The Nature of Steampunk & Some Recommendations

[abracanabra]

Steampunk is a peculiar beast of a sub-genre that seems to be getting more attention lately. half_double has requested a list of such readings from me. It isn't a precisely pinned-down genre as yet. In many ways, I'd say it's more of an atmosphere or flavor than an "X,Y, and Z are present" sort of thing. Here are the elements that, in my opinion, flavor steampunk: steam-based technology, Victoriana, Victorian England, London, clockwork, mystery, fog and smog, brass devices, complexity, high density writing, social class structure as in the Victorian era, petticoats and waistcoats, fabulism, conspiracy, secret society etc. Lovecraftian influences are also often expressed in conjunction. Steampunk influences may be seen in science fiction or fantasy or both. There's also some weird steampunk/western thing going on, though I scowl in its general direction.

Books I have read and would recommend that share some/many of the above influences:
* The Difference Engine - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
* The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book - Alan Moore (comic book)
* Perdido Street Station (etc.) - China Mieville
* Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
* Sun of Suns - Karl Schroeder
* The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
* The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters - Gordon Dahlquist (this book I recommend anyway--it ate my brain for a while)
* His Dark Materials (trilogy) - Philip Pullman
* FreakAngels - Warren Ellis (Future post-apocalyptic, but strongly steampunk-influenced. Also available free on the web and pretty fantastic for serial reading! Here's where to start: http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23 [increment +1 for every week after this post that you follow that link])

Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_steampunk_works

A lot of steampunk has been written as short stories, so anthologies are not a bad way to go either if you're trying to understand the genre, though I won't recommend any particular one.

Other ways steampunk is being expressed are as a fashion choice (tattered petticoats and brass goggles, or clockwork devices made accessories) and as a make aesthetic (a keyboard painstakingly reshaped to resemble a Victorian typewriter, for example).

Edited to add: See also Steampod (http://steampod.org), a podcast of steampunk stories including classics.

Comments

[aedifica]

The world is getting all small again 'n' stuff. I knew jenett knew half_double, but I didn't know you did!

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

The world is small and the Twin Cities are smaller, 'tis true.

[half-double.livejournal.com]

cloudscudding knows everyone. Everywhere. Ever. Once we accept this fact, we feel better.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I think you're confusing me with gunn or birdfigment.

[half-double.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm starting to suspect that jenett is the nexus we seek.

[chadvalentine.livejournal.com]

Diamond Age? Really? I dunno...

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I did say "some/many of the above influences," and Diamond Age is on the list because it has kinda the same feel and a heavy dose of Victorian influences.

[xcorvis.livejournal.com]

An excellent Steampunk blog:
http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk/brassgoggles/

They also have a forum.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Neat. Looks like a good place to get a feel for the aesthetic of it.

[erragal.livejournal.com]

The other China Mieville books are good as well
I'd recommend The Scar, and Iron Council.

I really enjoyed Automated Alice, one of Jeff Noon's Vurt books.

I haven't read The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo but I really liked his short story in the Cities Anthology so I'm definitely going to check it out.

I've read the first of the Ghost novels and it was pretty good.

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters - Gordon Dahlquist THAT is something I am going to have to check out...

[prof-vencire.livejournal.com]

OR you... you could even read old sci-fi ala Jules Verne and Welles and Edgar Rice Burroughs and such, maybe?

E.R. Burroughs is pretty good (particularly if you want to read some Crazy Adventure), sometimes Verne is (but the summaries of his stories are always worth it), and Welles is not as widely read by me so far.

And, believe it or not, the old Wild Wild West tv-show? Pretty entertaining (from my scratchy memories). One main villain? A dwarf with a flair for NECROBOTICS! I sort of prefer the Wild West flavour of steampunk over the more Victorian flavour, partially because I prefer a more... traditional and less clockworky Pulp feel with my Victorian (you know, zeppelins and ray-guns and strange elixirs and so on).


A question about Perdid Street Station: Does it just start off kinda slow and... less-than-engaging? I tried to read it, but never got into it. I will read it, eventually, but...

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Some argue that the older sci-fi qualifies as steampunk, others argue that it doesn't because it just happened to be written actually around the time period that steampunk tries to recreate. Me, I'm inclined to believe it has a generally different flavor, though some of the old Jules Verne you can really point to and say, "That, there, is what steampunk wants to go back to."

Brisco County Jr. ruined me for Wild West/steampunk. I just cannot take it seriously.

Perdido Street Station is really, really dense. It's not something you can read very well on the bus or in line somewhere and then set aside for a few days and then get back to. It does take a bit to get into. My first attempt failed. My second attempt repaid me. It should be noted that there are damn few books I'm willing to go back to if I just fail at reading them the first time (as opposed to get halfway in and then have to return them to the library, which happens all the time). PSS drew me back in.

[prof-vencire.livejournal.com]

I also liked "Ruse" pretty well, but I never read the spin-offs.

I'd argue that the style is often different but only because of Racism, Sexism, and Unnecessary Dryness. And lack of humor that's actually even remotely funny.

When I tried reading it first-time through, I didn't really see a lot of new ideas and the main characters were... unrelatable and hard to sympathize with. I guess, much of the issue I had was that it felt almost entirely like a Notebook world instead of a Real But Fictional world. Again, I didn't finish it, and intend to, so those might be premature opinions.

[half-double.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you much for this list. An excellent jumping-off place, indeed.

There's also some weird steampunk/western thing going on, though I scowl in its general direction.

I will be better able to comment on this once I've dived in more, but although I understand your scowling, doesn't the "match" make sense for anyone who, say, wants to write steampunk set in America? After all, we were not so Victorian as the Victorians. Mightn't the "wild West" be a more honest background than Victoriana?

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

To me, steampunk is so intrinsically linked to the Victorian style of setting that if you shift it into a different setting, it becomes a different beast altogether.

Though there was a good suggestion at Con about using steampunk in British colonies that I think could work really well.

[half-double.livejournal.com]

To me, steampunk is so intrinsically linked to the Victorian style of setting that if you shift it into a different setting, it becomes a different beast altogether.

OK. That makes sense. Thank you for clarifying. Wheeee! I love having interesting new thingies to explore and learn about.

Though there was a good suggestion at Con about using steampunk in British colonies that I think could work really well.

I assume you didn't play the Steam Century LARP, as you were playing the Smoke Afternoon BBQ, but the group that ran it, the H.M.A. Badger, has a map of their version of North America (http://www.hmabadger.com/index.php?page=the-steam-century-world) that absolutely kicks ass.