Beginner’s Guide to Steampunk Lit
Yes, it’s finally here! My idea of what a map of steampunk might look like. Harangue me on my choices and omissions below! Post it wherever you like, with a link back here. Caveat #1: This is only books (I tried to make it only novels, or at least novelists). Caveat #2: I’m only one person. This was a big job, and I chose to oversimplify rather than make it my life’s work. Also, there are some errors. And, as you can tell, I chose to finish the map this year rather than take longer and make it bigger, prettier, and funnier. And yes, I read and write mainly young adult, which is also obvious at a glance. Caveat #3: More is being written all the time. Tell us about your favourite steampunk in the comments! 
My reviews have all been moved to Comfy Chair, where I get paid for them:
“The Sky Village” by Monk & Nigel Ashland
“Clockwork Angel” by Cassandra Clare (1 of 3)
“Girl Genius” graphic novel series by Phil and Kaja Foglio: Incredibly manic hilarity. You can find them online here and get a thrice-weekly fix.
“The Difference Engine” by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
“Worldshaker” etc by Richard Harland: Brilliant and satirically funny.
“Burton and Swinburne: The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man” by Mark Hodder
“The Affinity Bridge” by George Mann
China Mieville: Sheer imagination from a brilliant and complex mind.
“The Nomad of Time” by Michael Moorcock
“Dreadnought” by Cherie Priest (not the first book in the series)
“Blaze of Glory” etc by Michael Pryor: Funny and action-filled. I’ve read the whole six-book series, so clearly I liked it – but I often found the hero annoying.
“The Northern Lights/The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman (1 of 3)
“The Subtle Knife” by Philip Pullman (2 of 3)
“The Amber Spyglass” by Philip Pullman (3 of 3)
“Ruby in the Smoke” by Philip Pullman (1 of 4 Sally Lockhart books)
“Larklight” by Philip Reeve (1 of 3, though they can stand alone quite well)
“Starcross” by Philip Reeve (2 of 3)
“Mothstorm” by Philip Reeve (3 of 3)
“Mortal Engines” by Philip Reeve: Very very dark (in marked contrast to his kids’ books). Also brilliant. And violent. The prequels aren’t as good.
“Ichabod hart and the Lighthouse Mystery” by James Roy
“The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick: Yep, the book on which the movie “Hugo” was based. Pretty clocks and pretty pictures.
“Warship at the Bottom of the Sea” by Oshikawa Shunro: I haven’t read it, but apparently it’s fun and has pirates.
“The Hunchback Assignments” by Arthur Slade
Jeff Vandermeer: I only read one story (the first in “City of Saints and Madmen”) because, although it was wonderfully involving and the sensory detail was exquisite, it was far too violent and dark for me to read any more. I also thought the twist at the end was stupid.
“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” by Jules Verne: Good, but too much technobabble for my liking.
“The Time Machine” by H. G. Wells: Still readable and interesting (or, if you prefer, horrifying) today.
“Leviathan” and “Behemoth” by Scott Westerfeld (1 and 2 of 3)
“Goliath” by Scott Westerfeld (3 of 3)
“The Machine Maid” by Diana Wynne-Jones: A true steampunk short story (which I wasn’t able to get my hands on).
Edited to add: My own novels are Aussie-written with an Australian setting; crossover fantasy novels. The first is HEART OF BRASS. It’s on Amazon etc and various Aussie bookshops. You can get the ISBN off that link to request it from your local bookshop with ease. Or you can order it directly from that link (it will be printed for you in Melbourne, the US or the UK, so most of you won’t have to pay ludicrous amounts of postage).
“Morlock Night” by K. W. Jeter
What do King Arthur, H. G. Wells, and the lost city of Atlantis have in common?
Cool factor, and K. W. Jeter.
The rest of this review is at Comfy Chair.
“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
That is a truly fine book. I wrote last week about Sandy Fussell’s “Samurai Kids” series, which sparkles with wit and warmth on every page. “Pride and Prejudice” is like that – brimming with brilliant one-liners and clever observations. The only other series that I think hits the “every page” rule so well is the “Larklight” trilogy by Philip Reeve.
“Owl Ninja” by Sandy Fussell
You know what it’s like in late Winter, when it feels like the sun will never return – and then it does? That feeling of light and warmth is exactly the feeling you get when reading a Sandy Fussell book.
