Some Good Steampunk

Smashfiction · Sep 30, 2009

Had steampunk (and clockwork stuff and all that awesome fiddly mechanical stuff) on the brain for a while now, and I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good novels/short stories etc I could read? I did have a loo kthrough my local bookstore, but it is just generally organsied into 'sci-fi' and unless i trawled blurb by blurb through the whole set of shelves, the titles and even covers often dont give much clue. I considered asking at the till as well, but judging from most of my friend's reaction to the word I was pretty sure I'd get a blank look.

anyone got some steampunk classics hidden up their sleeve? It's a genre that sound sincredibly interesting and i just love all that stuff anyway - but i have yet to read something like it.

Cybernaught · Sep 30, 2009

Try The Difference Engine.

Wavy_Blue · Sep 30, 2009

Dirty Magic by Carol Hughes is EXTREMELY awesome. It's J/YA though.

jhmcmullen · Sep 30, 2009

Cherie Priest's new one (Bonecrusher?) Is described as a steampunk-airship-zombie novel. I'm planning on reading it but can't tell you yet if it's good.

Correction (as noted below): Boneshaker

Smiling Ted · Sep 30, 2009

Girl Genius.

Or you could read the godfathers of the genre-
H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. (You wouldn't even have to pay for them. They're online here.)

Smashfiction · Sep 30, 2009

wow - some snappy replies

i'm hoping I can make a wish list of sorts of stuff to look into, because its definately a genre I'm interested in researching and maybe experimenting with.

Sevvy · Sep 30, 2009

For newer work, try George Mann's The Affinity Bridge.

The premise is good, and the book picks up towards the end, but the beginning isn't very well written. It'll never be a steampunk classic, but it has most of the elements in it and it's a quick read.

ChaosTitan · Sep 30, 2009

jhmcmullen said:
Cherie Priest's new one (Bonecrusher?) Is described as a stempunk-airship-zombie novel. I'm planning on reading it but can't tell you yet if it's good.

Boneshaker.

Buy this book, folks! Cherie is awesome!

Liosse de Velishaf · Sep 30, 2009

Steampunk:
White Chapel Gods*
The Difference Engine*
Alchemy of Stone*
Nomad of the Time Streams
Mainspring
Queen Victoria's Bomb
Anti-ice
Homunculus

Semi-steam:
Scar Night*
Perdido Street Station(New Weird, whatever)*

*I've read it

Wavy_Blue · Sep 30, 2009

ChaosTitan said:
Boneshaker.

Buy this book, folks! Cherie is awesome!

I read the synopsis of this on Amazon after I saw it on here and it sounds FASCINATING! I'm definitely requesting that my work buys it.

Zombies + Steampunk = Awesomesauce

Smiling Ted · Oct 1, 2009

Okay...

"Infernal Devices" by KW Jeter.
Not to be confused with a series of a similar name by Cassandra Clare.

thewakingself · Oct 1, 2009

Ditto what Liosse de Velishaf said.

Also, Clockwork Heart (Pagliassotti)... a newish release with very cool worldbuilding. Buuuuuut it's considered a romance, if that's a turn-off at all.

Dicentra P · Oct 1, 2009

Wow you guys are great! I have been looking at steampunk also because my WIP has a clockwork feel though the cultural setting is more late medieval early renaissance. I was planning on asking this very same question.

Smashfiction · Oct 1, 2009

wow this list is getting pretty big

hopefully in a few weeks i'll have a fair amount of disposable income (well, for me) so i'll start checking out synopsis' (synopsi?) on amazon or something soon

thanks all

ChaosTitan · Oct 1, 2009

Soulless, by Gail Carriger, is being advertised as steampunk as well.

benbradley · Oct 1, 2009

While "The Difference Engine" is an allegedly important and seminal work in the steampunk subgenre, I must admit I didn't like it even though I wanted to (I read it about 7 years ago, about a decade after it was first published). I finally looked at the Amazon reviews - the rating counts, going from 1 to 4 stars, are 22, 27, 23, 22, and finally for 5 stars only 10 reviews. That's quite a mix of votes, and it leans toward the negative (thus I feel a bit vindicated). Part of my disappointment was I was looking for more "hardware" but the story leaned heavily toward the social aspects of the characters - the main talk of the "engine" is how powerful a tool it was for the police who had a database of all criminals.

Is there any steampunk story that might also be called hard SF (the stuff I really enjoy reading)?

Canotila · Oct 2, 2009

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik is a fabulous book. It's borderline, deals with automatons and clockwork things, and it's fantasy, but at the same time it's historical and the technology stays true to what was in use at the time.

JamieB · Oct 9, 2009

ChaosTitan said:
Soulless, by Gail Carriger, is being advertised as steampunk as well.

I'm reading this and Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan right now. Both very different - one is YA of course, but it's a good look at how steampunk can be adapted into so many different ideas.

Leviathan is incredible BTW!

BlackBriar · Oct 9, 2009

JamieB said:
I'm reading this and Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan right now. Both very different - one is YA of course, but it's a good look at how steampunk can be adapted into so many different ideas.

Leviathan is incredible BTW!

I plan on getting Leviathan soon. ebook costs a bit too much right now. How is it?

JamieB · Oct 9, 2009

CupofDice said:
I plan on getting Leviathan soon. ebook costs a bit too much right now. How is it?

Got it yesterday and only read the first few chapters last night, but it's pretty great. Very creative. It has a Potter feel to it, minus the magic, plus the mechaniks and beasts. Very original.

DeskBoundTeaDrinker · Oct 9, 2009

The Difference Engine is one of my all-time fave alternate history, steampunk reads and might be in my box of Desert Island Books (though I have to get Boneshaker now). Bollocks to the Amazon reviewers.

Edited to add - I still maintain "bollocks" to the Amazon reviewers, because if you read enough Amazon reviews you are forced to recognize that a lot of people out there are "highly unusual" - but also wanted to say that I think benbradley above raises a good point about personal taste and steampunk. He likes harder Sci Fi and didn't love Difference Engine - same reaction as my hard Sci Fi loving spouse. I don't enjoy hard Sci Fi as much, but love history and culture, so Difference Engine's focus was appealing to me. We're all right on this issue, because we're all judging by our tastes.

Wondering where Boneshaker will fall out on the character/society/hardware spectrum, but plan to use a coupon to buy it on my way home tonight. Sounds like a fine read for a cold, rainy Fall night.

BlackBriar · Oct 9, 2009

Just bought Leviathan from the &%!#~*$ sony ebook store for more than it's worth. Can't wait to dive into my first steampunk.

Oberon89 · Oct 12, 2009

Soulless was entertaining. Reading Leviathan now. Here's another one that might be worth checking out: The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul DiFillipo.

As far as clockwork goes, there's not much in it, but in terms of simply stunning alternate Victorian history—especially Walt & Emily, where Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson meet—it's glorious.

Some Good Steampunk

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