September 23, 2011 at 9:30 am (Reviews, Steampunk)
“Pastworld” by Ian Beck
If there’s one thing fantasy readers want – especially from steampunk tales – it’s sensory immersion. A flood of sights, sounds and smells that make us feel we’re living in another world. Ian Beck does that, in loving and exquisite detail. It is his greatest strength.
The rest of this review has been moved to Comfy Chair, where I get paid for it.
I’m a writer of The Antipodean Queen trilogy, the Rahana trilogy, and many interactive tales including Murder in the Mail, Magic in the Mail, and the Shooting Through escape rooms (currently non-operational due to COVID-19).
My store is at shootingthrough.net/store
Chris is my partner, Louisette is my eight year-old daughter, and TJ is my six year-old son. My cats are Zipper and Zoom. I’m based in Canberra, Australia.
Felicity Banks
W said,
September 23, 2011 at 2:15 pm
That fits with my thoughts from reading it, too.
Louise Curtis said,
September 23, 2011 at 4:40 pm
W: interesting. I deliberately searched out steampunk books before writing my own, and quite a few of them failed to impress.
W said,
September 23, 2011 at 4:43 pm
It’s like a lot of things that have a small but fanatical market – things get published (and quickly!) that perhaps shouldn’t have been, or could have done with a more thorough editing. In addition, because it’s a side market, it’s mostly smaller publishers who perhaps don’t have the skills on hand or the throughput for it.
Louise Curtis said,
September 23, 2011 at 11:11 pm
W: Agreed. “Small but fanatical market” is a perfect description of the steampunk crowd. I do think something will break through into the mainstream at some point, and then we’ll REALLY get some dodgy imitations (as is already happening in arts and crafts and, above all, tagging).
Ann said,
September 23, 2011 at 5:45 pm
That really a pretty awfully written passage….. So much redundant language, and so awkward..
Louise Curtis said,
September 23, 2011 at 11:12 pm
Ann: It wasn’t an easy book to get through, that’s for sure. I’m glad you feel my pain.
jaqbuncad said,
September 24, 2011 at 6:24 am
I tend to find that I prefer my steampunk in small doses – short stories and novellas are just my ticket. (I really loved N.K. Jemisin’s piece for Steam-Powered, for example.) I just can’t seem to stay with the longer ones!
jaqbuncad said,
September 24, 2011 at 6:28 am
I tend to find that I prefer my steampunk in small doses. Short stories and novellas are just my ticket. I loved N.K. Jemisin’s piece for Steam-Powered, but despite being very excited about it, could just not get into a very popular book that had something to do with a clockwork automaton revolution (and, pointedly, can’t even remember the name or author, although I do have a fuzzy image of the cover in my head).
jaqbuncad said,
September 24, 2011 at 6:29 am
Bah! My apologies for the duplicate.
Louise Curtis said,
September 24, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Jaqbuncad: Don’t worry about the duplicate. It just makes me look more popular than I really am.
That’s interesting about steampunk lengths. I like the more recent steampunk, when there wasn’t so much technobabble.
Beginner’s Guide to Steampunk Lit « Louise Curtis said,
October 1, 2012 at 9:07 am
[…] “Pastworld” by Ian Beck […]
Beginner’s Guide to Steampunk Lit | Felicity Banks said,
October 3, 2017 at 5:19 pm
[…] “Pastworld” by Ian Beck […]