Fantasy like characters in SciFi novels

[Álvaro]

Hi all,

I'm a long time fantasy reader who's starting to get into science fiction novels. I've realized that I enjoy a particular kind of books and I was wondering if you guys/girls could recommend me similar books - I'm looking for sience fiction novels with larger than life characters that have "fantasy like" powers. Some examples of what I mean could be Star Wars (jedi, force), Dune (mentats, bene gesserits, future prediction, body control...), Lord of Light/This Immortal (god-like aliens/mutants), etc.

Thank you very much for your help :).

PS.- I'm from Spain, so please excuse any grammar or spelling mistakes.

[Phil]

Roger Zelazny is your man. Check out Nine Princes in Amber.

[Elí]

I will be keeping an eye on this thread. :)

I too like fantasy archetypes and more old-fashioned space adventures, but I've yet to read this kind of novel.

[Jim]

I'll second Phil's recommendation of Zelazny. Most of his books are a blend of SF & fantasy. The Amber books are a great place to start. Some of his books are pretty far out, but those are excellent without being experimental. I'd avoid Creatures of Light and Darkness for a while.

[[deleted user]]

Andre Norton's Moonsinger series comes to mind. Interstellar space travel, ray guns, shape shifting shamans.

There's also a lengthy series of RPG-inspired Shadowrun novels mixing cyberpunk with magic.

MZB's Darkover series mixes spaceships & magical effects, too.

And China Mieville's Perdido Street Station world of Bas-Lag has both scifi & magic elements, though the hero doesn't have magic himself.

[Álvaro]

Thanks a lot for your help! I had indeed enjoyed a few Zelazny novels so I will keep reading his stuff.

About the other ones, I hadn't heard about those before (read Mielville's Kraken, though, which I enjoyed as well), so thank you :). That's alot of interesting stuff to read.

While looking for information on the subject, the Lensman series came up... Has anyone read it?

[[deleted user]]

Álvaro wrote: "While looking for information on the subject, the Lensman series came up... Has anyone read it? ..."

I'm surprised Spooky hasn't jumped in on this, since he's our regnant Doc Smith fan.

The Lensman series space opera has aliens bestowing a "Lens" on select humans to become part of an elite intergalactic police force. The Lens grants a variety of powers to the wearer. The stories probably fit your Science Fantasy definition, to the extent you feel Green Lantern meets your criteria.

Not that long ago we had a Discussion of Galactic Patrol, the first Lensman novel published (though not now chronologically first, since there were prequels.) Check out some of Spooky's notes in that topic for more background information.

[Brenda]

Jack Vance. Phillip Pullman.
Remember that it's not an either -or. The difference between SF and fantasy is more like a spectrum. There's a wide gray area in the middle, with millions of books in there.

[Álvaro]

Well... when I said "fantasy like" I didn't meant specifically magic. Psychic powers, genetic modifications... Anything, explained by either magic or pseudoscience in an spaceopery setting, would fit on what I'm looking for. Maybe I should have said "superhuman abilities"? Sorry.

Another example... I recently read the first Culture book "Consider Phlebas" and, while I didn't like the author's writing style, the setting and the main character (an assassin who can shapeshift, control his organism and produce poison through his nails) was pretty interesting for me.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your suggestions and comments... It's pretty cool to talk to people who share interests and can make this nice suggestions :)

[Conal]

Here is a few more...

Saga of the Pliocene Era by Julian May that starts with Many-Colored Land and her follow up series The Galactic Milieu which starts with Jack the Bodiless.

You could also try the Talents series by Anne McCaffrey which starts with To Ride Pegasus and her follow up series The Tower and the Hive which starts with The Rowan

Both of the above authors explore psychic powers pretty extensively in these books.

[Sarah]

Álvaro wrote: "Hi all,

I'm a long time fantasy reader who's starting to get into science fiction novels. I've realized that I enjoy a particular kind of books and I was wondering if you guys/girls could recommen..."

Álvaro wrote: "Hi all,

I'm a long time fantasy reader who's starting to get into science fiction novels. I've realized that I enjoy a particular kind of books and I was wondering if you guys/girls could recommen..."

Hi Alvaro,
I would recommend Kaja Star: No Place Like Home by Aaron Rocheleau. It is kind of a cross between Star Wars and X-men. Also the Dark and Day series by Isreal Grey isn't bad but leans more toward the fantasy side of things. Hope this helps. Happy New Year!

[Álvaro]

A few more to my "to read" list! :). Thank you very much everyone!

[C.E.]

It isn't listed as "Scifi" but The Destroyer series by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy (151 books) features super martial arts. Enemies over the years including androids, psychics, witches, genetically-altered beings, mad scientists, etc. Lots of Satire thrown in. Book 1 is "Created the Destoyer" but you might want to start with #3, "Chinese Puzzle" as they hit their groove there.

A really cool, future series is "COBRA" by Timothy Zahn, about super soldier cyborgs battling humanity's enemies in the distant future. I think there's four?

And for a fun mix of Scifi and Fantasy, check out Piers Anthony's "Blue Adept" series.

[Jim]

C.E. wrote: "It isn't listed as "Scifi" but The Destroyer series by Richard Sapir and Warren Murphy (151 books) features super martial arts. Enemies over the years including androids, psychics, witches, genetic..."

Wonderful! #3 was my first Destroyer book & I did later go back & read the first 2, but I agree with you. I have over 100 of them, but the stride was lost with Sapir, IMO. His political insights balance Murphy's goofy humor. Somewhere in the late 60's, Sapir's influence disappeared although his name still appeared as a coauthor for many other books. I don't care much for the New Destroyer, either. The first 60 or so were great fun & probably still would be for people who remember the headlines & trends when they were written. Much of the humor is lost if you don't, though.

[Álvaro]

That Destroyer series looks awesome in a cheesy-70's-kungfu-scifi-7milliondollarman-mashup kind of way. Straight to my To-read list.

The COBRA series feels pretty similar to what I originally was looking for when I first opened this thread.

By the way, I started reading the Safelhold series (first book Off Armageddon Reef) by David Weber. While I find his writing can be annoying (this is the first book I read by this author) the premise and the general idea are quite interesting - a person turned into some sort of technological prophet/agent of change in a medieval-like setting. All science-fiction and no fantasy here, though.

[Jim]

Álvaro wrote: "That Destroyer series looks awesome in a cheesy-70's-kungfu-scifi-7milliondollarman-mashup kind of way. Straight to my To-read list...."

That's possibly the best description of the series that I've ever read.
;)

I tried the Armageddon Reef. I liked his Honor Harrington series far better. He's the king of data dumps, though. They're not awful in print where I can skim them, but they're painful in audio, especially in a reread. Some are reused through out the books, so really need to be skipped. Still, Honor is a great character. I definitely see the Horatio Hornblower influence, but it's not a rip off by any means.

[Mary]

For Roger Zelazny, I would recommend Lord of Light; Nine Princes strikes me as fantasy.

Andre Norton's Catseye

Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis

Michael Flynn's The January Dancer and the rest of that series, though many wonders have SFnal elements. Which I think pushes to the border of what you want.

[Mary]

The Night Land, a Story Retold by James Stoddard also has powers in a far-future world