Remember steampunk, that intriguing genre of “What If…,” featuring fantastic steam-powered machines, airships, clever sartorial uses of brass, and goggles, all set against a Victorian backdrop? What about its close speculative subgenre cousin, gaslamp fantasy? With the recent release of Jim Butcher’s The Olympian Affair, the second book in his steampunk Cinder Spire series, it’s time to rediscover the “Victorian with a twist” aesthetic!
We can’t talk steampunk without mentioning our own Seattle writer Cherie Priest, author of Boneshaker, a novel in which steampunk meets the supernatural. Follow Briar as she navigates a world of air pirates, mob bosses, and zombies to rescue her son Zeke, who went searching for the truth surrounding his father, the inventor of the Boneshaker machine that inadvertently unleashed a poison gas into the city 17 years earlier.
In The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark, young protagonist Creeper has an African spirit to guide her and dreams of escaping the streets of New Orleans to join one of the airship crews. When she learns of a new otherworldly weapon called The Black God’s Drums, she works to prevent destruction raining down on her city and the nation.
If you’re curious to see fiction meet reality, try Quantum Steampunk by theoretical physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern. Take Victorian thermodynamics, mix with quantum physics, sprinkle with whimsy, serve with a doctorate, and enjoy! Winner of the PROSE Award for Best Book in Popular Science and Popular Mathematics.
Steampunk has STYLE, and the visual mediums probably do the greatest justice to this genre. Seattle-based duo Kaja and Phil Foglio have created a long running comic series in Girl Genius. Follow Agatha Heterodyne in her adventures as she realizes her calling to be a Spark, a.k.a. Mad Scientist, and her legacy as the heir of House Heterodyne. Humor, adventure, and a talking cat!
Castle in the Sky is both an anime and a film comic by Hayao Miyazaki. Two orphans, Sheeta and Pazu, find themselves evading airship pirates, the military, and a shady government agent while trying to unravel the mystery of a mythical floating island that holds a dangerous weapon.
For the sake of the next recommendation, let’s embrace the idea that steampunk can also be an umbrella term, and talk about the French film The City of Lost Children – because it is too unique, bizarre, and now iconic not to be included. Steampunk-esque, it is a wild tale of a scientist who, having lost the ability to dream, kidnaps children to steal theirs in a bid to extend his life. The movie follows One, a carnival strongman, and the eccentric cast of characters he meets along the way as he attempts to rescue his kidnapped brother.
There’s more to explore in the world of airships and adventures, parasols and pirates, and vampires in Victorian England. Goggles on, pinkies out, and full steam ahead!
~posted by Chelsea M.
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