Pagan themed fantasy and science-fiction books
Explore top pagan-themed fantasy and science-fiction books! Discover magical realms, ancient rituals, and sci-fi twists in this curated list of must-read novels.
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The Mists of Avalon
by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Retells the legend of King Arthur as perceived by the women central to the tale, from the zealous Morgaine, sworn to uphold her goddess at any cost, to the devout Gwenhwyfar, pledged to the king but drawn to another.
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Jitterbug Perfume
by Tom Robbins
Jitterbug Perfume is an epic. Which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn’t conclude until nine o’clock tonight (Paris time). It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god. If the liquid in the bottle actually is the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon because it is leaking and there is only a drop or two left.
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The Fifth Sacred Thing
by Starhawk
An epic tale of freedom and slavery, love and war, and the potential futures of humankind tells of a twenty-first century California clan caught between two clashing worlds, one based on tolerance, the other on repression. Declaration of the Four Sacred Things The earth is a living, conscious being. In company with cultures of many different times and places, we name these things as sacred: air, fire, water, and earth. Whether we see them as the breath, energy, blood, and body of the Mother, or as the blessed gifts of a Creator, or as symbols of the interconnected systems that sustain life, we know that nothing can live without them. To call these things sacred is to say that they have a value beyond their usefulness for human ends, that they themselves became the standards by which our acts, our economics, our laws, and our purposes must be judged. no one has the right to appropriate them or profit from them at the expense of others. Any government that fails to protect them forfeits its legitimacy. All people, all living things, are part of the earth life, and so are sacred. No one of us stands higher or lower than any other. Only justice can assure balance: only ecological balance can sustain freedom. Only in freedom can that fifth sacred thing we call spirit flourish in its full diversity. To honor the sacred is to create conditions in which nourishment, sustenance, habitat, knowledge, freedom, and beauty can thrive. To honor the sacred is to make love possible. To this we dedicate our curiosity, our will, our courage, our silences, and our voices. To this we dedicate our lives. Praise for The Fifth Sacred Thing “This is wisdom wrapped in drama.”—Tom Hayden, California state senator “Starhawk makes the jump to fiction quite smoothly with this memorable first novel.”—Locus “Totally captivating . . . a vision of the paradigm shift that is essential for our very survival as a species on this planet.”—Elinor Gadon, author of The Once and Future Goddess “This strong debut fits well against feminist futuristic, utopic, and dystopic works by the likes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ursula LeGuin, and Margaret Atwood.”—Library Journal
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The Gate to Women's Country
by Sheri S. Tepper
“Lively, thought-provoking . . . the plot is ingenious, packing a wallop of a surprise . . . Tepper knows how to write a well-made, on-moving story with strong characters. . . . She takes the mental risks that are the lifeblood of science fiction and all imaginative narrative.”—Ursula K. LeGuin, Los Angeles Times Since the flames died three hundred years ago, human civilization has evolved into a dual society: Women’s Country, where walled towns enclose what’s left of past civilization, nurtured by women and a few nonviolent men; and the adjacent garrisons where warrior men live—the lost brothers, sons, and lovers of those in Women’s Country. Two societies. Two competing dreams. Two ways of life, kept apart by walls stronger than stone. And yet there is a gate between them. . . . “Tepper not only keeps us reading . . . she provokes a new look at the old issues.”—The Washington Post “Tepper’s cast of both ordinary and extraordinary people play out a powerful drama whose significance goes beyond sex to deal with the toughest problem of all, the challenge of surmounting humanity’s most dangerous flaws so we can survive—despite ourselves.”—Locus
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The Hallowed Isle
by Diana L. Paxson
The Arthurian saga is one of the most enduring legends of Western civilization. In her sweeping and magnificent multi-volume work The Hallowed Isle, acclaimed author Diana L. Paxson brilliantly reinvents the classic myth from the unique perspectives of four distinct tribal cultures that shaped Britain in the violent days of the sixth century. Book One: The Book of the Sword Mighty Rome subjugated the isle of Britain only to abandon it, leaving behind a bloody patchwork of warring tribes. To put an end to this conflict, Artoria Argantel--Lady of the Lake and Druid priestess--has called upon the Spirit of War and Justice to deliver a champion who will unite the broken land. A champion who will come from her own ancient and royal blood. For only one man can wield the sword forged from star-steel by ancient spells. Only one man can free the sword from its prison of stone: Artor, a fosterling of unknown parentage...the promised High King. Book Two: The Book of the Spear A Saxon of royal blood, Oesc has fled the drowned, doomed country to which he is heir in order to claim rich lands in Britannia. Though sworn to the spirits of his new home, he truly serves the dark sorcery of an older god--the power of the Spear. But the Spear's magic is opposed by that of the Sword of Rome, the sword wielded by young King Artor and his father Uthir before him. The sword that slew Oesc's own father. Now vengeance burns fiercely in Oesc's heart, a lust for revenge that could destroy a greatness before it fully blooms. Destiny lies in the clashing of magic steel...the hope of all Britannia rests in the hands of the warrior sons. The Arthurian saga is one of the most enduring legends