Where can I find medieval knights with laser weapons?
June 1, 2017 10:03 AM Subscribe
Bookfilter, I'm looking for stories of characters from a lower-tech society who manage to reverse engineer/kick ass with high tech they might or might not ever actually understand. Escapism and happy endings are appreciated.
I've read plenty of stories in which time travelers from the future (TM) bring back advanced technology for the past to use for whatever reason. Harry Turtledove did this in The Guns of the South, and Mark Twin and L. Sprague de Camp did it in almost totally different ways in their stories.
I'm also aware of tales in which a whole society gets pulled back, by Eric Flint and others. I'm curious if there are any stories which focus more on the lower-tech civilization as it understands/struggles with/learns about high tech gadgetry.
Any recs along these lines are appreciated :)
I've read plenty of stories in which time travelers from the future (TM) bring back advanced technology for the past to use for whatever reason. Harry Turtledove did this in The Guns of the South, and Mark Twin and L. Sprague de Camp did it in almost totally different ways in their stories.
I'm also aware of tales in which a whole society gets pulled back, by Eric Flint and others. I'm curious if there are any stories which focus more on the lower-tech civilization as it understands/struggles with/learns about high tech gadgetry.
Any recs along these lines are appreciated :)
Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern saga has this in her later books.
posted by Hanuman1960 at 10:34 AM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Hanuman1960 at 10:34 AM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Took some memory dragging to pull up Northworld series by David Drake. Several other books/series of his might also scratch that itch..
posted by k5.user at 10:39 AM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by k5.user at 10:39 AM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Another David Drake pick in this vein is his Reaches series.
posted by Splunge at 10:48 AM on June 1, 2017
posted by Splunge at 10:48 AM on June 1, 2017
This happens in A Fire Upon the Deep, but you're not in the knight's perspective (and also the knights are puppies).
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 10:51 AM on June 1, 2017 [6 favorites]
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 10:51 AM on June 1, 2017 [6 favorites]
Depends on what you mean by "lower-tech," but the Heechee books (starting with Gateway) by Frederik Pohl are all about what happens when near-future humanity suddenly discovers a huge technology stockpile left behind by an advanced long-vanished alien race.
posted by 256 at 11:02 AM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by 256 at 11:02 AM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best answer: In the "pulled back" vein, Doris Lessing's Mara and Dann is an excellent and swift read. Without giving much away, a key part of the plot revolves around the wonder of the few pieces of solar powered machinery that has survived far longer than the understanding of how they work, or how to repair them. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 11:10 AM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 11:10 AM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
I’m not sure if this is quite what you’re looking for, but in Christopher Stasheff’s Warlock of Gramayre series, the inhabitants of Gramayre think that they are living in a medieval world rife with magic, but do not realize their world was started by advanced space travelers with high ESP powers. So there are various people “in on the secret” who know about robots and lasers and ESP, but there are also various incidents where people who have been raised on-planet discover “mysterious artifacts” and have to figure out how to use them.
One that springs to mind is when a witch goes to a mysterious “shrine” that is actually a buried spaceship, and she doesn’t really know what’s going on, but the reader figures out that she’s listening to some advanced futuristic sound system.
Anyway, sometimes the stories feature lasers, or blasters, or mysterious forcefields/spaceships, and very few of the locals understand them as anything other than “magic”. First book in the series is "The Warlock in Spite of Himself".
posted by a fiendish thingy at 11:33 AM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
One that springs to mind is when a witch goes to a mysterious “shrine” that is actually a buried spaceship, and she doesn’t really know what’s going on, but the reader figures out that she’s listening to some advanced futuristic sound system.
Anyway, sometimes the stories feature lasers, or blasters, or mysterious forcefields/spaceships, and very few of the locals understand them as anything other than “magic”. First book in the series is "The Warlock in Spite of Himself".
posted by a fiendish thingy at 11:33 AM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for the recommendations so far :) I've read some of David Drake's stuff, or at least his collaboration with Eric Flint. The rest is relatively new to me. Sounds promising!
posted by Alensin at 11:38 AM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Alensin at 11:38 AM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
A Land Fit for Heroes by Richard K. Morgan is sort of in the mould you're looking for; its not obvious at first, but one of the "big bad" factions are using technology rather than magic.
posted by porpoise at 11:55 AM on June 1, 2017
posted by porpoise at 11:55 AM on June 1, 2017
Give "The Guns of the South" a read (AK47 assault rifles are provided to General Lee).
