The Sword and Laser discussion

Following the interview with Tad Williams I realized that he is uniquely qualified to the Sword and Laser podcast "Godfather" since, aside from inspiring Veronica to become a SF&F fan, he wrote both Science Fiction (e.g Otherland) and Fantasy (e.g Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Shadowmarch, etc.)

As a fan of both genres, this got me thinking about how many more authors do I know that cross these two genres.

The names I can recall are:
Stephen R. Donaldson, Roger Zelazny, Michael Moorcock, Piers Anthony and, arguably, Stephen King

I'm sure there are many more I'm forgetting, anybody know others?

And what about authors that combine true Science Fiction and Fantasy in the same book without making Fantasy scientific (like a virtual fantasy world in a computer game/simulation or giving scientific explanations to vampirism) or making the SciFi fantastical (and to forgo even the pretense of scientific explanation for fictional technology)?

I am glad you included Piers Anthony in your list as the Adept series culminating in Juxtaposition is I think an ideal example of putting them both in the same book.

Elizabeth Bear is my favourite cross genre author at the moment. The Jenny Casey series is about a part-Iroquois part-cyborg Canadian Armed Forced Master Warrant Officer Genevieve Casey, saving the world.
Her Promethean Age series is a sort of 'all myths are true' thriller about the human worlds interactions/wars with Faerie.
Jacobs Ladder is about a generation ship.
New Amsterdam has a vampire who solves crimes.
She's all over the map basically.

Karin Lowachee first three books were a brilliant mosaic space opera, which explored how war effects boys. I haven't read her latest novel The Gaslight Dogs yet but I undestand it's more of a fantasy.

Hal Duncan has sf and fantasy mixed together in a weird way in the Books of All Hours series. It's a book about parallel worlds, some of them are fantastical (faries and goblins etc) some of them have science fictional tech (nanoparticles running amuck. There are also angels. And lots of Mesopotamian mythology so... yeah, hard to categorize.

Richard wrote: "I am glad you included Piers Anthony in your list as the Adept series culminating in Juxtaposition is I think an ideal example of putting them both in the same book."

I forgot that the Adept series is Juxtaposition (pun intended) of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, thanks for the reminder.

Just realized that Richard K. Morgan has crossed from Sci-Fi to Fantasy with the new trilogy A Land Fit For Heroes starting with The Steel Remains

Kristine Kathryn Rusch pretty writes in every genre imaginable under different psuedonyms.

Arroyo0 wrote: "Just realized that Richard K. Morgan has crossed from Sci-Fi to Fantasy with the new trilogy A Land Fit For Heroes starting with The Steel Remains"

I can't believe I left Morgan out. Land Fit for Heores also has some Sci Fi thrown in with the Fantasy, in fact if you turn your head and squint you can probably make the case that it's totally sci fi.

No mention of George R.R. Martin? Started off as an SF author with things like Storms of Windhaven and Nightflyers and most recently known for the Game of Thrones series.

Gene Wolfe - he's done fantasy ( The Wizard Knight), science-fiction (The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Home Fires), and a sci-fi/fantasy blend in The Book of the New Sun 1-4, the first part of which was an earlier official Sword & Laser read.

Jack Vance, whose sci-fi/fantasy blend in The Dying Earth was a big influence on Book of the New Sun. He continued to write both science fiction and fantasy throughout his career.

Ursula K. Le Guin has also done fantasy A Wizard of Earthsea and science fiction The Left Hand of Darkness - not sure if she's ever attempted to blend the two.

Oh my!

I also forgot Jack L. Chalker and the saga of the Well of Souls series (which I highly recommend) for someone that is into sci-fi but likes to dabble in fantasy. This was a very interesting blend of both.

This is one series that SHOULD absolutely become a video game as well, why someone hasn't built it yet is beyond me, if anyone at Blizzard reads this set, I would bet my last dollar that a Well World would make a great platform for MMORPG play.

Unfortunately of course I have a day job, not enough talent, and only one dollar to bet with, otherwise I would make it myself.