Hello everyone, I've got a problem with a series of books I'm planning on writing, and I was hoping you'd all be able to help. My story takes place in two very different places, one is here on Earth in the present day, and the second place is a Fantasy World of my own devising. Essentially, the plot is that a teenage boy and his best friend stumble across some weird inscription whilst messing around in some caves near to where they live. They inspect the inscription and end up being transported back in time hundreds of thousands of years. In this story, at the time they're transported to, there is, in fact, intelligent life on Earth: two races of beings, who, for the purposes of this post, are called the Good Guys and the Bad Guys. Now the plot is basically the Good Guys are having a war against the Bad Guys, as they have been doing so for many years, but the Bad Guys are on the verge of finding three precious stones which they can use to unlock a great power that will win them the war. If the Bad Guys win the war, life on modern day Earth will effectively be wiped out. I've written in about various time paradoxes, so just play along with that part. Anyway, it's in our protagonists' best interest that the Good Guys win the war. However, my main problem is as follows. The two teenagers are not the only modern day humans who know about this world. There's an organisation of people who know about the Past World (what they call it) and know the dangers the Bad Guys present. So, what they are trying to do is go into the Past World, find some of the stones and take them back to the present day, where they are much (though not completely) safer from the Bad Guys. However, this organisation does a lot of travelling and fighting in the Past World, and they are obviously using guns and modern military equipment, whereas everyone else is using swords, bows, shields, axes, spears etc. I have one plot device, the fact that, for various reasons, certain swords are far more effective on the Bad Guys than bullets, but I'm worried about the clash that this imposes. The vast majority of the novels take place in the Past World, with only an assault by some Bad Guys (ones that can travel through time) on the organisation's base being the most notable exception. So, should I carry on with this idea of having two clashing worlds, or should I just stick with one, which should be too hard to do? Thanks, Something Blue
Third time this week for Clive Barker's Imajica! Give it a skim. In fact, most of Barker's works answer very similarly to what you describe. This is a known trope.
An interesting idea. To be honest, though you may not be entirely happy with my response, I'd say the story is more important. If you have a good plot, the readers probably won't mind any crossovers. Out of interest though, why exactly do you want to combine the genres?
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny might be something to pick up. There are many 'shadows' of the true land of Amber. Only folks of the royal blood of Amber can walk through shadows, (and bring others with them). There are also cards, called trumps that can be used as 'short cuts'. Anyway, in Amber, gun powder is inert. Thus, a firearm is useless. However, Prince Corwin discovers that a certain powder, a jeweler's rough, burns much like gunpowder. So he is able, with this secret, go to a world that has firearms, use the formula for the jeweler's rouge to load the ammunition (which doesn't make sense on the real world/our world) since the bullets won't fire there. There are many, many examples of stories where people from our world get transferred to a magical realm, from the Narnia novels (by Lewis) to the Thomas Covenant series (by Donaldson). There is nothing wrong with combining 'genres' that way. My first published novel is a post apocalyptic fantasy novel. It has firearms and other 'modern' weaponry, included in the plot/conflict. So what you're attempting, Something Blue, can be done! Hang in there and good luck.
