Dragons, gods, and spaceships?

[Madman Starryteller]

What do you think of the combination of science fiction and fantasy?

In my setting I've got, among many things, spacefaring dragons, gods, goddesses, and of course, spaceships.

As always it all depends on execution. But what are your direct thoughts on this combination?

Have you read any science fiction, fantasy books you would recommend?

 

[Banespawn]

I don't read a lot of stories that combine science fiction and fantasy. Usually, it's one or the other, and much more fantasy than sci-fi.

The Skyward series by Brandon Sanderson combines both, though I'd say it's more sci-fi. There's magic, I guess, but nothing like what he typically writes.

An idea I'm working on now combines the two more directly.

 

[Luxuria]

I am currently writing a Sci-fi and Fantasy story and I like it. I love adding fantasy elements to anything. To me, Sci-fi is a setting and Fantasy is a genre type. But I like the combo, because I like structured fantasy in a sci-fi setting. Hehe.

 

[Homer Potvin]

I read a book once where dragons were sentient starships. Literally, the dragon talked and felt things but you climbed inside it and flew it through space. The Iron Dragon, maybe? It wasn't great, aside from a female character who orgasmed butterflies from her hoo-hah. Literal butterflies.

 

[Naomasa298]

I've written dragons and spaceships. Well, close enough, although they weren't dragons and only small spaceships.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Found it. The Iron Dragon's Daughter. I guess Squizzing Butterflies was already taken.

 

[Trish]

Found it. The Iron Dragon's Daughter. I guess Squizzing Butterflies was already taken.

It's a trilogy now. And it was nominated for awards. Your description and some of the reviews are hilarious.

 

[Homer Potvin]

It's a trilogy now. And it was nominated for awards. You're description and some of the reviews are hilarious.

Each book a decade plus apart apparently. Original was 1993. That sounds about right. It wasn't bad but wasn't particularly memorable either. Save for the butterflies, of course.

The ending was epically lame but I won't spoil it. Perhaps the sequels redeemed it.

 

[Trish]

Each book a decade plus apart apparently. Original was 1993. That sounds about right. It wasn't bad but wasn't particularly memorable either. Save for the butterflies, of course.

The ending was epically lame but I won't spoil it. Perhaps the sequels redeemed it.

Yeah, the last one was in 2019. 25 years for a trilogy.

You've immortalized my typo lol.

 

[JT Woody]

Ive only read 1 SciFa series and i loved it. But it was subtle, tho.
It was the Samaria chronicles by Sharon shin

On the surface, its about angels. Or, a world governed by angels who do everything in accordsance to "God".

But the more you read, the more you learn just how much AI has influenced the world and their concept of "God".

One big thing through out the books were that there is a race of people that is heavily "jewish coded". The rest of society doesnt like them because "god has ignored them". They are persecuted and enslaved and killed.
BUT.... they are the only people with out "Gods Kiss" which is a jewel implanted at birth on their arm. So "God" doesnt "talk" to them and doesnt "see" them.
You find out what that all means in the last book where an anti-angel woman digs out the "Kiss" and joins a group of rebels who dug out their "kiss".
(Edit to add: there is also a race of people who are muslim coded... the women wear veils, men and women are segregated, they are strict in their prayers and their devotions to "God"... but they dont trust the Angels, and they are the main slave dealers)

All this takes place on another world because the lore is, their world was dying, so "god carried them to safty in his cupped hands" and sent angels to watch over them.

I discovered it in middle school, rummaging through a paperback book sale. The book was way to mature for me to understand at that age, but i kept it and reread it in HS, discovered it was book 5 in the series, and bought the other books.

 

[Homer Potvin]

More to @Madman Starryteller quesion, I think the genres blend more and more every year. And fantasy and sci-fi have been fellow travelers forever, so blending them probably isn't as noteworthy as it used to be. Just do whatever is fun. Writing is supposed to be fun, goddammit.

