Extraordinary Engines complilation

[Erunanion]

I have just finished reading Petrolpunk by Adam Roberts, in the Solaris anthology of steampunk short stories, Extraordinary Engines (ISBN: 9781844166343), and I feel moved to comment. I'll be making comments which apply specifically to that anthology (which claims to be the definitive anthology of steampunk, I might add) and to a similar anthology called Steampunk (ISBN: 9781892391759), but might also to short stories in general.

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In short, the stories in these books are dire; drivel; pretentious; poorly-written; and just plain BAD.

Is this the case with all short stories? I haven't read many - I brought the books to get an idea of what steampunk was all about. Granted, there are a couple of exceptions (more in Steampunk than in Extraordinary Engines though, mind) which are good, such as an extract from Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock, and a story from multiple POVs at the end of Steampunk based in Tzarist Russia. But on the whole the stories are a blend of terrible writing and characterisation, strange literary in-jokes and quirks of writing which I am convinced only make sense to the authors.

Does this apply to short stories (speculative fiction to begin with, but also in general) completely, or was I unlucky enough to just get a pair of really duff books? I'll admit, I do feel a small sense of hope having read them - if authors of this quality can get published (each one is apparently a respected author, with a multitude of published works), then we mere folk should have no problems at all.

Is this a rant to any purpose? Er, probably not - mainly I'm warning you all away from these two books (although if you do want to pick up one of them, get Steampunk - it has more of the good stories), but I'm hoping to get people talking on the subject of short stories in general. They must all have a theme, a moral (or whatever) and I have absolutely no problem with that if they work nicely. But it seems to me, from these two books, that short stories are more a means of authors indulging in lazy/outright bad writing practices and foolishly convoluted plots.

Rant done (for this post ). But whatever you do, avoid Petrolpunk, the story that inspired me to vent my frustrations. It is truly appalling.

 

[dask]

Thank you for your comments. I haven't read any myself but the Clute/Nicholls SF Encyclopedia has an interesting article on Steampunk and it might be worth one's while to try what they call proto-Steampunk first, stories such an Christopher Priest's The Space Machine, Morlock Night by K.W. Jeter, and the book you mentioned, The Warlord Of The Air by Michael Moorcock. That's probably what I'll do when I get around to it.

 

[GOLLUM]

Well thanls for the warning BUT too late I've already got that Steampunk anthology edited by the Vandermeers. Everything I've ever read by Vandermeer or he's had to do with has been worthwhile so that doesn't sound too encouraging but one man's meat in another man's poison, we shall see.. I've also got their other antholgoy The New Weird...so when I eventually get around to reading those 2 books I may post a review on them here.

I've got Clute's Encyclopedia Of Fantasy and there's an interesting article in there on Sterampunk too. Of course it mentions the classsic streampunk novel The Difference Engine, which is still regraded by many as the best example of this sub Genre of which I have a copy.

 

[Erunanion]

I do still really want to get hold of The Difference Engine, and Moorcock's trilogy of which Warlock of the Air is the first book (currently out of print, however). I got the definite sense that steampunk works best in longer stories, where the setting can be fully developed and exploited without getting in the way of storytelling - or worse, just being a clunky element within the story.

 

[GOLLUM]

Well I'm happy to suggest Difference Engine to you but Moorcock's series I've never read. Someone here will no doubt post a comment on it.

Cheers and Merry Christmas from Australia BTW..

 

[Rez]

Short stories aren't to blame for bad writing. There are plenty of great ones. I think I remember a few good stories in one of those anthologies, too.

You do need to read The Difference Engine, though, to get a good feel for the sub-genre. I suggest Anubis Gate, Morlock Night, The Diamond Age, and Peridido Street Station.

For precursor stuff read Verne/Wells, and you might take a look at the stuff that the introduction to one of those anthologies mentioned suggests: The Steam Man series. The Huge Hunter Steam Man stuff isn't worth it beyond the understanding of where the sub-genre's roots are, though.

 

[GOLLUM]

Short stories aren't to blame for bad writing. There are plenty of great ones. I think I remember a few good stories in one of those anthologies, too.

You do need to read The Difference Engine, though, to get a good feel for the sub-genre. I suggest Anubis Gate, Morlock Night, The Diamond Age, and Peridido Street Station.

For precursor stuff read Verne/Wells....

