were quite a lot of them in the late 1960's-early 1980's on the Michael Moorcock, Stephen King, Roger Zelazny side of the field, a lot of the parallel worlds tripping. The Amber books could kind of qualify as futuristic fantasy, I guess. Piers Anthony's Phaze series combined futuristic with pre-industrial fantasy in a two world system. Periodically someone does something. I suspect we'll actually be seeing a larger batch of them soon.

[rune]

Thanks folks for the recommendations. I have read some of them and hadn't realised they would fall into a futuristic fantasy storyline - that is until I reflected on them been posted up and they do I am such a plank at times LOL

Will have to see if I can get some of these through my library, before trying to buy

[Alchemist]

I was going to recommend the Book of the New Sun as a paramount example. I think you could cite Star Wars as a classic example, although I've never read any of the books. Kevin J Anderson has a long series, although I haven't read it--I think it has something do with Seven Suns.