Steampunk

[Degsy]

There was an explosion in Steampunk-themed comics a while back. Unfortunately, while a lot of the retro-technological ideas were pretty inventive they tended to overshadow those old-fashioned necessities like plot and characterisation.

I particularly enjoyed 'Scarlet Traces' and 'The Great Game' by Edgington/D'Israeli, sequels of sorts to HG Wells' 'War of The Worlds' where captured Martian technology has been back-engineered for human use, i.e. houses are now heated by low power death-ray generators and the Household Cavalry parade while mounted on octopod robots.

This particular Victorian/Edwardian universe was pretty much 'bagsied' by Alan Moore in the LOEG series and certain ideas are starting to recur with monotonous frequency. For instance, Aleister Crowley/Sherlock Holmes/Nikola Tesla tend to appear as minor characters far more often than is strictly necessary.

Perhaps the whole genre has run out of....

[Jim Steel]

Paul Di Filippo's The Steampunk Trilogy is worth tracking down. It was published by Four Walls Eight Windows in 1995 and contained a novella that was first published in Interzone, another story that first appeared in Amazing, and a third that was new to the collection. Great stuff.

[sandranorval]

Loads of new stuff for me to look at, thanks all. I've downloaded some online magazines and will order a copy of Murky Depths. Now I just need to invent a time machine so I can create extra hours to read it all! 

[Maurice Broaddus]

i recently had a steampunk story published by apex magazine.  pimp my airship. 

[Craig Herbertson]

Ach, I have the same moans about punk music. When I hear that stuff by all of those eyeliner-wearing middle class kids who have parked themselves somewhere on the Green Day/Busted axis, I just want to shout, "You call that punk rock? Here - listen to some Dead Kennedys!"

Bah, humbug.

Good analogy. As a punk rocker from 1978 I hold my hands in horror when i see some of the laboured efforts of today's youth and their dad's. I'd make one exception - my band was booked in with the Exploited for a couple of gigs. They always remained true to their principles (probably Wattie's principles)  and are still punk rocking with conviction.

As regards steampunk I have read and enjoyed Tim Powers, Moorcock and James Blaylock. At the moment as part of the LiteraryFantasy@yahoogroups.com (which is quite a thriving group) we are rereading Peake's Trilogy. I have to say that Gormenghast stands head and shoulders over anything that followed. Every page produces a sentence that you wish you'd thought of and every second page produces one that you could never have thought of.

[ChrisT]

For instance, Aleister Crowley/Sherlock Holmes/Nikola Tesla tend to appear as minor characters far more often than is strictly necessary.

Can't say too much about the first two, but you can never have enough of Tesla - the man is a forgotten genius, a memory trampled over by the over-zealous marketing might of Thomas Edison.

[Jim Steel]

Yeah, the Exploited got some fresh blood from the Grisly Ghosts of Guy, another fine Edinburgh band. Hardcore and gothic. You were in the Androids, weren't you Craig?

[Colin (Black Abyss)]

Chris - Second the vote for Tesla, read his biography recently and his was an extraordinary life. The fact that most folk have never heard of him is both a shame and a scandal.

[Craig Herbertson]

Yeah, the Exploited got some fresh blood from the Grisly Ghosts of Guy, another fine Edinburgh band. Hardcore and gothic. You were in the Androids, weren't you Craig?

Indeed I was. I think that makes you, my brother, and the band members who remember us

[Raven Dane]

If you like steampunk, watch out for my  latest novel Cyrus Darian and the Technomicron.....it is a new genre for me and I am loving every minute of writing it !   This will be the first of a series of Cyrus Darian adventures and the first should by out October 2010 published by Prosochi, an imprint of Endaxi Press.

[Paul Woodward]

A recent addition to the steampunk pantheon I think would be Tim Akers Heart of Veridon.

Its that good, I'm hoping there will be a sequel

[D. J. R. Allkins]

There is also the brilliant anime series 'Fullmetal Alchemist', which I think is one of the best sci-fi/fantasy TV series ever.

[Paul Woodward]

I've seen quite a few of the anime series but unfortunately Fullmetal Alchemist has escaped my attention.
Can you tell me a bit more about it?

I like Ghost in the Shell but I thought the first film was better than everything after it  Last Exile was very very good.  How does Fullmetal Alchemist compare do you think?

[D. J. R. Allkins]

   ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ takes place in world like 1920’s Europe (they’ve got cars, trains and phones).  The difference is that firstly, there is a form of magic called Alchemy, based on the principle of equivalent exchange, for transmulating substances into other substances.  Secondly, a form of artificial limbs, called ‘Automail’ has been developed.  It is based on a manga series, but diverges from it half-way through the run.
   When their mother dies, young alchemist brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, attempt to use alchemy to bring her back to life.  This goes wrong, causing Edward to lose an arm and leg and Alphonse to lose his whole body, his soul bound into a large suit of armour.  Edward gains replacement Automail limbs and with his brother follows the path of most alchemists and goes into the military.  There they embark on search for the legendary Philosophers Stone, so that they can get their own bodies back. 
   What does rise this series up is that it goes into dark Faustian territory, with the idea of sacrificing for power.  It also goes into the themes of racial persecution, military cover-ups and artificial life.  Don’t assume characters automatically are going to survive either or you can guess what’s going to happen.  It is this willingness to take risks with the story, that results in the series becoming a great dark fantasy story.  Currently the series is available over 4 DVD box sets. 

I haven’t seen ‘Last Exile’, so I can’t compare it to that.  ‘Ghost in the Shell’ with the movies and ‘Stand Alone Complex’, I enjoyed a lot as well, I just admit that I prefer ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’.

[Pigasus]

..'Fullmetal Alchemist', which I think is one of the best sci-fi/fantasy TV series ever.

I haven't seen that series, but VideoVista's reviewers had differing opinions, with ratings from 1/10 to 8/10!
Full Metal Alchemist volume 1 / volume 2 ... volumes 4 & 5.

Steamboy is one of the better anime movies of this type, I think.

On the live-action front, Perfect Creature and Mutant Chronicles have lots of steampunk imagery in their varied scenarios.

As subgenre of SF lit, though, steampunk really did ignite and burn out with that single novel, The Difference Engine (proving that steampunk was just a sci-fi dead-end?)... and so it's no surprise that recent books, like Robert Rankin's Witches Of Chiswick have just spoofed it's familiar 'retro' conventions.