A survey of the steampunk genre.

STEAMPUNK begins with a critical essay entitled "The 19th-Century Roots of Steampunk" that I felt helped put some of the following stories in perspective. Similarly, the essays near the end of the book allowed me to consider steampunk in other media in light of what I'd learned from the stories. I was also pleased to see that each piece begins with an introductory blurb explaining how the story its into the subgenre. I was glad to have this information, but it would've been nice if the editors had also mentioned the source for each story and the year in which it was first published. Sometimes they include this information; most of the time they don't.

Regarding the stories themselves: the editors have chosen a nice selection of steampunk, with stories ranging from real-world Victorian science, (souped up, of course), to medieval steampunk. There's plenty of alternate history, a touch of imaginary world, and scads of airships. It's good stuff.

Of course, some of the stories are better than others. I don't think there any bad pieces herein, but I personally got the most enjoyment from:

"The Giving Mouth" by Ian R. MacLeod – the medieval steampunk mentioned above. I found the story itself a little uneven, but MacLeod's style more than makes up for it. I also loved the idea of feudal steampunk, and I thought the resolution had some interesting implications.

"A Sun in the Attic" by Mary Gentle – a feminist imaginary world story with some durned tasty worldbuilding. The story also serves as a vehicle for some thoughts on voluntary simplicity.

"The Selene Gardening Society" by Molly Brown – an American steampunk tale in which a group of Baltimore society wives persuade their husbands to turn the moon into a garden. I found it delightful, and I enjoyed the environmental undertones.

"Seventy-Two Letters" by Ted Chiang – a Victorian story that explores the scientific applications of kabbalistic magic. This was far and away my favourite story. I'm a sucker for magic used in a scientific manner. Chiang also deals with the ramifications of his protagonist's research, and that's always nice to see.

"Victoria" by Paul Di Filippo – another Victorian story about monarchy, newts, scientific engineering and sex. I got a big kick out of it.

You'll notice that there's a hefty emphasis on the science there. Somewhere along the line, I got the impression that steampunk was basically a mixture of magic and technology, usually in a Victorian setting. It looks like I got the wrong end of the stick. There's technology, sure, and the Victorian(esque) setting is pretty standard. But magic? Magic is most definitely on the sidelines here, when it's present at all.

Based on the stories the VanderMeers included, I'd argue that steampunk is basically a form of science fiction that looks backwards rather than forwards. Most science fiction explores the future. If we took this technology and extrapolated it, how might it be applied in a hundred years' time? Two hundred? Five hundred? Steampunk, in contrast, takes a piece of technology that we have now, (or that we're close to developing), and imagines what the past might have been like had the science been around back then. It's interesting stuff. I enjoyed my first real foray into the subgenre, and I'm looking forward to reading some more.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

Well, not technically finished since I still want to read the bibliography/essays at the end. I have to say it was a mix of stories. Some were ok but not great. Others seemed out of place or a stretch to what I think about SteamPunk. It might be ok if I was already a fan and wanted to see the edges of the genre, but from reading the intro I had the impression there would be more "classic" steampunk stories.

That being said, one of my favorites was one that didn't really use steampunk (72 letters I think was the title) but had the feel of what I would expect a steampunk story. Some of the others like "The Clown-God" seemed like they belonged in another short story collection. That particular one wasn't bad and I've read other good stores by Lake, but it just seemed out of place.

If you're a sci-fi fan I guess I'd recommend reading, but there's probably some stories you might end up skipping.

(Not sure of the exact titles of the above, don't have the book with me right now)

I'll cheerfully admit that while I thought this was an interesting collection, it was the older material by Michael Moorcock and James Blaylock that I enjoyed the most. At the other end of the spectrum were Mary Gentle and Michael Chabon, whose offerings read too much like fragments of larger works (yes, I noticed that the Moorcock and Blaylock selections are excerpts too). At the top of the list of the best of the rest was Ian MacLeod's exercise in steampunk medievalism, which would be perfect as a film directed by Terry Gilliam.

Special note has to go to Joe Lansdale, who nailed perfectly the flavor of one of Philip Jose Farmer's adventure pastiches heavily larded with outre sex and violence. The question has to be whether you should WANT to perfectly nail imitating one of those stories. It's like watching a disgusting freak show act performed with impeccable timing. If nothing else in this collection is punk, it's this story.

As for the critical essays those were quite good for the most part. Though I have to scratch my head over the notion of calling Hayao Miyazaki's film "Spirited Away" steampunk; come again? ( )

This collection of steampunk stories covers a lot of ground. (Steampunk is science fiction or fantasy set ina world where technology hasn't progressed beyond the steam engine, but that's a very big tent.) It was a great introduction to steampunk, and all of the stories were worth reading. I was blown away by a couple of the stories, and you probably will be too -- just not the same stories. ( )

This anthology presents short stories in the steampunk genre. Steampunk, in my mind, is a subgenre of science fiction, usually set in the Victorian Era with the use of advanced steam or clockwork technology and very much inspired by Jules Verne. Though some people would argue that it is more complicated than that.

"Seventy-Two Letters," by Ted Chiang and "Victoria," by Paul Di Filippo don't exactly fall into that category. While they are both set in the Victorian Era, they are more biopunk (biopunk, to my limited understanding, being a genre in which the science is more focused on biology and genetics.) than steampunk. Nevertheless, both stories are well written and enjoyable, so the break in genre did not bother me much.

However, the rest of the stories fall well into my definition of the genre, and the stories are consistently good throughout. These are some of my favorites:

"The Giving Mouth," , by Ian MacLeod, in which a dark feudal society, driven by steam powered horses and an industrial complex, is threatened by a shadowy killer.

"The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down," by Joe Lansdale, in which the former hero of H.G. Well's The Time Machine has become a monster and has torn time and space apart in his travels.

"The Selene Gardening Society," by Molly Brown, in which making the moon inhabitable could solve a rather disagreeable problem.

There are also three essays that define the genre and look at steampunk in pop culture and the comic book medium.

Overall I would say that this is a decent introduction to the genre, and well worth a look. ( )