Books that have Sci Fi and Fantasy elements in it

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could point me to any books that have sci-fi and fantasy elements in them (besides Star Wars books).

Sci-Fi as in space ships and advanced technology, and fantasy as in "LOTR-type magics and creatures". Or has such a book been written yet?

I'm writing a novel which will incorporate both magic and technology (the magic in my book will be mostly "faith based", similiar to the Force in Star Wars, although its powers are derived from gods). I would like to try and see how those authors have done it, so I can try another way (that way I'm not just "ripping them off", since I'd prefer to make up my own stories and ideas). So far my novel will be in a futuristic setting, although the fantasy elements will slowly make its appearance as the book progresses (so far I have enough fleshed-out ideas to write at least four books out of them).

Also, are there books where there have been "magic and technology" wars (aka a war between magic and technology)? A friend of mine told me she has heard of them when I told her the idea, but didn't mention a specific book, so I was wondering if I wasn't completely original on this (I do have a story behind my "version", and hopefully it won't be like anyone else's. And yes, it will play an important role in my story, as it will explain many things to the protagonist as he journeys through his adventures).

Hmm...

Two that immediately come to mind are "Harry Potter" (of course) and Anne McCafferey's Pern series. In the beginning the Pern novels seemed to be fantasy -- it's only in her lastest ones that we find out that they are actually scientifically based.

Another suggestion (don't cringe, folks) is Piers Anthony, specifically his "Adept" novels...

Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials is fantasy that's largely based on quantum physics. And two linked books by Mary Gentle, Golden Witchbreed and Ancient Light, are SF-based books about an earthwoman visiting an alien planet, but play out on the planet more like fantasy.

C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine trilogy: Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, and Fires of Azeroth, and also the fourth book, Exile's Gate. They're a very cool mix of sci-fi and fantasy elements.

I love these books, btw, especially the first three, and heartily recommend them to everyone who hasn't already read them.

"To Your Scattered Bodies Go" and the other Riverworld books by Philip Jose Farmer.

"The Well of Souls" books by Jack L. Chalker

"The Jesus Incident" by Frank Herbert & Bill Ransom.

Melissa Scott's trilogy Five Twelfths of Heaven, Silence in Solitude and Empress of Earth are are very strange twist of science/magic.

While it's not precisely SF elements, Mercedes Lackey has some fantasy novels that are set in modern-day. The Bedlam's Bard series. She's co-authored these with other people.

Catherine Asaro has one that I think of as both SF & fantasy. But I can't remember the name of the book right now. She includes a section in the back on the quantum physics theory that you *do not* have to read/understand to understand the book itself. (She's a great speaker, too, BTW. Heard her a couple years ago at the Okla. Writers' Federation conference.)

Raymond Feist (I think) has a couple books, Magician: Apprentice and I can't remember the second one's exact title, that might fit that, too. The main character is called Pug.

If I can think of any more later, I'll post them.

~Jen

Most any of Marion Zimmer Bradley's DARKOVER novels mixed SF/F elements.

Dave Duncan has a series called The Seventh Sword, I think, where the main char discovers that the "magic" in the world is quite often produced by scientific methods. (The main character was a chemist before he stumbles into the fantasy world.)

More obliquely, Stephen Donaldson's The Mirror of Her Dreams (and its sequel) has a few elements of sci-fi in a primarily fantastical book. (One character introduced LATE in the story is a space marine of sorts.)

Orson Scott Card's Enchantment has a modern guy going back to a time where there is magic abounding in the world, but he can still help fight some of the bad guys with homemade molotov cocktails. Treason and The Worthing Saga, also by OSC, also contain elements of both SF and Fantasy.

piers anthony's apprentice adept series about a war between two alternate realities, one of extremely dubious science, one of magic.

Niven's "the flying sorcerers" is about a plantet so filled with superstition that all science is viewed as magic. most of the tribal shaman's tricks have scientific explanations, but a few are never explained.

it's about an anthropologist who comes to study the natives, and this shaman who becomes convinced that he's a rival magician.

One I just thought of, though I don't regard it as a recommendation for combining the two, is Tanith Lee's The Birthgrave. Tanith Lee's an excellent writer and about nine-tenths of The Birthgrave is excellent. But the last section, in a book that's entirely fantasy & magic based, has an alien space-ship turning up out of nowhere, so the aliens can put the heroine in a mind-reading machine that acts like hypnotic regression and enables her to understand what's been happening to her. One of the worst endings to a good novel I've ever read.

The Fires of Paratime... L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Interesting twist on the Norse myths and time travel... an interesting / fun read.

B/ND

Andre Norton has both in quite a few of her books. Off-hand both Witchworld and Forerunner books have both elements. And Merlon's Mirror has elements of off-world technology giving Merlon some of his magical secrets.