I need some help with a question. What's a good blend of maic and technology? (It's a pre-industrial world, just beginning to discover machines. Think "Dark Cloud" meets "Oliver Twist.")
Well, I don't really know of any good literary example of a combination of magic and fantasy. But I can give you my opinion of what you should not do: have magic be a dying off force and science and technology be rising up and seeking to destroy magic. That's been overused so much that there's not a lot left you can do with it. Steer clear from that, and you ought to be fine.
Ooh, steam punk! Or not... I guess that's more of a sci-fi thing. But you could toy around with it.
What kind of magic, specifically? I think it could make a difference whether this were an inherent magic, something that uses spells, or required some sort of ritual.
Steampunk seems to be what you're looking for. It's generally on the more sci-fi end of the spectrum, but there is sci-fi that involves magical energy. (His Dark Materials is a really good example of more magical steampunk; the intention craft runs on willpower and the alethiometer requires Dust to work.)
"The Death Collector" has kind of some examples of science/technology meets the magical or the unexplained. It's not a great book, but it will probably give you some ideas.
“We’re still here,” he says, his voice cold, his hands shaking. “We know how to be invisible, how to play dead. But at the end of the day, we are still here.” ~Dax
Teacher: "What do we do with adjectives in Spanish?"
S: "We eat them!"
