Hah–I reread “Master” a few days ago and even though it doesn’t have the “Person from our world goes to their world” part, it’s what got me thinking of the genre.
Chronos: The first book is still a great read. I’m about 75% of the way through the second book and I’m plodding through it.
“This thing is written in something that looks like a bastard version of Forth crossed with LISP and some features from C and Modula 2 thrown in for grins.”
“backslash” he intoned.
“**" replied the Emac.
"**class drone grep moira**"
"**” said the Emac again.
“exe” Wiz said…
How about The Flying Sorcerers (David Gerrold and Larry Niven)?
NM
How about A Logical Magician and it’s sequel by Robert Weinberg?
Here’s one you may not have heard of. The Barbed Coil by Julie V Jones. It’s about a calligrapher whose magic is in the process of writing illuminated manuscripts. It goes into great prosaic detail about the art and methodology of the magic.
*Black Easter *by James Blish goes into the mechanics of magic quite a bit.
The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovich may be of interest. TLDR: PC Plod finds out that magic is real.
Dave Duncan’s “The Great Game” trilogy would qualify I think. I seem to be the only person who’s read it but I enjoyed it a great deal.
I loved Duncan’s “A Man of His Word” and sequel “A Handful of Men” series, so I’ll definitely be giving this one a try.
To everyone else–I’m making lists here and really appreciate all the recommendations.
Off To Be The Wizard doesn’t hit the bull’s eye, but I think it’s at least on the edge of the target of what the OP is looking for.
Sorry 'bout that. :smack:
I second this recommendation. Especially true for the magic in the Mistborn trilogy. The mechanics of the magic is very clearly and consistently explained and used.
Catherynne M. Valente’s Fairyland series, starting with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.
Randall Garrett’s Lord Darcy stories, about an alternate world where the Chief Criminal Investigator for the Duke of Normandy solves crimes with the aid of forensic sorcerer Sean O’Lochlainn, delves quite a bit into the rules of magic. Magic isn’t nearly as powerful in this world as it is in the average fantasy novel, but it’s very utilitarian.
…but you do get credit for remembering its correct name!
