Sci-fi & fantasy genre smasher books?

[nposecznick]

Looking for recommendations for good books that smash together scifi and fantasy. That's the broader question. Not so much Science Fantasy ala John Carter of Mars, Star Wars, etc.

In particular, I'm looking for a mix of cyberpunk and contemporary/urban fantasy. HP Lovecraft influence is a plus. I'm less interested in standard werewolf/vampire, celtic fae, angels/demons, or Tolkein/D&D mythologies.

For those who collect comic books - Hellboy (Mike Mignola) meets Ghost in the Shell (Masamune Shirow).

I've already heard about the Shadowrun RPG and its novels, so no need to mention it.

Thanks for any help.

Nick.

[JimF]

You may want to check out John Ringo's There will be Dragons.

http://www.webscription.net/p-412-th...e-dragons.aspx

You can download it free and legal from the publisher.

[nposecznick]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Hitmouse]

Almost anything by China Mieville:
Perdido Street Station
The Scar
The Kraken

Vurt Jeff Noon

The Good Fairies of New York Martin Millar

[PeteMC]

Have you read Neil Gaiman? Some of his should appeal to you I would have thought - Neverwhere and American Gods spring immediately to mind.

[nposecznick]

I have Perdido Street Station on the to-read pile and if I like, I plan on more Mieville.

I have Neverwhere and American Gods already.

Thanks y'all.

The reason I was floating this out there was that I plan to write something like this and wanted to see how others may have done it. So far this niche seems genre seems practically vacant.

[Hitmouse]

Let us know what you think of Mieville.

[sheila]

HP Lovecraft? You should see my latest blog entry. I'm reading everything he has written (stories, letters, poems, essays, etc.) that's still available, and I'm only as far as 'The Mound'. If you want to read some of HPL's works that you may not have seen before, try the HP Lovecraft Archive.

I always thought of Frank Herbert's Dune books as sci-fi/fantasy. The Bene Geserit may be in a sci-fi world, but their abilities, regardless of the explanation, still have the feel of magic. Add mythical creatures like the worms of Arrakis, and it has definite fantasy elements.

If I ever finish my book and get it published, I'll let you know. The plot line contains both fantasy and sci-fi elements and leaves you wondering at times just when the story occurs-in Ancient Egypt, or in the near future.

[EMMAXIS]

HP Lovecraft? You should see my latest blog entry. I'm reading everything he has written (stories, letters, poems, essays, etc.) that's still available, and I'm only as far as 'The Mound'. If you want to read some of HPL's works that you may not have seen before, try the HP Lovecraft Archive.

I always thought of Frank Herbert's Dune books as sci-fi/fantasy. The Bene Geserit may be in a sci-fi world, but their abilities, regardless of the explanation, still have the feel of magic. Add mythical creatures like the worms of Arrakis, and it has definite fantasy elements.

If I ever finish my book and get it published, I'll let you know. The plot line contains both fantasy and sci-fi elements and leaves you wondering at times just when the story occurs-in Ancient Egypt, or in the near future.

You could read my book, "Ages of Aenya" . . . but oh, not quite available yet! So, in that case, I agree with others here: Herbert's Dune is an excellent choice as is Neil Gaiman. If you like comic books, you can't miss his superb Sandman series.

[Randy M.]

Looking for recommendations for good books that smash together scifi and fantasy. That's the broader question. Not so much Science Fantasy ala John Carter of Mars, Star Wars, etc.

In particular, I'm looking for a mix of cyberpunk and contemporary/urban fantasy. HP Lovecraft influence is a plus. I'm less interested in standard werewolf/vampire, celtic fae, angels/demons, or Tolkein/D&D mythologies.

For those who collect comic books - Hellboy (Mike Mignola) meets Ghost in the Shell (Masamune Shirow).

I've already heard about the Shadowrun RPG and its novels, so no need to mention it.

Thanks for any help.

Nick.

I agree with the Gaiman and Herbert suggestions, though there's no particular cyberpunk-ish vibe there. Kim Newman's first novel, The Night Mayor may be closer to what you want; though I don't see that as an entirely successful novel, it was entertaining.

For a more Lovecraftian tone and texture ... while I'm not terribly fond of Brian Lumley he tried something along this line -- merging s.f., fantasy and Lovecraft -- early on in his career in this Titus Crow novels. I believe his Necroscope works may also be along this line; I haven't read them, yet.

More recently, I read The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson, which predates HPL yet gives much the same vibe, using some fantastical invention with a (kinda, sorta) s.f. perspective.

Much more recent works: John Langan's House of Windows, which pulls together a Lovecraftian influenced strain of contemporary fantasy with a more mainstream psychological drama (no s.f.), and Seamus Cooper's The Mall of Cthulhu which views a HPL-ish situation with a somewhat s.f.-like perspective (mostly rational people trying to figure out the rationale behind irrational and fantastic occurances) mixed liberally with contemporary humor with a Christopher Moore-like flavor.

