SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Something along the lines of an alien spy in King Arthur's court. SciFi is part of the story, not dominating it.

Could be The Steerswoman, by Rosemary Kirstein

A spy? in a royal court? Who's perhaps not quite what she seems? Say hi to Inversions

Doomsday Book is a time travel book set during the black plague

Nicole wrote: "Doomsday Book is a time travel book set during the black plague"
Sounds good, reminds me of Pastwatch.

Poul Anderson's The High Crusade is probably too much science fiction, although the opening situation is aliens landing in medieval England (a big mistake).

Perhaps slightly too early (the setting could be considered to be very late antiquity rather than early medieval), and originally published as fantasy, is L. Sprague de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall," recently available with continuations by other hands as Lest Darkness Fall & Related Stories.

It was published in the magazine "Unknown" in 1939, and, expanded, in book format in 1941, a then-rare distinction for science fiction or fantasy from the genre magazines.

An involuntary time traveler trying to advance technology in Gothic Italy is given a realistic treatment, so it is much harder than Mark Twain postulated -- for humorous and satirical purposes -- in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

The book originally opened with a scene in Rome under Benito Mussolini, but from the 1980s on period-specific references (such as "Benny the Moose") were omitted from reprintings as too likely to be unintelligible to later generations of readers. I think this lost a valuable nuance, since the "Darkness" in the title could reference modern times as well as the "Dark Ages."

De Camp based it heavily on period sources,* mainly Procopius (see Wikipedia), but when it first appeared many readers would have been more likely to know the period from Robert Graves' recent Count Belisarius (1938). Which, although not science fiction in the least, is worth reading.

*De Camp later reported that a scholar had spotted a grammatical error in the sentence he gave in Gothic, to provide "local color" while most of the dialogue is theoretically in Latin.

He also missed that the Ostrogoths in Italy were in fact known to deploy infantry, but the system quickly fell apart after the death of Theodoric the Great. But in this he seems to have been mislead by standard military histories, as well as the absence of references to it by Procopius.)

This is kind of a spoiler but (view spoiler)[ Arcadia (hide spoiler)] would be a good fit i think

Eifelheim

Doomsday book

To some this might be considered a spoiler, so: (view spoiler)[Basically everything by Mark Lawrence except the Impossible Times Trilogy, although they all belong to the same greater universe. Start with the Broken Empire trilogy, then go on to the Red Queen's War trilogy and if you're hooked, continue with the Book of the Ancestor trilogy and the Book of the Ice trilogy. (hide spoiler)]

Rachel wrote: "Eifelheim

Doomsday book"
Thanks, Eifelheim is the type of story that interest me.

A Canticle for Leibowitz kinda fits.....

Up the Line has a lot about Constantinople. Also time travel paradoxes, ‘60s attitudes, and sex.

Deathstalker by Green. Lots of fun. Empire of Silence...

Stephen wrote: "Up the Line has a lot about Constantinople. Also time travel paradoxes, ‘60s attitudes, and sex."
Thank you. Lord Valentine's Castle is one of my favorite books and Constantinople is a period of history I actually know about.

The Knight by Gene Wolfe might work. And then there's The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent by Gordon R. Dickson.

Michael wrote: "Something along the lines of an alien spy in King Arthur's court. SciFi is part of the story, not dominating it."

Two, umm, protagonists on a medieval court (spoiler: they are kind of aliens) :-) :

Inversions

Bnz wrote:
Two, umm, protagonists on a medieval court (spoiler: they are kind of aliens) :-) :

Inversions.."

Sorry, I didn't see this was already nominated. I second this wholeheartedly. At the same time as medieval and as Culture as the get.

Rick wrote: "A spy? in a royal court? Who's perhaps not quite what she seems? Say hi to Inversions"

Not to mention a bodyguard, an assassin, a doctor, evolving worldviews, etc etc. Very rich, very imaginative, very medieval, and at the same time very Culture.

Bnz wrote: "Not to mention a bodyguard, an assassin, a doctor, evolving worldviews, etc etc. Very rich, very imaginative, very medieval, and at the same time very Culture.
..."

I actually want to re-read this now. It's been a while. And I miss Banks...

I'd say Coldfyre counts as a SciFi book with a mediaeval setting.

