A Weary Searcher. Options

[Vampire_Hermes]

Hi, there. This would be my first post, so please forgive me if this is in the wrong place.

That aside, my problem is that I love Shadowrun's blending of sci-fi/cyberpunk and fantasy. I'd like to read novels in this vein, but it's really difficult to search for cross-genre novels. The Licensed SR stuff aside, what would you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

[Kagetenshi]

It trends more heavily towards fantasy, but I'm a big fan of The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick.

~J

[Critias]

Well, just to balance things out with something that has pretty much zero fantasy but is a pretty neat mixture of cyberpunk and sci-fi (more cyberpunk in the first book, leaning towards sci-fi in the later ones), I suggest Hammered, Scardown, and Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear.

Hammered in particular, since it's IMHO the coolest of the three, with nary a sci-fi bit in sight.

[Daddy's Litt...]

I think cyberpunk is easy, it is the fantasy part that is hard. You might try the first 7-8 Anita Blake books by Laurel K Hamilton. They are set in modern St. Louis and the protagonist is the state's licenced Vampire hunter.

The books- "The Killing Dance" and "Blue Moon" have were wolves in them and "Bloody Bones" has faeries.

[Vampire_Hermes]

Yeah, I've read all of Ms. Hamilton's books. I'm a big fan.

As I said, that's the sort of thing I like, but you don't see it that often. Are there any others with a fantasy/sci-fi theme, like SR?

[kzt]

Five Twelfths of Heaven

Kind of hard to find. I think it's very good, though this is a kind of unusual series in several ways.

[mfb]

Psion and Catspaw, by Joan D. Vinge, combine cyberpunk and psionics. they're pretty good, as i recall--haven't read them in years. Catspaw was better, i think; Psion seemed amateurish in parts.

[pbangarth]

Author: Paul J. McAulley

Book: The Invisible Country: stories

Publisher: Avon

The author has published several books, and many of the short stories in this anthology were drawn from other books and magazines. McAulley is a biologist, and he extrapolates a near future very cyberpunkish in its darkness, with hopeless losers lost on the periphery and in the cracks between corporate and criminal power. He uses a lot of his own training to forecast developments in genetic and surgical modifications and their social ramifications. The short story after which the anthology is named evokes for me the most believable and gritty version of a Shadowrun future I have ever read, whether in Shadowrun genre fiction, by Gibson or whatever. Some of things he describes in these stories are fascinating and revolting at the same time. Bunraku doesn't even begin to describe some of the abuses.

And he manages to throw in the odd hopeful little victories, and one big one.

[Vampire_Hermes]

Thanks very much, guys, I appreciate the recommendations (and more than one have been added to my wish list). Are there any others which have fantasy races in a modern/sci-fi setting?

Thanks again.

[Snow_Fox]

the Dresden Files-a serries of adventures of a Chicago wizard named harry, the only one in the phone book, who gets calls in by the police to helpwith weird cases, while hiding from police the existance of much of the magical world.

[pbangarth]

There is a prolific Canadian author, Charles de Lint, who sets our modern mundane world against a parallel, just-shifted-out-of-perception world taken from Celtic and Namerind mythologies. Very entertaining, scary and believable.

In a similar vein, there's Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" (TV series too), set in London's underground, and populated by a society the rest of us have real trouble seeing even though they are right in front of us.

[shadowfire]

jst about anything written by Michael Moorcock

[Vampire_Hermes]

Hi, me again! Thanks for all the great recommendations.

How easy are the SR books to get into? I haven't (yet) read the source book/s fully, but I really like the sound of the world. Is everything in the books self-explanatory?

[JBlades]

Sounds like you're looking for urban fantasy for the most part. Finding good urban fantasy/cyberpunk or scifi blends is really hard, though.

Here's a few urban fantasy authors you should check out: Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison, Emma Bull's War for the Oaks (good book, rocker as main character), Lilith Saintcrow (the Dante Valentine books are actually almost perfect as an UF/cyberpunk blend), Patricia Briggs (her new series made up of Moon Called and Blood Bound has a coyote skinwalker and is decent).

I didn't want to repeat the ones already listed, but I know the Dresden books are pretty good (by Jim Butcher) and the Elizabeth Bear books are quite cool, too.