Steampunk edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer
01/06/2008 . Source: Paul Hanley 
pub: Tachyon. 373 page enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US). ISBN: 978-1-892391-75-9. Buy Steampunk in the USA - or Buy Steampunk in the UK  check out website: www.tachyonpublications.com
I have always liked stories set in the era of steam engines and gas lamps and now I know these are known as Steampunk. This book is more a history of the genre rather than an anthology and indeed many of the separate stories are extracts from longer works some of which I have read and some of which the taster of them in this book has given me an inclination to read in the future.
Jess Nevins in his introduction traces the roots of Steampunk to nineteenth-century stories of the lone inventor as an heroic protagonist. He makes the point that the appeal of the Victorian era to writers in our own time is that it was similar to our own in social, economic and political structures and they also had to react to swift changes in technology for instance. Because of this, it provides a useful backdrop for examining modern concerns such as feminism, religion, class and so forth.
Whilst nineteenth-century Steampunk was American and generally set on the then still existing western frontier, modern Steampunk, which dates from the 1990s, is English, often set in an urban environment, usually London.
It is called Steampunk because the writers tend to rebel against the systems they are portraying such as the underclass of Victorian London and the validation of the privileged at the cost of everyone else.
I can see this is a spreading genre. Last year, I reviewed some audio tapes of 'Space: 1889' which had Queen Victoria's gallant soldier fighting various Martian and Venusian tribesman and there have been several films in recent years notably 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' (2003) and 'Steamboy' (2004).
One of the extracts of stories in the book is 'The Warlord Of The Air' by Michael Moorcock. This has a world still ruled by the colonial European empires. China and other parts of the world are subdued by the sky fleets of these empires. The narrator relates in this passage how a mighty combined ariel fleet arrives to crush a rebellion and quickly begin downing the rebels airships. When victory seems certain the rebel leader releases his swarms of Fei-chi (aircraft) and those of the cumbersome Allied airships that were not destroyed were forced to flee. Great stuff and the whole book is well worth reading.
'Minutes Of The Last Meeting' by Stephan Chapman is set on the Czar's train during a different World War I. The Czar, Czarina and the haemophiliac heir are on an armoured train which is attacked by revolutionaries whilst back in the capital the fabulous machine that has enabled the Czarist regime to keep an eye of those plotting against them is destroyed and a new era is about to dawn. There are sexual overtones to this with the Czarina having an affair with Crown Prince Alexis' doctor. Whilst the lady is dead and cannot sue there does seem to be a trend in this book anyway of real historical characters being up to various sexual shenanigans.
In Paul Di Filippo's 'Victoria The Queen' who is allegedly famous for not being amused is further maligned as the author has her in her youth running off to a brothel. I do not care for this personally much preferring the murder and mayhem but each to his own.
As well as the extracts the book contains lists of books, films and magazines in this genre. There are modern ones such as Philip Pulman's 'Dark Materials' trilogy. The first book of this, 'The Golden Compass' has just been made into a film. There are also many older books listed and might I recommend 'The Ragged Astronauts' by Robert Shaw.
This is not a book for everyone but if you want a taste of what is available, recent as well as books from years ago, in this genre you could do worse than read 'Steampunk'.
Paul Hanley |
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