I don't think either of those last two are exact matches to what you're looking for, but might be worth checking into and determining for yourself whether you want to read them.


Randy M.

[symbolhunter]

I posted this in another thread but it is relevant to your query.

Lovecraft is most famous for the remarkable Cthulhu stories. So powerful was the mythos he created, that there have been several excellent anthologies of stories by other authors using it as a basis for their own works.

Here is one I found particularly interesting: It is available in two different editions. The later book contains some additional stories and deletes others.

First there is the two volume set edited by Derleth:

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by H.P.Lovecraft and others: Collected by August Derleth.
Volume 1 contains an introduction to the Mythos by Derleth. this is followed by "The Call of Cthulhu" by Lovecraft and eight stories by other authors using the Lovecraftian universe. Writers include Clark Ashton Smith {2 storeis}, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long {2 stories}, August Derleth {2 stories}, Henry Kuttner, and J.Vernon Shea.
Volume II has "The Haunter of the Dark" by Lovecraft and three stories by Robert Bloch, two by Brian Lumley, and one each by J. Ramsey Campbell, James Wade, and Colin Wilson.
Finally there are biographical material of the various contributors.

I got my volumes at different times. Vm 1 was published by Panther and Vm 2 by Beagle. The copyright of both books is 1969 and they were both published by arrangement with Arkham House. Both were published in paperback.

The second version of this anthology was published in 1990 in a single hardback volume by Arkham House and contains illustrations. There is a different introduction. The title is slightly different:

Golden Anniversary Anthology

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
H.P.Lovecraft & Divers Hands
With Illustrations by
Jeffrey K. Potter

Four stories {2 by Lumley, one each by Wade and Vernon Shea are gone. Additions are by Fritz Leiber, a different story by Lulmey, and one each by Joanna Russ, Karl Edward Wagner, Philip Jose Farmer, Stephen King, and Richard A. Lupoff.

If you can only get one version the 1990 edition is probably to be preferred. However, some of the deletions were actually quite good stories and I think it would be better to have both. ABE is probably the best source for these books. I got my copies for a quite reasonable price.

[EkkoJohnny]

Hey nposecznick,

This is going to sound pretty cheesy..so here it is.

I constantly have a hard time with the genre of my work. It's set in modern day, but there's a dash of scifi. If I tag it fiction adventure, the sci-fi seasoning comes out of the blue at the reader, which isn't cool, but under the Sci-fi tag...one reader replied that he didn't know why the book was tagged as sci-fi.

Am I a lion or tiger or a Liger? Holy mama.

I'd love it if you gave my work a shot and gave me some feedback. If interested, say the word and I'll get you a mobi or epub file.

Just putting it out there...please don't be offended.

jw

[swgamble]

Star of the Guardians- Margaret Weiss-very star wars like in setting with a good plot.
Dies the Fire-S.M Stirling- is really good if you like alternate history/urban Fantasy kind of things.

[belowforty]

Have you ever heared about I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot through a series of interlinked stories: from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future — a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete.

[owlcroft]

Here are a few of what I think some pretty literate books that are hard to assign as either sf or fantasy but that are definitely specfic.

Auster, Paul: In the Country of Last Things
Barrett, Neal Jr: Interstate Dreams
Billias, Stephen: The American Book of the Dead
Blaylock, James: Homunculus; Lord Kelvin's Machine; The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives; The Ebb Tide; The Chalk Cliffs; The Digging Leviathan
Calvino, Italo: The Complete Cosmicomics
Carter, Angela: The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (aka The War of Dreams); Nights at the Circus
Crowley, John: The Deep
Davidson, Avram: The Enquiries of Doctor Eszterhazy
Emmons, Josh: The Loss of Leon Meed
Findley, Timothy: Pilgrim
Finney, Jack: Time and Again; From Time to Time
Geston, Mark S.: The Day Star
Harrison, M. John: The Course of the Heart
Hunt, Samantha: The Invention of Everything Else
Jeter, K. W.: Infernal Devices
Lewis, C. S.: Out of the Silent Planet; Perelandra (aka Voyage to Venus); That Hideous Strength
Lightman, Alan: Einstein's Dreams
Lindsay, David: A Voyage to Arcturus
Miéville, China: The City and the City
Millet, Lydia: Oh Pure and Radiant Heart
Mills, Magnus: The Scheme For Full Employment
O'Brien, Flann: The Dalkey Archive
Ozick, Cynthia: The Puttermesser Papers
Powers, Tim: Last Call; Expiration Date; Earthquake Weather; Three Days to Never
Read, Herbert: The Green Child
Ruff, Matt: Sewer, Gas, and Electric
Stableford, Brian: The Werewolves of London; The Angel of Pain; The Carnival of Destruction
Werfel, Franz: Star of the Unborn
Whitehead, Colson: The Intuitionist
Wolfe, Gene: Free Live Free

Some lean one way, some the other, but you can look them up.