Good suggestions. I've either read or have all of those except for Morlock Night and they're all very good reads!

 

[Ian Whates]

In short, the stories in these books are dire; drivel; pretentious; poorly-written; and just plain BAD.

Is this the case with all short stories? I haven't read many

Emphatically, no, it isn't. A well written short story is a joy and can deliver a punch far more succinctly and often more powerfully than a novel. Which is why I've delighted in commisiioning and publishing volumes of new ones in recent years. Check out these comments on the latest, Subterfuge Review: Subterfuge | Books | The Guardian
Subterfuge: Neal Asher, Tony Ballantyne, Pat Cadigan, Storm Constantine, Gary Couzens, Jaine Fenn, Dave Hutchinson, Tanith Lee, Steve Longworth, Ian Whates: Amazon.co.uk: Books
Best SF Reviews Ian Whates' 'Subterfuge'>

Short stories have traditionally been the bedrock of SF, the springboard from which careers are launched and through which authors learn to craft characters and narrative. Unfortunately the shorter form has fallen out of favour with many readers in recent years, which is a great shame, because some of the best SF ever written has appeared as short stiories and the format continues to produce challenging works of high quality.

I haven't read either of the anthos you site, Erunanian, but you specifically mention Adam Roberts. Be careful not to write Adam off too quickly. He's an author who delights in experimenting with unconventional writing styles and structures, particularly in his short work. I've read some of his stuff which quite frankly I hated, while other pieces, such as his story "The Man With the Strong Arm" in my anthology Celebration Celebrations Newconpress was superb.

Long live the short story, say I!

 

[Connavar]

Some SF and fantasy work better in short stories.

I have read some great anthologies lately that i feel the need to get more anthos.


The best thing about anthos in SFF is you can try authors many of them without buying a novel and taking a gamble.

 

[Erunanion]

Muwhaha, my baiting has succeeded in landing some rich recommendations for decent short stories! Exactly what I intended all along...

To prove that I am not a total cretin, I will say also that the Solaris SFF short story anthologies (I think they have done one for fantasy, and have relatively recently released their second of sci-fi) contain some very enjoyable, impressively written pieces, for anyone wanting their stories in easy-to-handle chunks

Thanks for the recommendations and comments to you Ian, particularly. I feel the need to apologise for my pretty unqualified bashing of Adam Roberts' story, or at least to qualify it some I generally don't have a problem with mildly unorthodox writing styles, given time to get used to it (perhaps why I am less forgiving with short stories in general).

The problem, specifically, with Roberts' story was that an integral charcter is introduced relatively near the end of the story who has one of the wierdest speech impediments I've ever seen committed to print. I generally like that in books (as an example, Carrot's letters home in the Discworld books) if it doesn't break the flow of dialogue. The author probably has a good grasp of how to do it well (judging by your comments and the nice words said of him in the introduction to his story) but in this case it fell very flat with me. Couple that with a very confusing plot twist/conceit, and for me personally it broke down into something I ended up skimming for key words. Not something I am particularly proud of, to be honest, but something for which an author is not entirely blameless.

Still, I will venture forth in search of everyone's recommendations and hope I broaden my literary mind a bit more while reading them. Close-mindedness in someone who enjoys sci-fi as much as I do should probably be stamped on as hard as possible - thanks for stamping guys

 

[chrispenycate]

In my youth (dinosaurs were a rare occurence, but you'd still see the occasional mammouth blundering along the A1) the short story was the staple medium in science fiction, just as the forty-five was the chosen form for music. Certainly, there were novels, but every author that wrote them also wrote shorts.
Now commercial pressures - presumably public demand, but also the organisation of the publishing industry - have pushed the balance in the other direction. Ideas that deserved to be novellas end up as multi-volume works, short stories are inflated to novels. An idea which fits nicely into a short will not necessarily make a good novel; can you imagine trying to fit "The nine billion names of God" into a full sized book?

Perhaps steampunk is too young to have known the short's heyday, and its perpetrators never learnt the almost poetical art of squeezing everything essential into the smallest possible space, without leaving the reader feeling cheated. Bacause I am a strong believer in the idea that every idea has its own optimum length, ant if tthis is not a tetrology of cinder-block sized volumes that does not make it a story not woorth telling.

{Looks at post and considers that this plea for consision could be well applied at a personal level}