the_grip on 27/12/2010 at 14:54
I'm looking at spending some of my Amazon gift certificates that I received for Xmas, and the steampunk genre currently has my attention. Aside from Bioshock and some miscellaneous movies, I'm new to all of this.
I'm looking at two books, Stephen Hunt's The Court of the Air and Cherie Priest's Boneshaker. I've heard the latter is fantastic but have not heard much about the former.
If anyone can give any recommendations to someone new to the genre, I'd appreciate it :)
SubJeff on 27/12/2010 at 17:49
Spend it on something worth while reading instead.
Renzatic on 27/12/2010 at 18:11
Oh, they're steampunk themed. I came in here expecting some book you had to shovel coal into.
the_grip on 27/12/2010 at 18:44
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Spend it on something worth while reading instead.
Specific recommendations are always welcome... got any?
Queue on 27/12/2010 at 18:58
I've been reading a collction of Stefan Grabinski called, (
http://www.latarnia.com/stefangrabinski.html) The Dark Domain.
Innumerable times better than any "steampunk themed", or fan-fiction, bullshit you may come across, yet somehow feeling of that world. Check it out.
Sulphur on 27/12/2010 at 20:56
Everybody recommends The Difference Engine for steampunk, like it's the filet mignon of the genre or something. I haven't read it, but it's Bruce Sterling and William Gibson, so there's bound to be plenty of questionably motivated characters and lovingly described who knows what the fuck going on.
Muzman on 27/12/2010 at 22:21
It's not really proper steampunk by the classic definition. But anything that is a bit alt-history with some displaced technology usually gets put in that category now (as does outright fantasy stuff like China Mieville). So (
http://www.amazon.com/Pasquales-Angel-Paul-J-Mcauley/dp/0380778203/ref=sr_1_36?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1293486976&sr=1-36) Pasquale's Angel fits.
It's a light bit of fun, particularly if you know a bit about rennaisance Florence (I don't know much really, but it helped). Basically Leonardo DaVinci devoted his life to technology instead of art. By the time the book is set Florence is still independant, defended by Swiss mercenaries and awesome military technology and has become a high tech metropolis of factories and steam powered vehicles.
The plot is that sort of murder mystery with vast political ramefications. Pasquale, a young apprentice painter, accidentally witnesses the wrong thing and becomes embroiled in an apparent attempt to murder Raphael. To get out of this he tries to figure out the real story, hooking up with crusading journalist and notorious muckraker Nicollo Machiavelli who is pursuing the same investigation.
It won't change your life but it's solid imaginative fun. Most of the characters in the book were real too.
demagogue on 27/12/2010 at 23:18
If you want to try old-school authentic steampunk, Fidcal was reading the Mars series by (
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search.html/?default_prefix=author_id&query=48) Edgar Rice Burroughs (famous for Tarzan) and going on about it being better than you'd expect 19th Century books to be and for nailing a lot of proto-steampunk themes, being authentic Victorian scifi and all (more so than e.g., Jules Verne or later HG Wells, which weren't nearly as Victorian as Burroughs was, though it's good to read them too).
Queue on 28/12/2010 at 00:54
I'd forgotten about Burroughs and the Mars series. That's some really good stuff there.
Many of those old, what would be considered "pulp fiction" by today's standards, books are worth checking out.
[edit] Speaking of a high-tech, steam-powered metropolis, I'd love to get ahold of the novelized version of Fritz Lang's, Metropolis.
Fafhrd on 28/12/2010 at 02:10
Quote Posted by demagogue
If you want to try old-school authentic steampunk, Fidcal was reading the Mars series by (
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search.html/?default_prefix=author_id&query=48) Edgar Rice Burroughs (famous for Tarzan) and going on about it being better than you'd expect 19th Century books to be and for nailing a lot of proto-steampunk themes, being authentic Victorian scifi and all (more so than e.g., Jules Verne or later HG Wells, which weren't nearly as Victorian as Burroughs was, though it's good to read them too).
Burroughs was neither 19th Century nor Victorian. The majority of his stuff was first published between 1912 and 1950, which would make him Edwardian at closest, except he was also an American, so Victorian/Edwardian don't really apply. His work falls pretty solidly under 'pulp.'
And Boneshaker and its sequel, Dreadnought, are both pretty great. They're not just steampunk, they're pretty solid alt-history. With zombies.