Timeline?

S wrote: "I'd say Coldfyre counts as a SciFi book with a mediaeval setting."

The Coldfire Trilogy? Really good books.

Silvana wrote: "Timeline?"

Timeline is definitely a sci-fi story in a medieval setting. Unfortunately, Michael Crichton's story had a lot of nonsense and illogical twists to it that diminished the value of the base concept in his scenario. It was a fair book in my opinion, but not a great book.

Rick wrote: "And I miss Banks..."

Yes...

Silvana wrote: "Timeline?"

I loved Timeline! It read like (loosely based) historical fiction with intermittent sci fi scenes- Fun, easy read.

Silvana wrote: "Timeline?"

I loved Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain, Sphere a bit less so, but it was still a passable SciFi-ish adventure. But I stopped reading him after State of Fear - accelerated natural disasters are "manufactured" by "eco-terrorists" ?!? Really ?!? The book served its purpose well - to fuel the manufactured "controversy" over anthropogenic global warming.

Many "ecocalypse" novels are over-the-top and I don't like that, either (Kim Stanley Robinson is an example of good "climate fiction"), but this is simply mercenary, especially with its pretense of being based on science.

Whether Crichton is merely an idiot or, more likely, easy to buy and without conscience, I don't care. Perhaps this was not even commissioned, but Crichton simply smelled a big population of "skeptic" audience - again, i don't care.

Not that "eco-warriors" are blameless - for example, Greenpeace's well financed and extremely well executed FUD campaign against nuclear energy (playing on emotional connection to nuclear weapons) that goes hand in hand, and is probably financed by, similar campaign by fossil fuel lobby going on for 60-ish years, is equally deplorable. But that does not excuse Crichton.

Sorry for the rant. Crichton's other books might actually be good, but not for me.

Silvana wrote: "Timeline?"

I own the movie Timeline and Sphere.

Agent of Byzantium

In my less-than-humble opinion, this is probably one of the best books that Turtledove ever wrote. It is based out of Constantinople, but the agent goes to different places in the medieval world. The Sci-Fi aspect is on the light side so it definitely doesn't overwhelm the story.

If you're willing to go middlegrade to YA Enchantress from the Stars would fit. essentially you have a spacefaring civilization visiting a civilization in a medieval type era, and you get the POV from both sides. It's been ages since I've read it, but I loved it as a kid.

I read Sylvia Louise Engdahl’s Enchantress from the Stars while I was in graduate school, and loved it: I wouldn’t worry too much about the official grade level.

There is an officially adult sequel, The Far Side of Evil. I don’t remember the contents well enough to say whether it meets the medieval-type content requirement: I read it once in a library copy, whereas I had a review copy of Enchantress which I reread a couple of times.

Ian wrote: "I read Sylvia Louise Engdahl’s Enchantress from the Stars while I was in graduate school, and loved it: I wouldn’t worry too much about the official grade level.

There is an officially adult seque..."

I don't care too much for the grade level either. I tried to read all too many supposedly adult books written at the fifth grade level to care.

Besides, one cannot avoid growing old (except by dying), but one can stay immature forever! :-p

Good point, Bnz :)

Neal Stephenson's Anathem may not entirely fit the bill taken literally, but arguably does fit quite well in spirit.

Haven't quite read the whole thread as travelling at the moment and short of time...

If not already mentioned, John Christopher's Tripods trilogy (starting with The White Mountains) is a cracking yarn, if a tad middle-grade for my taste these days. It's one of those series that I'll reread every few years or so. Humanity has reverted to a pre-scientific (medieval-ish) state due to alien interference and only our intrepid teenagers can come to the rescue.

Oh, the Tripod Trilogy is absolutely middle grade books, but they hold up very well! I read them first when I was 9 or 10 and a couple of times since. I credit them with turning me on to SF.

Have you read the fourth book? A prequel written many years later.

When the Tripods Came

If you're okay with something of a similar genre, I definitely recommend Elder Race.

Off Armageddon Reef, by David Weber could be considered Sci-Fi in pre-industrial setting (some military tactics were medieval, or earlier; tech was often 1600-1800s)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

The book, and series, have mixed reviews - you need to put up with some long explanations of ideas and tech at times