Steampunk?

[bill_mchale]

Dennis, I think you will find that in most cases genres emerge slowly over time. The earliest writers (or artists for other works like music), don't necessarily see themselves as inventing a new genre. Works are then classified into that genre after it is finally recognized as existing.

HG Wells and Jules Verne did not think of their works as being Science Fiction in the same sense that we would today, but they surely are. Nor did E.E. "Doc" Smith think of his Lensman series as being the prototype for Space Opera. The Sword and Sorcery sub-genre was not even given its name until 25 years after its most famous and influential author (Robert E. Howard) was dead; I doubt however that anyone is going to claim that Conan the Barbarian is not a Sword and Sorcery character.

Since I consider Steam Punk that does not involve magic to be a subset of Alternate History, I definitely consider Harrison's book to be Steampunk.

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Bill

[amy.patkins]

Thanks for the steampunk recommendations... I've been looking for some good stuff, will have to do some research tonight

[digid]

One of the best that I have read is Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Its a great story, and it was written as a Steampunk book.

Dale

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Dennis, I think you will find that in most cases genres emerge slowly over time. The earliest writers (or artists for other works like music), don't necessarily see themselves as inventing a new genre. Works are then classified into that genre after it is finally recognized as existing.

I concur. Definitions get formed after the fact, when a body of work has achieved sufficient examples to constitute a class that can be named. Artists are seldom consciously trying to create a new genre, style, or form. They are trying to come up with a solution to an artistic problem that is different from what has been done before. Sometimes other artists see what has been done, and recognize something that can be adapted to what they are doing, and off we go,

HG Wells and Jules Verne did not think of their works as being Science Fiction in the same sense that we would today, but they surely are.

Yes. I commented about the phenomenon in my earlier message in this thread to montsnmags.

Nor did E.E. "Doc" Smith think of his Lensman series as being the prototype for Space Opera. The Sword and Sorcery sub-genre was not even given its name until 25 years after its most famous and influential author (Robert E. Howard) was dead; I doubt however that anyone is going to claim that Conan the Barbarian is not a Sword and Sorcery character.

Well, Smith's "Lensman" series is considered prototypical now, but it's not like he began it. He was working within an existing form, and simply happens to be the author of that form that everyone remembers.

Since I consider Steam Punk that does not involve magic to be a subset of Alternate History, I definitely consider Harrison's book to be Steampunk.

Er, which? _A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah_?"
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Dennis

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by digid

One of the best that I have read is Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Its a great story, and it was written as a Steampunk book.

Dale

Funny, I was just going to ask about this.

[dreams]

I believe, I have just had my first experience with steampunk.

I have started, MR author (HistoryWes), Wesley Allison's "Brechalon" and "The Voyage of the Minotaur".

In a world of steam power and rifles, where magic has not yet been forgotten, an expedition sets out to found a colony in a lost world. The Voyage of the Minotaur is a story of adventure and magic, religion and prejudice, steam engines and dinosaurs, angels and lizardmen, machine guns and wizards, sorceresses, bustles and corsets, steam-powered computers, hot air balloons, and dragons.

It does contain magic, so I am not sure if it truly is considered steampunk. I am surprised about how fun it is to read the combination in a story.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by dreams

I believe, I have just had my first experience with steampunk.

I have started, MR author (HistoryWes), Wesley Allison's "Brechalon" and "The Voyage of the Minotaur".

It does contain magic, so I am not sure if it truly is considered steampunk. I am surprised about how fun it is to read the combination in a story.

I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be steampunk. The defining characteristic of steampunk is the basic level of technology. It's Victorian era industrial revolution, with steam engines as the principal motive power. It may also add in mechanical computing based on Babbage's Analytical Engine, but electronics doesn't exist.

I see no reason you couldn't blend in magic. SF author Jay Lake has done a couple of steampunk novels in a setting where the world is in an actual clockwork universe, as though the solar system was a gigantic Orrery. It's hard to call that other than magic.
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Dennis

[Moe The Cat]

Originally Posted by dreams

I believe, I have just had my first experience with steampunk.

I have started, MR author (HistoryWes), Wesley Allison's "Brechalon" and "The Voyage of the Minotaur".


It does contain magic, so I am not sure if it truly is considered steampunk. I am surprised about how fun it is to read the combination in a story.

I definitely considered it steampunk when I was reading it. And don't forget, "Brechalon" is a prequel and "The Voyage Of The Minotaur" is the first volume of a trilogy. So, you have two more volumes of Wesley's steampunk to go!

[jaxx6166]

You guys are awesome for resurrecting my two year old thread. I have to add Whitechapel Gods to this list too now. Definitely going to have to check out our MR Author.

[terraskye]

Hi there,

Newish to the forums but saw the thread and wanted to add a recommendation. Gail Carriger books, Soulless,Blameless, and Shameless are set during the reign of Queen Victoria and are very steampunk in the storyline whether that was her exact intention or not. I'm halfway through the second book and am enjoying it immensely

Happy Reading!!,
Fiona