 

[Dee-123]

The Void trilogy by Peter F Hamilton is very hard sci-fi, but nested within that universe is a massive quasi-fantasy reality. I'd recommend a read, because for me at least, he blended those brilliantly without any dissonance, so much so that in the sci-fi sections one begins to yearn for more fantasy, and during the fantasy, the sci-fi.

You may want to create a world where everything coexists together, but at the very least I think that trilogy can show you how shifts in voice can lead to new directions. Best of luck!

 

[Tallyfire]

The Broken Earth trilogy is a mixture but doesn’t have many of the things you expect from either genre. The science is mostly geology and geophysics, and the fantasy part is magic-wielding, and then there’s tech based on the magic. That’s the series that won three consecutive Hugo awards.

 

[Night Herald]

What do you think of the combination of science fiction and fantasy?

In my setting I've got, among many things, spacefaring dragons, gods, goddesses, and of course, spaceships.

As always it all depends on execution. But what are your direct thoughts on this combination?

Have you read any science fiction, fantasy books you would recommend?

Oh, I love that sort of stuff. My current main project is a blend of the two, perhaps leaning a bit more towards fantasy. I don't have dragons (they're extinct, the setting's equivalent of dinosaurs) but there are spaceships (only one actual high-tech vessel, but many magical oars-and-sails type ships that traverse the starry void) plus various kinds of gods, angels, demons, devils, Lovecraft-style abominations, the Midgard Serpent, orcs, dwarfs, elves, artificial intelligence, robots, magic, magical and mundane weaponry ranging from sharpened sticks to plasma rifles and laser cannons... It all somehow balances out, I think. I hope. At its heart it's supposed to be a silly and quite surreal comedy, anyway. Whenever it isn't trying to be a poignant tragedy or a gripping war story instead. It's a bit all over the place in more ways than one. More than two, even.

I've mixed the two genres in other works as well, I could be here all evening listing examples.

I can't remember an awful lot of examples I've read. There are a couple of "fantasy-world-is-actually-post-apocalyptic-earth-or-something" ones I can think of off the top of my head, and I'm gonna spoiler-wrap because generally it's built in as a twist or revelation.

Mark Lawrence's The Broken Empire and The Red Queen's War are both this, taking place in the same version of post-apocalyptic Europe (mainly Europe, anyway). Been ages since I read them, aaaaand I actually remember now I never finished RQW. They're fun, anyway, if you like this sort of thing. It's kinda-sorta subtle until it isn't, and there are some very tasty Easter eggs along the way. I had some jolly good laughs that time some random far-future mercenary busted out a guitar and started singing a warped version of, um, was it American Pie, perhaps? As I said, it's been a while.

Joe Abercrombie's Shattered Sea trilogy is also this, though less overtly from what I recall.



Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun also falls into this category, somewhat, somehow. It presents as fantasy, when actually it's... weird. I guess you'd call it sci-fi, but I feel like it just outright transcends genre. It's its own unique beast. Highly recommend it. I did once upon a time work on such a project myself, but it's been stuck in development hell for absolute æons.

I'm sure there are tons of books that more directly combine fantasy and sci-fi, but all I can think of at the moment is stuff that places itself more or less in the steampunk bit of the spectrum. I'd love to read some, if I could find them. I think it's great.

 

[Madman Starryteller]

Oh, I love that sort of stuff. My current main project is a blend of the two, perhaps leaning a bit more towards fantasy. I don't have dragons (they're extinct, the setting's equivalent of dinosaurs) but there are spaceships (only one actual high-tech vessel, but many magical oars-and-sails type ships that traverse the starry void) plus various kinds of gods, angels, demons, devils, Lovecraft-style abominations, the Midgard Serpent, orcs, dwarfs, elves, artificial intelligence, robots, magic, magical and mundane weaponry ranging from sharpened sticks to plasma rifles and laser cannons... It all somehow balances out, I think. I hope. At its heart it's supposed to be a silly and quite surreal comedy, anyway. Whenever it isn't trying to be a poignant tragedy or a gripping war story instead. It's a bit all over the place in more ways than one. More than two, even.