The rest of this review has been moved to Comfy Chair.
“And Another Thing. . .” by Eoin Colfer
This is not an Artemis Fowl book – it’s a continuation of the Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. As a rule I flinch when I hear about any writer doing any reboot (gritty or otherwise) of someone else’s work – Arthurian myths, vampires (sparkly or otherwise), elves versus dwarves, etc. But I KNOW Colfer is a brilliant writer (and, obviously, so is Douglas Adams – except of course for being dead nowadays). So I was cautiously hopeful.
The rest of this review is at Comfy Chair.
“Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex” by Eoin Colfer
Artemis starts the book with a plan to stop global warming – a plan just as grandiose as all the rest, and with prototype technology backing it up. There’s only one problem: Artemis is losing his mind.
The rest of this review is at Comfy Chair.
“Fire in the Sea” by Myke Bartlett
A publisher once said to me, “We can’t tell if your book is literary or adventure. The writing is sometimes poetic and sometimes not, and it’s too slow to be popular fiction.” In Australia, “literary” is a dirty word – the conception is that the writing might be pretty, but it’ll be boring. So I sped up the pace of that book of mine, and all the others since. If I’d gone in the opposite direction – focusing more on stunning writing and less on a fast-paced plot – I might have won the Text Prize this year. Maybe. One of the editorial comments they gave me was, “You rush through things. You should slow down.” C’est la publishing biz. But I know what kind of writer I want to be.
“Fire in the Sea” won the Text Prize last year. I was lucky enough to acquire an advance copy – and even to get it signed. Myke and his wife were a lot of fun to meet and talk to, and Myke (a tall and easy-going man with a good sense of humour) was touchingly unsure of his signature, working it out over the course of the evening. I’m pretty sure that the awkward, half-formed autograph in my copy will be worth millions one day: catching the moment as a new and excellent writer is born.
I finished the book only moments ago, and wanted very much to sit and think about it before writing this review, but I knew that I wouldn’t have a better chance to blog in the next twenty-four hours, and I promised readers and Myke himself that I’d review it this week. I suspect if I re-read the book or engaged my brain a little more, it would have layers upon layers of smart symbology and intelligence. But, ya know, I got stuff to do.
The book was. . .
The rest of the review is at Comfy Chair.
Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox
Okay, first up, a confession: I’m heartily sick of time travel tales. They’re just silly (as my Mum pointed out, “If we were ever going to invent time travel, we’d know about it”) and there are too many of them. This has three things in its favour: 1. It’s magic (which actually makes it far less silly – technobabble is unwanted and mercifully unnecessary). 2. It’s a story pitting Artemis against Artemis, which is cool. 3. It’s Eoin Colfer, and I trust him to spin a good yarn.
The rest of the review is at Comfy Chair, where I get paid for it.
Red Dirt Diary 2: Blue About Love
Last week I wrote about my surprise and delight to discover a brilliant new (to me at least) author, Katrina Nannestad. When I really love an author’s first book, I get quite scared to read any more of their work. What if they’re not as good?
The rest of this review is at Comfy Chair, where I get paid for it.
“Red Dirt Diary” by Katrina Nannestad
“We have an extra special coffee and dessert evening planned for you !” said the woman at the front of church. “With a guest author!”
“Oh dear,” I thought.
A name was mentioned – Katrina Nannestad. I hadn’t heard it before.
“Oh dear,” I thought.
Someone beside me whispered that the author was somebody’s wife’s something.
“Oh dear,” I thought. “I bet it’s someone who’s busily congratulating themselves on the decision to self-publish their utterly awful drivel, and who is now desperately self-promoting while putting off the realisation that no-one would willingly buy their book except through sheer face-to-face embarrassment.”
And everyone at church knows I’m a writer, too. I bet they think I’m SO pleased.
Oh dear.
I went home and googled Katrina Nannestad. The word “diary” in the title rang loud alarm bells – but she WAS published by Harper Collins, so she had to be pretty all right. I emailed the woman from church saying I’d come, and ordered “Red Dirt Diary” from the library. If it was awful, I could just keep quiet at the ladies’ evening and no-one would get hurt.
The rest of the review is at Comfy Chair, where I get paid for it.
Felicity Banks 