"Dirigible on my Mind": Steampunk Deals/Freebies + Discussion

[ApK]

Originally Posted by crich70

Some say that H.G. Wells and Jules Verne's works were early steampunk efforts. Certainly the way Nemo's sub and the Time Traveller's machine are described I can see why some say that.

Back to TV once more: There is going be a spin-off of Warehouse 13 about the recurring H.G. Wells character that is reported to be heavily steampunk.

[mgbino]

Originally Posted by sabredog

Recommend the Tales of the Ketty Jay series by Chris Wooding.

I second this. It's one of my favorites. It does have quite a few elements of fantasy (and even a little horror), so it's not for purists.

George Mann is a pretty big name in Steampunk right now, but I have to admit that I found Ghost of Manhattan way too much like a steampunk Batman for my tastes. His Newbury and Hobbes books are much better (think Steampunk Sherlock Holmes with a dash of Lovecraft thrown in).

If you want a fun superhero/steampunk series, I'd recommend the Society of Steam Trilogy by Andrew P. Mayer.

... and the Virga series by Karl Schroeder. If you haven't read this, and you have even the slightest interest in a hard sci-fi/steampunk mix, this should pretty go right to the top of your TBR list.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

Would be interested in hearing what you think of this one. Last year I bought books 1-5 in the series but have yet to read any of them. The Clockwork Scarab, which is the only steampunk book I've read, seriously curbed my enthusiasm. It was a meh read for me; not that bad but I think my expectations were too high. I mean, Sherlock Holmes' niece and Bram Stoker's sister (plus Irene Adler), can you blame me?

I enjoyed the Magnificent Devices books. I picked up the freebie of Lady of Devices and enjoyed it enough to buy the omnibus of the 1st four books. My niece flew through those 4 and quickly bought #5 & #6. I read the rest of the omnibus, still enjoying the series, and have queued up #5 (A Lady of Resources) for next week's Bout of Books read-a-thon.

I will point out that the protagonist is a 19-20 year old girl. She teams up with a gang of teen-agers. I think it may appeal more to young adults or to people who frequently read YA fiction.

I haven't read The Clockwork Scarab, so I can't compare it to the books that I have read and enjoyed. Based on the description at Amazon, you may find that your reaction to the Magnificent Devices series is much the same.

[Dr. Drib]

I just bought the StoryBundle Extraordinary Steampunk, mentioned in this thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=243976

I picked up 4 titles for $3.00

I didn't buy the Bonus books (3 titles), for a minimum of $7.00 more.

I need someone to tell me why I should buy these 3 other titles.

Should I?

[fjtorres]

My favorite steampunk is the Foglios' GIRL GENIUS project.
It most honestly works steampunk as an offshoot of fantasy.

[crich70]

Amazon has a few books by George Mann that look to be steampunk:click

[ATDrake]

Seconding the recommendations upthread for:

1. Phil & Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius (as a comic; I haven't read the novelizations, but the 1st in series was a freebie a few years ago), which is a very nifty run-by-mad-scientists universe. The Transylvania Polygnostic University motto is "Know Enough To Be Afraid", a sentiment with which I heartily agree.
2. Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate quintet; it's more "historical" urban fantasy w/supernatural romance elements set in a steampunk-y universe than what I'd personally consider to be a dedicated steampunk where the emphasis would be towards exploring how the tech elements changing the retro-society, but very fun and enjoyable and not heavily weighted towards the romance-y, IMHO.
   
   My old non-spoiler reviews and a bit of follow-up discussion from others who'd read the 1st in the RR WAYR thread here: #1, #2, #3 & 4

For those of you wanting to check out Cherie Priest's series I recommended above and who aren't averse to online reading instead of having a downloadable format, Subterranean Press magazine published a 2008 tie-in short which is available in full for your perusal here (standalone with no spoilers for the novels as far as I can tell; and also no zombies, but a bit of a supernatural horror element for those Gentle Readers who like that kind of thing) with a helpful little intro blurb to the overall setting: Tanglefoot: A Tale of the Clockwork Century

Some other former official publisher freebies which long-term MR members may have picked up in the past and care to try now:

