"Steampunk Fantasy" Examples

[WriterJosh]

Any thoughts here on Mark Hodder's work and also George Mann?

I've got the first two books in Hodder's Burton and Swinburne series coming by UPS. Should be here today.

George Mann is in my sites. He and Wooding are next on my list.

I also just bought the novel of "Clockwork Angels", the Rush concept album. I have yet to read the novel, but the album is something special. I am DROOLING to read the book.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I also just bought the novel of "Clockwork Angels", the Rush concept album. I have yet to read the novel, but the album is something special. I am DROOLING to read the book.

Great album by a truly great band.

 

[Connavar]

The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo is must read in this subgene imo, the three stories in that collection are well written examples of steampunk.

The weird,science fictional and the witty tone in the stories specially in "Victoria" was really enjoyable to read.

 

[ralphkern]

Alistair Reynolds Terminal World may fit the bill

 

[WriterJosh]

Chris Wooding's Retribution Falls and sequels would seem to fit the bill. While there are airships, revolvers and other steampunk things, there are also demons and the living dead.

Okay, seriously, how did I not know about this series until these forums?

And how is it that these aren't super-well known!?

Firefly meets Pirates of the Caribbean in a steampunk setting? Sign me right up!

I have Retribution Falls in hand, now. Haven't started reading it but the reviews from Werthead and SarahSaysRead have me drooling to read this.

One question; as Wooding is British, do you picture his characters speaking like Brits or Americans? I've read a little ways in, and it could go either way. They might be Cockney or they might be Southern US. As it's an invented world, I suppose it doesn't really matter.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Doing non-UK steampunk would be an interesting challenge...

 

[Extollager]

I am reading it, and I like it.

Alas, Moorcock's Warlord of the Air didn't retain my interest, and since I have less compunction about dropping a book even quite late in my progress through it, I don't expect to finish it.

 

[Sourdust]

Doing non-UK steampunk would be an interesting challenge...

I would have thought the Civil War-era US would be just as suited: Ward Moore's alt-history Bring the Jubilee (1953) is an early precursor with proto-steampunk elements. There must be quite a few others, but it's not a sub-genre I know well.

In the more general culture, one of this year's big hit video games, Bioshock Infinite, has an American steampunk setting, featuring a floating city founded by a Wounded Knee veteran.

As for 'steampunk fantasy', Tim Powers's The Anubis Gates springs to mind.

 

[WriterJosh]

Aren't there Western steampunk novels?

 

[Abernovo]

Aren't there Western steampunk novels?

They normally get classed under Weird West fiction. It's a small, but thriving, sub-genre (we even had a 75 Word Challenge some months ago).

It's a broad church though, covering more than steampunk-style stories.

 

[Grunkins]

One question; as Wooding is British, do you picture his characters speaking like Brits or Americans? I've read a little ways in, and it could go either way. They might be Cockney or they might be Southern US. As it's an invented world, I suppose it doesn't really matter.

They're all from northern Alberta.

 

[williamjm]

One question; as Wooding is British, do you picture his characters speaking like Brits or Americans? I've read a little ways in, and it could go either way. They might be Cockney or they might be Southern US. As it's an invented world, I suppose it doesn't really matter.

I'd say that the Vardian characters (which is most of the crew) seem like they should have British accents, particularly the upper class characters like Crake since what we see of the Vardian nobility seems very like Victorian British nobility.

 

[Extollager]

This writer suggests R. H. Benson's Lord of the World has steampunk qualities. I can see the point. (I thought it was an interesting novel, incidentally one that may have contributed to Tolkien's conception of Saruman.)

The Father of Dystopia: R H Benson and The Lord of the World