posted by KneeDeep at 12:05 PM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by KneeDeep at 12:05 PM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: GUns of the South is one of my favorite alternate history books :) It inspired my liking for this weird little sub-genre. It's also mentioned in the OP ;)
posted by Alensin at 12:08 PM on June 1, 2017
posted by Alensin at 12:08 PM on June 1, 2017
The Dark Tower series is kind of the opposite of what you are looking for. They use the remains of the advanced technology of the technology of the Great Old Ones but with little skill or mastery. It is apparent that they do not show any desire to use it to move them forward as a society.
posted by jmsta at 12:18 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by jmsta at 12:18 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure if it's really any good (I haven't reread it as an adult) but one of the classics of this genre is Poul Anderson, The High Crusade.
posted by advil at 12:27 PM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by advil at 12:27 PM on June 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Heavy Planet by Hal Clement! It's "hard" SF, but I remember it being pretty escapist. It hits some of the same notes that A Fire Upon the Deep does.
It's medieval-tech space aliens given high-tech equipment by humans who need them to do a fetch-quest (for Science). Naturally, the space aliens get quite interested in the tech itself....
posted by BungaDunga at 2:13 PM on June 1, 2017
It's medieval-tech space aliens given high-tech equipment by humans who need them to do a fetch-quest (for Science). Naturally, the space aliens get quite interested in the tech itself....
posted by BungaDunga at 2:13 PM on June 1, 2017
Does Terminator 2: Judgement Day count? One of the characters finds and reverse engineers a piece of a terminator from the future.
posted by gregr at 2:19 PM on June 1, 2017
posted by gregr at 2:19 PM on June 1, 2017
The humans in Independence Day Resurgence are in this position.
posted by biffa at 3:07 PM on June 1, 2017
posted by biffa at 3:07 PM on June 1, 2017
I feel like Anathem would scratch that itch in a sideways sort of way.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:26 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Lyn Never at 3:26 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman series is a really unusual version of this, highly recommended.
posted by peppercorn at 3:37 PM on June 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by peppercorn at 3:37 PM on June 1, 2017 [3 favorites]
The Copper Crown by Patricia Keneally
posted by Crystal Fox at 4:35 PM on June 1, 2017
posted by Crystal Fox at 4:35 PM on June 1, 2017
John Birmingham's Axis of Time series might interest. A future carrier battlegroup gets sent back to WWII. The locals spend a lot of effort adapting to the new tech.
posted by pompomtom at 5:13 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by pompomtom at 5:13 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Seconding The High Crusade. English knights manage to capture a spaceship, the whole village decides to fly to join in the crusades, but their captive alien manages to hit the "return home" override...
posted by fings at 5:49 PM on June 1, 2017
posted by fings at 5:49 PM on June 1, 2017
I'd recommend the Virga series, by Karl Schroeder. I'm really reluctant to describe it in much detail lest I give too much away, but it definitely involves a pre-modern society grappling with (very) high technology.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 6:38 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 6:38 PM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
There's a Richard Matheson short story I like, where three scientists go back in time to ancient Rome. To "balance the ride", three ancient Romans are brought forward to our time. The three scientists get captured and enslaved, but the three ancient Romans promptly escape the army base where they are held and and take over a nearby city (the point being that ancient Rome was a huge, polyglot and massively corrupt, so their 'primitive skills' actually worked out just fine).
posted by Mogur at 4:45 AM on June 2, 2017
posted by Mogur at 4:45 AM on June 2, 2017
So this is weirdly my favorite subgenere. A lot of what I like has been covered here but the destroyermen series is about a lost WW2 destroyer that ends up on an alternate version of a less technologically advanced earth and wields significant power.
And the three part series Island in the Sea of Time is about the island of Nantucket getting sent back to the bronze age. Even our garbage trucks become fearsome juggernauts in this world.
posted by rileyray3000 at 5:42 AM on June 2, 2017
And the three part series Island in the Sea of Time is about the island of Nantucket getting sent back to the bronze age. Even our garbage trucks become fearsome juggernauts in this world.
posted by rileyray3000 at 5:42 AM on June 2, 2017
Do not bother with Leo Frankowski's time-travelling engineer series, unless you can get past the profound (mostly patriarchal, you're-a-bunch-of-ignorant-children) misogyny. The author has died, so I don't feel bad about clearly cautioning people about his stuff.
posted by turkeybrain at 8:10 AM on June 2, 2017
posted by turkeybrain at 8:10 AM on June 2, 2017
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posted by Behemoth at 10:32 AM on June 1, 2017 [1 favorite]