Steampunk Recommendations

Recommendations, discussions, and odes to your favorites
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Moni12
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Steampunk Recommendations

Post by Moni12 » January 18th, 2011, 2:14 pm

I have recently read THE BONESHAKER by Kate Milford. Although I felt that the author left many loose ends it made me want to read more steampunk. So, if you know of any must reads in the genre please let me know. Thanks!

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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by Sommer Leigh » January 18th, 2011, 2:25 pm

I heart steampunk :-)

Leviathan & Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
Boneshaker and Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Steampunk by Ann VanderMeer (I haven't read this yet, my husband bought it for me for christmas)
The Difference Engine by William Gibson
The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Good luck. I think Levaithan and Behemoth are my favorites.
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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by sierramcconnell » January 20th, 2011, 5:57 pm

Apparently Steampunk has caught on as popular, because I was walking in BN today and there's an entire endcap devoted to it. I literally squeaked to a stop.

I forgot what the titles were and I didn't have time to check any of them out though, I was on my lunch break and had walked over in the snow to get some coffee. :3

I'll have to mark this thread for further review~!
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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by JohnDurvin » January 20th, 2011, 11:55 pm

One group to avoid, however cool you feel reading them, are those awful "boy's adventure" things from the 1900's about boy inventors: Frank Reade, Jack Wright, Johnny Brainerd. Project Gutenberg has a few of them (many showed up as footnotes in "the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"), but so far everything I've read, especially "the Huge Hunter", is horrible.
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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by Louise Curtis » January 22nd, 2011, 1:36 am

Sommer Leigh wrote:I heart steampunk :-)

Leviathan & Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
Boneshaker and Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Steampunk by Ann VanderMeer (I haven't read this yet, my husband bought it for me for christmas)
The Difference Engine by William Gibson
The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Good luck. I think Levaithan and Behemoth are my favorites.
I completely agree on "Leviathan" and "Behemoth" (two of the best books I've ever read), and "Clockwork Angel" was startlingly good too. I'm going to have to go and read everything else on this list (except "The Court of the Air", which I have already - I feel very well read today!)

You MUST read "Larklight" by Philip Reeve. Every page is hilarious, and the illustrations are stunning. Both sequels are fabulous too. It's so happy and G-rated - unlike his other (equally good but very violent and depressing) "Mortal Engines" series (and the prequel series, which is coming out at the moment).

Richard Harland's "Worldshaker" is brilliantly satirical too, and the second book is coming out soon.

My blog is leaning more and more toward a steampunk focus, and I've just decided to write a steampunk trilogy of my own (set mainly in Australia). Here are two other steampunk blogs I'm enjoying: http://brassbolts.blogspot.com/ and http://trialbysteam.com/

Mmm. . . mechanical. . .
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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by Watcher55 » January 22nd, 2011, 10:31 am

These aren't books, but I suspect they're steampunk.

Are y'all familiar with the MYST computer games? I bought the first one on a whim in the late '90's and loved it. I have the first three - MYST, RIVEN and EXILE. I bought SCHIZM (I'm still not sure it's properly part of the MYST universe), but there's something wrong with the software and I never got a hold of a working copy.

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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by Sommer Leigh » January 22nd, 2011, 11:00 am

Watcher55 wrote:These aren't books, but I suspect they're steampunk.

Are y'all familiar with the MYST computer games? I bought the first one on a whim in the late '90's and loved it. I have the first three - MYST, RIVEN and EXILE. I bought SCHIZM (I'm still not sure it's properly part of the MYST universe), but there's something wrong with the software and I never got a hold of a working copy.
Arcanum is another amazing computer game that has a steampunk setting. Out of print though so it can be hard to find.
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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by lac582 » January 22nd, 2011, 1:07 pm

"The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson. Not his best, but his closest to Steampunk.

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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by J. T. SHEA » January 25th, 2011, 11:39 pm

My young protagonist spends most of his time on a STEAMship, and most of the rest of his time on a STEAMtrain. So, of course, I classify my WIP as...Dieselpunk. Go figure.

Mind you, steam engines can and did burn diesel oil.

I thoroughly agree with Sommer and Louise about LEVIATHAN and BEHEMOTH, which are books I will probably cite in my queries as comparisons for my WIP, along with Kenneth Oppel's AIRBORN trilogy, another excellent example of YA Steampunk/Dieselpunk.

A Barnes and Noble with a whole Steampunk endcap? I want to live where Sierra lives!

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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by Moni12 » January 27th, 2011, 1:52 pm

Thanks everyone! Some of these will be going on my summer to-read list. I'd put them on my current list, but right now I'm a little busy with Shakespeare. Ugh, I almost can't wait to get out of college...

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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by Claudie » January 27th, 2011, 3:41 pm

Aah! People! STOP NAMING NOVELS I HAVEN'T READ.

I've resisted the temptation to click this thread ever since it popped up, but now I've failed. And my TBR pile got a lot bigger.


(No, seriously, thanks for the list!)
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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by Cookie » February 4th, 2011, 9:56 pm

My bookstore has a steampunk endcap too! I stopped and checked it out. It wasn't very large, but it was there.

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Re: Steampunk Recommendations

Post by J. T. SHEA » February 11th, 2011, 8:18 pm

May I recommend PASTWORLD by Ian Beck? Published by Bloomsbury in 2009. It's set in a future London which has been covered by a dome and converted into a vast Victorian/Dickensian theme park, a regressed version of itself, as it were. Post Victorian technology has been mostly outlawed, and Victorian laws are back in force, including execution by hanging. It's YA, a race to stop a genetically modified teenage Jack The Ripper from murdering a girl, and save an innocent teenager framed for murder from the hangman's noose.

Ian Beck has written several children's books, but is best known as an illustrator. He painted the famous sleeve cover for Elton John's YELLOW BRICK ROAD album.

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