I've mixed the two genres in other works as well, I could be here all evening listing examples.

I can't remember an awful lot of examples I've read. There are a couple of "fantasy-world-is-actually-post-apocalyptic-earth-or-something" ones I can think of off the top of my head, and I'm gonna spoiler-wrap because generally it's built in as a twist or revelation.

Mark Lawrence's The Broken Empire and The Red Queen's War are both this, taking place in the same version of post-apocalyptic Europe (mainly Europe, anyway). Been ages since I read them, aaaaand I actually remember now I never finished RQW. They're fun, anyway, if you like this sort of thing. It's kinda-sorta subtle until it isn't, and there are some very tasty Easter eggs along the way. I had some jolly good laughs that time some random far-future mercenary busted out a guitar and started singing a warped version of, um, was it American Pie, perhaps? As I said, it's been a while.

Joe Abercrombie's Shattered Sea trilogy is also this, though less overtly from what I recall.



Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun also falls into this category, somewhat, somehow. It presents as fantasy, when actually it's... weird. I guess you'd call it sci-fi, but I feel like it just outright transcends genre. It's its own unique beast. Highly recommend it. I did once upon a time work on such a project myself, but it's been stuck in development hell for absolute æons.

I'm sure there are tons of books that more directly combine fantasy and sci-fi, but all I can think of at the moment is stuff that places itself more or less in the steampunk bit of the spectrum. I'd love to read some, if I could find them. I think it's great.

Lovely! I'm trying my hand at somewhat serious stories set in my universe. But all the things I have combined from a birds-eye perspective may look more like a comedic blend. However, when one reads, my hope is that my stories will be able to absorb the reader into a world of mystique, political intrigue, exploration, war, and love.

I may have outlandish things, but it's all hopefully a bit grounded in the characters one gets to follow.

 

[Naomasa298]

I can't remember an awful lot of examples I've read. There are a couple of "fantasy-world-is-actually-post-apocalyptic-earth-or-something" ones I can think of off the top of my head, and I'm gonna spoiler-wrap because generally it's built in as a twist or revelation.

Both

Spoiler

Anne McCaffrey and Jack Vance

have done this too, although it's not a revelation in the case of the latter,

 

[Night Herald]

Lovely! I'm trying my hand at somewhat serious stories set in my universe. But all the things I have combined from a birds-eye perspective may look more like a comedic blend. However, when one reads, my hope is that my stories will be able to absorb the reader into a world of mystique, political intrigue, exploration, war, and love.

I may have outlandish things, but it's all hopefully a bit grounded in the characters one gets to follow.

It's perfectly possible to tell serious stories using outlandish elements. It's in the execution, as you said in your original post.

I think what you're saying about "grounded in the characters" is very important. In my last post I described my novel series as a silly comedy, and it is, but reducing it to that is doing it a disservice. Even though most of the cast could be accused of being the comic relief at times, even the jolliest and most slapstick-prone characters experience real hardships. They lose loved ones, and grieve. They face doubt, dread, alienation, estrangement, betrayal, loneliness, humiliation, mental illness, and existential crises. They laugh, forgive, reconcile, reunite, and maybe fall out again due to misunderstanding, miscommunication, or an excess of pride. They may lose all hope and the will to go on, only to find it again in the strangest places.

I personally think the best stories need that contrast of light and dark, joy and despair, weightlessness and gravity; because life itself is full of, indeed made of, those contrasts.

Both

Spoiler

Anne McCaffrey and Jack Vance

have done this too, although it's not a revelation in the case of the latter,

That checks out.

Spoiler

Book of the New Sun is apparently in the Dying Earth subgenre, so I guess that's par for the course. Not familiar with Anne McCaffrey, I'll look into her.