Point me towards books...

[JayBrickwall]

As a casual writer, ideas pass around me like neutrinos... there are millions of them raining down around me at all times, yet only one in a 100 billion ever hit me!

So I have been working on a new idea, just some character sketches and loose-end-gathering... and I feel like I need to "read more". What I mean is, I have this idea that is building up inside, but I think I need to settle in with a stack of other people's words for a bit, before striking off on my own.

So here are the topics that I feel I need to incorporate better into my idea, and I would love if anyone had any recommendations of where to head. I mean, amazon.com search only gets you so far. I need the far superior mind (hive mind) of EN to work for me here! Plus I know we have a TON of readers/writers in the crowd.

Topics:

Steampunk.. I have read most of the RPG-based stuff in this genre, but i was wondering where the best pure fiction treatment is.

Immortality... I have been thru Anne Rice and all her immortals... and I am really aiming for a non Xian view of immortality, no deals with the devil, etc.

Pre-Houdini-Magicians... This could slide into the *shiver* non-fiction side of things, if need be.

there are plenty of others too... but these are the ones I figured someone on EN would be able to just say, "HERE... this is the book you need to read."

Thanks for any help/suggestions!

 

[Umbran]

Steampunk..

For the classics, go for H.G. Wells and Jules Verne

Also try The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

Immortality...

Changer and Legends Walking by Jane Lindskold

Pre-Houdini-Magicians...

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

 

[JayBrickwall]

clicking on amazon even now...

Thanks!

 

[Horacio]

For steampunk I would add Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

 

[Scotley]

For the immortality angle try some early Roger Zelazny particularly Lords of Light and This Immortal. His Chronicles of Amber (10 books worth) is essentially a story of a family of Immortals. You might also check out Roadmarks for a time travel angle and one of the coolest covers ever on a sci fi book.

Jack Chalker's Well of Souls books focus tangentially on the issues of immortality as well. They give some incite into the melancholy that goes with living forever.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Umbran pretty much typed up my initial responses to #1 & #3.

Oddly enough, there are also comics in the steampunk genre. Besides the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, there have also been steampunk stories of Batman (Gotham by Gaslight, I believe it was called) and other superheroes in the Marvel and DC stables.

As for pre-pre-pre-houdini...

There is the excellent Sword of Knowledge trilogy covering the Roman-esque empire of Sabis written by C.J. Cherryh ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dirge_for_Sabis ) with Lackey, Asire, and Fish...though more of the story revolves around the dawning age of gunpowder than it does around magic.

For #2...Scotley got there first. I'll add that there is currently a collected Amber novels edition out there too.

Other takes on it- Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion novels & stories. While it seems counterintuitive, what with several main characters dying, the Eternal Champion is just that. Its just that the real nature of the EC is a being that is compartmentalized over all realities and all time- part may die, but he lives on.