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Two notable trends run through the majority of Resnick's science fiction work. The first is his love of fable and legend. Many of his stories read like legends, featuring larger-than-life characters with colorful names like The Widowmaker, Lucifer Jones, The Forever Kid, and Catastrophe Baker. Their adventures are often similarly legendary. Resnick is also interested in the formation of history and legend, and sometimes includes bards as characters. The book The Outpost deals most with these themes, as it includes a story told from multiple perspectives and a bard who openly intends to exaggerate and edit his accounts to make them more interesting. Resnick's books in this vein bear some resemblance to Westerns.
The other main themes in Resnick's work is Africa - African history, African culture, colonialism and its aftermath, and traditionalism. He has visited Africa often, and draws on this experience. Some of his science fiction stories are allegories of African history and politics. Other stories are actually set in Africa or have African characters.