of Western civilization. In her sweeping and magnificent multi-volume work THE HALLOWED ISLE, acclaimed author Diana L. Paxson brilliantly reinvents the classic myth from the unique perspectives of four distinct tribal cultures that shaped Britain in the violent days of the sixth century.The Arthurian saga is one of the most enduring legends of Western civilization. In her sweeping and magnificent multi-volume work THE HALLOWED ISLE, acclaimed author Diana L. Paxson brilliantly reinvents the classic myth from the unique perspectives of four distinct tribal cultures that shaped Britain in the violent days of the sixth century. Book One: The Book of the Sword Mighty Rome subjugated the isle of Britain only to abandon it, leaving behind a bloody patchwork of warring tribes. To put an end to this conflict, Artoria Argantel---Lady of the Lake and Druid priestess---has called upon the Spirit of War and Justice to deliver a champion who will unite the broken land. A champion who will come from her own ancient and royal blood. For only one man can wield the sword forged from star-steel by ancient spells. Only one man can free the sword from its prison of stone: Artor, a fosterling of unknown parentage...the promised High King. Book Two: The Book of the Spear A Saxon of royal blood, Oesc has fled the drowned, doomed country to which he is heir in order to claim rich lands in Britannia. Though sworn to the spirits of his new home, he truly serves the dark sorcery of an older god---the power of the Spear. But the Spear's magic is opposed by that of the Sword of Rome, the sword wielded by young King Artor and his father Uthir before him. The sword that slew Oesc's own father. Now vengeance burns fiercely in Oesc's heart, a lust for revenge that could destroy a greatness before it fully blooms. Destiny lies in the clashing of magic steel...the hope of all Britannia rests in the hands of the warrior sons.
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Childhood's End
by Arthur C. Clarke
Without warning, giant silver ships from deep space appear in the skies above every major city on Earth. Manned by the Overlords, in fifty years, they eliminate ignorance, disease, and poverty. Then this golden age ends--and then the age of Mankind begins....
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Lammas Night
by Katherine Kurtz
A British military intelligence officer seeks the aid of witches to defeat a Nazi attempt to use magic to conquer England
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Practical Magic
by Alice Hoffman
For more than two hundred years, the Owens women had been blamed for everything that went wrong in their Massachusetts town. And Gillian and Sally endured that fate as well: As children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One would do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they shared, even into adulthood, brought them back--almost as if by magic...
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Promethea
by Alan Moore
Comics narrate the story of university student Sophie Bangs as she fights mystical places and spirits to unveil the truth behind mythical warrior woman, Promethea.
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Overshoot
by Mona Clee
Avoiding quick demise by nuclear war, humanity faces the prospect of slower destruction by global warming. Can we survive? Can we genetically re-engineer ourselves to survive?
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Stranger in a Strange Land
by Robert Anson Heinlein
This is the epic saga of an earthling, Valentine Michael Smith, born and educated on Mars, who arrives on our planet with "psi" powers--telepathy, clairvoyance, telekinesis, and the ability to take control of the minds of others--and yet with complete innocence regarding the mores of man.
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A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world as an apprentice to a Master Wizard.
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Wyrd Sisters Discworld series
by Terry Pratchett
Terry's Pratchett's profoundly irreverent novels are consistent number one bestsellers in England, where they have catapulted him into the highest echelons of parody next to Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen. Meet Granny Weatherwax, the most highly regarded non-leader a coven of non-social witches could ever have. Generally, these loners don't get involved in anything, much less royal intrigue, but then there are those times they can't help it. As Granny Weatherwax is about to discover though, it's a lot harder to stir up trouble in the castle than some theatrical types would have you think. Even when you've got a few unexpected spells up your sleeve.
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Little, Big
by John Crowley
Edgewood is many houses, all put inside each other, or across each other. ItÂżs filled with and surrounded by mystery and enchantment: the further in you go, the bigger it gets. Smoky Barnable, who has fallen in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, comes to Edgewood, her family home, where he finds himself drawn into a world of magical strangeness. CrowleyÂżs work has a special alchemy - mixing the world we know with an imagined world which seems more true and real. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Little, Big is eloquent, sensual, funny and unforgettable, a truly Fantasy Masterwork.
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Cat's Cradle
by Kurt Vonnegut
“A free-wheeling vehicle . . . an unforgettable ride!”—The New York Times Cat’s Cradle is Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical commentary on modern man and his madness. An apocalyptic tale of this planet’s ultimate fate, it features a midget as the protagonist, a complete, original theology created by a calypso singer, and a vision of the future that is at once blackly fatalistic and hilariously funny. A book that left an indelible mark on an entire generation of readers, Cat’s Cradle is one of the twentieth century’s most important works—and Vonnegut at his very best. “[Vonnegut is] an unimitative and inimitable social satirist.”—Harper’s Magazine “Our finest black-humorist . . . We laugh in self-defense.”—Atlantic Monthly