Science meets Magic

[Lauro]

Hello all this question is made because of David Weber new book The Road to Hell so my question is could someone point me to books like these one ? Where magic meet science? The other book i know of i Starship's Mage: Omnibus but please if possible could someone help me Thank you in advance

[Timothy]

Starship Mage has 2 more in the series now. Hand of Mars, and Voice of Mars. Both really good books.
Hand of Mars
Voice of Mars

[Anna]

My own Sword of the Gods series is 'science fiction decorated epic fantasy' with a blend of science and magic (genetically engineered super-soldier angels from a galactic empire who crash land on Earth in 3,500 BC and spawn the myth of fallen angels).



For more mainstream stuff, however, I would say The Tower and the Hive series by Anne McCaffrey. The 'prime talents' are able to kinetically hurl ships between solar systems, their telepathic abilities boosted by some kind of machine.



Also by Anne McCaffrey, her Crystal Singer series flirts with magic with the 'singers' ability to cut crystal rock using their voice and the way crystal singers are prone to 'madness' (which in magic is called an 'energy cost').



The Saga of the Pliocene Exile series by Julian Mays blends science fiction and magic nicely with its telepathic races and 'ships' which can leap across the universe (and later in the series, one of the humans gains godlike powers).



Gene Wolfe has a series set on a distant world, but otherwise reads like epic fantasy:



And let's not forget the entire John Carter series by Edgar Rice Burroughs? While on Mars, it's space opera. But the dude gets there through some force of magic:



With the current focus on fantasy, I'm sure there are a lot MORE series out here that combine space opera and magic. C'mon ... Space Authors Fans AUTHORS .... tell us what you've got? If we've got enough of it, maybe I'll create a new Listopia for us?

[Al "Tank"]

I've read two books that leap to mind where science is masked as magic:

Gather, Darkness! by Fritz Leiber. A post-apocalyptic story where science is masquerading as magic used by "priests".

The Day After Tomorrow by Robert Heinlein where a surviving military research group use their scientific discoveries, masked as religious magic, to battle Chinese invaders who've taken over the United States.

[Trike]

The Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony takes place on two worlds in different universes, one of magic (Phaze) and one of technology (Proton). People and robots cross back and forth between the two. Seven books in the series (although I only read 3 or 4), the first one is Split Infinity.

[Jim]

Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny. Magic and reality intertwined.

[Akshay]

DO NOT miss out on the Harold Shea stories The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea by L. Sprague DeCamp!

Hands down some of the most entertaining science-meets-fantasy fiction I've ever read.

Besides that everyones listed most of the best stuff with Borroughs's work being amongst the best in my humble opinion. Old, but still solid.

ALSO, perhaps to some small extent the Terry Brooks series of Shannara Chronicles novels set in a magical post-apocalyptic world that has arisen from a vague future where we blew ourselves up and eventually magic became a thing again - well it might fit the bill.

Cheers!

[C. John]

Not sure if it exactly qualifies but in Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy series magic acts as science. As an example when trying to determine if a bullet came from a certain gun the two are lined up and a spell is cast. If the bullet came from the gun it returns to the gun if it didn't then it doesn't. The following is the best volume to get as it collects all of Garrett's stories in the series . There are also some smaller collections (all out of print of course and finally Michael Kurland wrote a couple of novels about Lord Darcy which aren't bad but not as good as Garrett .

[V.W.]

Christopher Stasheff's "Warlock" series. A futuristic agent is sent to protect the culture of a medieval world where "magic" works.

[Trike]

The Mageworld series by James D. McDonald and Debra Doyle might also be something to check out. I have them in my TBR pile. First one is The Price of the Stars.

[R.]

Akshay wrote: "DO NOT miss out on the Harold Shea stories The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea by L. Sprague DeCamp!

Hands down some of the most entertaining science-m..."

Seconded. The 0.01 of a dragon scene is one of the funniest things in SF.

[Lauro]

Since i don't wanna sound ungrateful , thank you all for your books :)