Steampunk: the anthology

Posted by Cory Doctorow, May 1, 2008 7:44 AM | permalink

Last month, I mentioned Ann and Jeff Vandermeer's Steampunk anthology in passing, but the book deserves better than that. I've just spent several highly entertaining hours with my advance review copy and I'm knocked out. What a great piece of work this is, from the fascinating triumvirate of essays that recount the history of steampunk in literature and describe its contemporary appeal to the top-notch works of fiction inside, from forgotten proto-steampunk gems by Michael Moorcock and James Blaylock to contemporary pieces from Neal Stephenson, Jay Lake, Ted Chiang and Paul Di Filippo (among many others). Summer's almost here -- time to do some leisure reading, and what better place to start than here? Link

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Discussion

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#1 posted by Milarepa , May 1, 2008 8:02 AM

I just can't hear (read) it anymore! Steampunk here, steampunk there.... I mean the work is awesome, bt th wrd gvs m ysr!

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#2 posted by artbot , May 1, 2008 9:45 AM

Maybe we could start a conversation about the "Singularity" (rhymes with "hilarity") for a change.

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#3 posted by Jeff , May 1, 2008 10:15 AM

I just bought a steam-punkish light fixture, it's bronze pipes and stuff. I'm sure I only did so because I've been introduced to more of the style elements shown on Boingboing. I don't think I want read about it, but it can look good. I think Jeff and Ann are doing stuff with io9 now.

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#4 posted by torrance , May 1, 2008 11:32 AM

Hooray! Cory thanks for this post. I just discovered steampunk (via your site) and I cant get enough. I will try to get this book (prolly from the library so it will be a long wait :(

And Cory you couldnt have invented a better word for it. Thanks for giving a name to this awesoime genre!

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#5 posted by Antinous , May 1, 2008 12:33 PM

#1,

CATFIC

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#6 posted by torrance , May 1, 2008 1:18 PM

CATFIC? Is that like fanfic written by cats? lol

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#7 posted by John Markos O'Neill

, May 1, 2008 2:19 PM

I feel as though I've seen another picture that resembles that cover. I can't quite place it.

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#8 posted by Xenu , May 2, 2008 2:15 AM

Steampunk is sooo over. It's only a matter of time before cheap Chinese steampunk home decor is available at Target.

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#9 posted by Agent 86 , May 2, 2008 2:39 AM

Woo, I actually needed this. I've read a novel (maybe two) in the genre, and the odd short story shows up in the anthologies I've read, but I don't have a very firm grasp of steampunk as a genre (as opposed to an art form).

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#10 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

, May 2, 2008 5:43 AM

Xenu: to quote an intermittently brilliant thinker, all ideas start out as gnosis and end up as wallpaper.

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#11 posted by dhuff

, May 2, 2008 6:40 AM

Torrance @14, while Cory is certainly teh awesome, he didn't invent the term "steampunk" by a longshot.

Check out some of the links on the excellent Brass Goggles blog for more info, or have a go at one of the seminal Steampunk novels - The Difference Engine.

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#12 posted by mkl , May 12, 2008 5:11 AM

The cover IS goatsed a little bit, isn't it?