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Steampunk "primer"?

What would you say are some of the iconic/quintessential novels of steampunk? If you were recommending books to someone only passingly familiar with steampunk, who wanted a good window in everything the genre’s about, what books would you recommend?
 

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Relique du Madde

Adventurer
What would you say are some of the iconic/quintessential novels of steampunk? If you were recommending books to someone only passingly familiar with steampunk, who wanted a good window in everything the genre’s about, what books would you recommend?


The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is almost required reading.
Steampunk Trillogy by Paul De Filippo is supposed to be interesting.

Moorecock wrote several steampunk stories but I haven't read them. If anything, I read more anthologies in the genre than novels.
 
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Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
Moorcock's "steampunk" novels are the Oswald Bastable novels and, to a certain extent, his Dancers at the End of Time novels (which maintain a steampunk feel while being set in various times). Of course, 99% of his stories are part of his Eternal Champion cycle, so they're technically not true steampunk.

In a way, HG Wells and Jules Verne's fiction are proto-steampunk. Many of the elements of their writing styles have been adopted as genre standards.

Besides the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Marvel, DC, and Image have all produced the occasional alternative history storyline featuring variations on their main characters, such as Batman's Gotham by Gaslight.

Then, of course, there are games like Space: 1889, Etherscope and Alternative Engine's "For Faerie Queen and Country" settings.
 


Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
BTW- I forgot to second the rec for Difference Engine, and to note that Moorcock's Bastable books are quite good for boning up on steampunk even if they aren't quite fully within the genre.

And of course, any of the novels that the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen borrowed from would be fair game as well- IOW, Dr Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Invisible Man, and so forth.

A recent movie with steampunk sensibilities would be The Prestige.

There is also this anthology:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Steampunk-Ann-VanderMeer/dp/1892391759]Amazon.com: Steampunk (9781892391759): Ann VanderMeer, Jeff…[/ame]


Now, it may boggle some minds, but since the Victorian era is technically the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901, that encapsulates the majority of what we think of as the era of the "Wild West" in America.

Thus, "weird West" fiction, such as found in TV series like "Wild, Wild West", "The Adventures of Briscoe County, Jr.", Kurt R.A. Giambastiani's Fallen Cloud novels, and even movies like The Valley of Gwangi would fit nicely on the American side of a world with steampunk sensibilities. They are, essentially, steampunk set in America.

If you start drifting into the world of fantasy along with the anachronistic tech, then another good book of recent origins would be Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell. And of course, most of Poe and the Lovecraft Mythos are set within that era as well. The more Mythos you read, the more steampunk elements you see, even though they, too, are not technically steampunk stories.
 
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fivepopes

Explorer
I see you've gotten many good recommendations further up in the thread. Some additions from me:

I enjoyed [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Homunculus-James-P-Blaylock/dp/1930235135/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1274861751&sr=8-1-spell"]Homunculus[/ame] by James P. Blaylock. A strange, laidback and mystic sort of steampunk novel.

Another nice novel, perhaps more fantasy and less punk, but still very heavy on the steam and sooty magic is [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Scar-China-Mieville/dp/0330392905/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_11"]The Scar[/ame] by China Mieville.
 

Pbartender

First Post
Another nice novel, perhaps more fantasy and less punk, but still very heavy on the steam and sooty magic is The Scar by China Mieville.

Perdido Street Station by the same author is a bit more steampunky, while almost equally fantastical... It's got a lot of interesting ideas that could be stolen for a steampunk game.
 



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