After reading a couple of Steampunk books, I am all over this genre, which apparently was written just for me to squeeeee all over like a fangirrrrl.
So, that said, recommendations for me to queue up books at my local library.
Linky goodness for steampunky goodness.
You know the drill: It’s new. It’s LURVE. I WANT IT ALL TO RUB MY JUNK ON and stuff. until something new and shinier catches my fancy.
I demand satisfaction, I will throw you to the kracken from the dirigible.
If you haven’t already, check out the steampunk entry on TvTropes, especially the literature section.
Kraken. Air kraken to be more precise.
Come on over to Brass Goggles:The lighter side of Steampunk. It tends to be a little British and DIY-Maker culture, but we have a great number of literate folks and a couple of pinned threads in the forums about what to read next. (I haven’t read any new Steampunk since “Fitzpatrick’s War,” but I have been reading the genre since Blaylock, Jeter and Powers were active.)
I am also active on http://www.thesteampunkempire.com/ which is more of a socail network type site but has lots of brassy pictures.
Ok, that picture with Lincoln and the armed weapon is SUPER AWESOME!
oooooooooooh. I think I just wet myself.
Steampunk is soooo 1980s.
I thought the appeal was that it was soooo 1890s?
It’s a comic, and it’s kind of fantasy-steampunk rather than straight steampunk, but Phil and Kaja Foglio’s Girl Genius is excellent. I’ve linked to the first strip for you.
Try The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Sterling. Sort od a steampunk meets James Bond-ish adventure, if James Bond rode a horse in India.
On the music side, you’ll probably get a kick out of Abney Park.
And speaking of the Steampunk Empire,
The Light Ages by Ian R. MacLeod
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter by Michael Swanick
Nonfiction: Charles Babbage and the Difference Engine - The Science Museum in London sets out to build a Difference Engine from Charles Babbage’s plans, while telling the story of the Difference Engine and the problems Babbage faced in developing it. I’ve been to see the machine and it is mesmerizing (while it is not normally in operation they have a video of it running)
The Foglios define their genre as “gas-lamp fantasy,” not steampunk, although I suspect the Venn diagrams of the fans for both genres overlap almost perfectly.
That being said, I give you steampunk Star Wars.
I think they’ve said that they were unaware of the term “steampunk” when they started “Girl Genius”, so they invented a term.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the graphic novel, is excellent. I’m told that the movie is awful.
These are all great starters.
I expect more suggestions…more.
I’ve put all the books on Q at the library. I want them now
Keep them coming!
Oh shiiiiit, here is a thread I can get behind. I am TOO stoked about two different upcoming steampunk conventions in my area. Also, I told my friend I have nerf office wars at my new job and he is modding me a maverick nerf gun all decked out in antique-y looking paint and LED lights. Maybe I’ll post pics when I get it if I remember. Lucky me!
I haven’t been back there in a long time, and my account seems to have been purged, but I’m still toying with the notion of trying to write some fiction to go with the series of book titles we came up with for a fake-book hiding place thread. I’ve actually got about half an outline for Miss Victoria and the Secret of the Steam Symphony.
Dieselpunk is the new steampunk.
Fiction: The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Legendary cyberpunk authors collaborate to kick off the steampunk movement by creating a world in which Charles Babbage succeeded in his ambition to build a mechanical computer.