The Warlock in Spite of Himself
Steadying himself with one hand, he stumbled to a panel on the other side of the circular cabin. He fumbled the catches loose, cursing in the fine old style of galactic deckhands, opened the panel, pressed a button. Turning, he all but fell back to the chair.
The soft hum awoke in the cabin again. A slurred voice asked, with varying speed and pitch, "Izzz awwl (Hic!) sadizfagtoreee … M'lorrr' Rodney?"
"All the smooth, glossy robots in the galaxy," muttered Milord, "and I get stuck with an epileptic!"
Actually, classifying Stasheff's books is not that straightforward. They're right there on the fuzzy line between scifi and fantasy, on the line between science and magic. Stasheff's specialty is taking a man from a scientific world and throwing him into a world where the people, for one reason or another, live in a world resembling medieval Europe, with attendant beliefs in all things magical. There may be witches, demons, magic spells, but there is always a logical, scientific explanation (well, okay, not always completely scientific, unless you count parapsychology - extra-sensory perception - as science!). And these men of science, who are our heroes, are believed to be, of course, great magicians (wizards / warlocks). It's a cute idea, possibly not quite enough to sustain all the books Stasheff has written, but they're fun.
Books in the series:
Escape Velocity (a prequel)
The Warlock in Spite of Himself
King Kobold
King Kobold Revived
The Warlock Unlocked
The Warlock Enraged
The Warlock Wandering
The Warlock Is Missing
The Warlock Heretical
The Warlock's Companion
The Warlock Insane
The Warlock Rock
Warlock and Son
The Warlock's Last Ride
Warlock's Heirs (our hero's children have all grown up)
M'lady Witch
Quicksilver's Knight
The Spell-bound Scholar
Here Be Monsters
He's written other books too, all with that same science-magic theme.
Rogue Wizard (same world-setting)
A Wizard in Mind
A Wizard in Bedlam
A Wizard in Absentia
A Wizard in War
A Wizard in Peace
A Wizard in Chaos
A Wizard in Midgard
A Wizard and a Warlord
A Wizard in the Way
A Wizard in a Feud
Wizard in Rhyme (different world-setting)
Her Majesty's Wizard
The Oathbound Wizard