• The Hunter by Theresa Meyers, a supernatural western steampunk from Kensington
• Photographs & Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape, a novella in her Gaslight Chronicles series of "steam & sorcery"-type romantic suspense from Carina Press. The 1st in series was a 99 cent deal at one point, so some people might have also picked it up then. I did and read both, and while they're weighted heavily towards the romantic, from a no-romo reader perspective I did consider them to have a decent balance of actual mysterious investigation in the stories: my old RR-WAYR reviews here and here for those who might have similar reservations regarding the amount of relationship drama content
  
  This is actually still free in many stores but I'm linking to the publisher-direct version since the old MR thread was a while ago and still has a bunch of lingering affiliate links from before the rules at both MR and Amazon changed, so too many people clicking for the freebie might mess up some of our bargain-finding members' current affiliate setups, if I understand the Amazon changes about subtracting freebies from the value of the referral or whatever.
• Like Clockwork by Bonnie Dee, a tech-and-social-issues oriented romantic suspense also once offered by Carina Press, and another one that I tried reading back in the day and mildly enjoyed: you know which thread this link leads to

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Do works have to be written by modern authors to be considered steampunk? or are authors like Jules Verne and HG Wells also considered steampunk?

Myself, personally, I'd consider that since Verne & Wells actually lived back in the time that they were more-or-less straight sci-fi writers of the day envisioning what might be using extrapolations of their current level of tech and scientific understanding just as today's writers are have been nanotech and singularity and gengineering/AI cyborging it with our current levels.

Whereas steampunk to me has a dedicated retro-consciousness element of examining what-might-have-been back in the day with our current understanding of the tech and knowledge they had back then, to introduce an achronous level of induced artifice (in the sense of the proliferation of clever advanced devices) resulting in a historical AU, if that makes any sense.

Of course, there's somewhat borderline cases like what Terry Pratchett has been doing in Ankh Morpork lately with the recent books (and to a lesser extent, what Mercedes Lackey had kind-of explored in the "Storms" trilogy of her Valdemar setting) introducing the Industrial Revolution into a formerly mostly-magical dedicated fantasy setting.

So, TL;DR: YMMV.

[tubemonkey]

Here are some free books (90+ titles) at Smashwords classified as "steampunk & retropunk". Some titles are foreign language.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Myself, personally, I'd consider that since Verne & Wells actually lived back in the time that they were more-or-less straight sci-fi writers of the day envisioning what might be using extrapolations of their current level of tech and scientific understanding just as today's writers are have been nanotech and singularity and gengineering/AI cyborging it with our current levels.

Whereas steampunk to me has a dedicated retro-consciousness element of examining what-might-have-been back in the day with our current understanding of the tech and knowledge they had back then, to introduce an achronous level of induced artifice (in the sense of the proliferation of clever advanced devices) resulting in a historical AU, if that makes any sense.

Thanks! That's a great explanation and I can see that point of view. Appreciate it.

[ballfresno]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

Nope, the one you're thinking of is 'The Girl in the Fireplace'. One of my all-time favourites.

One of the best indeed! One of the saddest, as well.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Thread title changed to better reflect deals/freebies + discussion.


Don
(Moderator)

Why not fold my post about Steampunk books into this one? Click

[ApK]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Thanks! That's a great explanation and I can see that point of view. Appreciate it.

I think I mostly agree, at least as far as literature. It would not make sense to call the novel "20,000 Leagues..." steampunk, EVEN THOUGH if it were word-for-word identically written today by a modern writer, it would indeed be, as odd as that sounds.

But steampunk is also a visual style and aesthetic. Part of the visual style involves Victorian materials and design elements applied to technology far out of the reach of the Victorian era.

So I'd say that while "20,000 Leagues..." and "The Time Machine" are not steampunk novels, the Nautilus and the time machine itself are steampunk devices.

In Nemo's case, he even got the "punk" aspect right. He was a angst-ridden rebel outlaw.

[crich70]

The Internet Archive has some steampunk music if anyone is interested:Click

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by crich70

The Internet Archive has some steampunk music if anyone is interested:Click

How do they define steampunk music?

[badgoodDeb]

The Girl Genius graphic art (comic book) series in free online too. http://girlgeniusonline.com/ I haven't read anything else, but THIS at least is great stuff!