Kevin's Watch

Hadn't really realised how much I like this genre untill doing a bit of background research as a result of reading Anno Frankenstein. A lot of the early [well the victorian revival of the 70's and 80's] novels were ones I read and loved from my college days [eg Blaylocks Homunculus and Jeter's Infernal devices] and unbeknowns to me stirred the pot that eventually cooked into a full-blown sub-genre of it's own.

In my perusal of the '10 best' lists on the internet I discovered I had read a good few of the book titles mentioned and seen virtually all of the films on the lists. There's just something about all those mad people with their multiple-lensed glasses, leather and steel driven machines hissing all around with cogs a'whirring, that gets to me.

Any other fans who feel the need to effect the stance of a Victorian dandy and take on a bemonacled nut-job building a steam driven doomsday machine please step forward with sugesstions for therapy.

'Fraid not really my cup of tea, peter. I recently read The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, and was thoroughly unimpressed. I am not much of a fan of retro or alternative histories in any case and this one with all its swashbuckling and swooning ladies left me fairly cold. Not sure why, something to do with the sense of innocence of science and excitement of discovery that I envy, but can't get into because of what we now know. I think the thought of adults invested in a childlike purity of adventure in the pursuit of knowledge without any awareness of the consequences troubles me some level. It reminds me that knowledge is not wisdom, which leaves me depressed with our current circumstances.

I prefer alien invasions and spaces battles!

u.

I don't think I've ever read any.

I'll read anything as long as it's good, but I think the only Steampunk novel I've read is Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, which is steampunk-plus-zombies in a world where the US civil war has been going on for over a decade (that particular book doesn't go into the war itself, but she's done a bunch of novels in that setting).

Other than that, I've only read a few short stories, which I think were all by writers who don't normally write Steampunk.

(Apparently this tablet's dictionary includes the word Steampunk.)

Not sure whether you'd call China Mieville's Perdido Street Station steampunk, although it has some steampunk-like elements (along with your bug/human sex...).

I read an indie novel recently that was kind of alternative history, kind of steampunk, kind of mystery. Kind of a jumble, in other words. The plot involved some acquaintance of Edgar Allan Poe's investigating his death -- well, murder, according to this book. It was only okay. The author was going for Victorian-style prose and missed the boat in several instances.

Perdido Street Station is pretty much everything except Tolkien, so...

Not a bad description, Murrin!

I can't stand steampunk. I love Gibson and Sterling, and I couldn't bring myself to read more than 100 pages of The Difference Engine. I mostly enjoyed Bioshock: Infinite (Xbox 360), but only because there were enough fantasy elements holding the shaky (but interesting) premise together.

Not a big fan of the Bas-Lag stuff, either. I kind of liked The Scar, though it was tough for me to finish and I don't remember a damn thing about it.

Nice one Hasi!

I'm a pretty 'visual' individual in that [while capable of opperating at deeper levels if pushed] I can take pleasure from things that are little more than exiting or beautiful to look at. It's not all that different with reading at the end of the day where simple 'rollercoaster ride' stuff will do it along with well painted mental imigary. This is probably why it works for me.

I don't know if there is any 'deeper message' in the steam-punk movement - I'd need to look into it deeper to find that out, but if not then thats ok too [a case of 'art for arts sake']. Sometimes simple escapism is enough on it's own.

Hashi Lebwohl wrote:Just Glue Some Gears on It and Call It Steampunk

u.

I've had a look around to see what, if any, the story is with Steampunk.

Most of the literary Steampunk inventions don’t solve problems–they make problems. They use wildly complicated, fallible, earth-annihilating devices to cover potholes, not solve anything. The romanticized airships are still filled with volatile hydrogen, bursting into flames at a moment’s notice. It’s appropriate that airships are one of the most iconic representations of steampunk. They work beautifully until something goes wrong. Something always goes wrong, and the results are invariably catastrophic. [link]

It’s no coincidence that Steampunk often takes place in dense, metropolitan areas. Cities are the perfect staging ground to demonstrate societal unrest and the shortcomings of a political system. Steampunk is the tool of the rebel and the fascist alike, its only morals tied to the whim of its users who are interested in death, no matter what side of the conflict they stand on. Just because Steampunk is beautiful does not mean it heals the souls of its inventors. [link]

So, something in there about the dangers of technology, societal unrest and imperfect political systems (and dressing up in snazzy costumes! )

u.

What's 'Fallout' Hashi?

Thanks for the links U. - I'll go and have a browse at those. In the meantime, last night I continued reading TOT and got well into the Brathairealm section and it occured to me - Kasreyn of the Gyre is steampunk! The Occulus and all, his use of many lensed contrivences, his 'cabinet of curisoities' styled 'lucubrium'. Pure steam punk I tell you!

[Actually - something else occured to me while reading this section, but more of that elsewhere.]

peter wrote:What's 'Fallout' Hashi?

You surprised me with this question. I didn't think I would run into anyone who didn't know what Fallout was.

Here is the Fallout wiki so you can stick your toe in the water. In short, Fallout is a post-apocalyptic wasteland video RPG. The atomic bombs fell on 23 Oct 2077, changing the face of the planet forever.

Ahh 'Fallout'. As in the RPG. I was thinking in terms of a 'genre' that had slipped by me un-noticed! Yes - this is a game I need to play at some point.

The only Steampunk example I can think of that I have ever really appreciated is what is arguably one of its sources, the 60s television series The Wild, Wild West. Of course I was a fan of the series in syndication in the mid 70s as a kid. Steampunk as a genre today is sometimes difficult for me to enjoy.

Funny, the only steampunk I don't like is Wild W Wild West.