On May 24th, Clarion will release the first edition of YA author Kate Milford’s debut novel, THE BONESHAKER, a steampunk fantasy for ages twelve and up. Yet in spite of the rash of recently released steampunk novels (LEVIATHAN, THE HUNCHBACK ASSIGNMENTS), many people are still befuddled by the term ‘steampunk’, so I thought it would be interesting to explore the genre in more detail here in preparation for the chat on Twitter tonight.
{For those who don’t know what I’m referring to, The ScribeChat Review is merely the blog support appetizer for the ScribeChat main course, a weekly Thursday chat for readers and writers on Twitter. You can follow the chat by going to Tweetchat.com and signing in with your Twitter account. Then type “ScribeChat” into the search window to join in at 6 pm PST or 9 pm EST}
About the author:
Kate Milford lives in Brooklyn, New York. She’s written for stage and screen, and is a regular travel columnist at www.nagspeake.com. To find out more, visit her blog at www.clockworkfoundry.com where she’s running a contest until March 1st. The lucky winner will receive an ARC copy of The Boneshaker.
About the book:
“Set in 1913, The Boneshaker is a gripping, richly textured novel about family, community, courage, and looking evil directly in the face in order to conquer it.
Thirteen year-old Natalie Minks loves machines, particularly automata—self operating mechanical devices, usually powered by clockwork. When Jake Limberleg and his traveling medicine show arrive in her small Missouri town with a mysterious vehicle under a tarp and an uncanny ability to make Natalie’s half-built automaton move, she feels in her gut that something about this caravan of healers is a bit off. Her uneasiness leads her to investigate the intricate maze of the medicine show, where she discovers a horrible truth, and realizes that only she has the power to set things right.”
About the agent:
Ann Behar, of Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency, has degrees in English Literature and Law and heads her agency’s growing list of YA writers. The list includes Cory Doctorow (LITTLE BROTHER), Charles de Lint (LITTLE (GRRL) LOST) and Harry Turtledove (THE VALLEY-WESTSIDE WAR) amongst others. You can explore the list and the agency’s submission guidelines in detail at the agency’s website.
Ann is looking for “anything that is beautifully written, with a strong, distinct voice and characters that come alive on the page. Ideally, a book should grab my attention from the very beginning and hold it there, and leave me thinking about it for a few days after I am finished.”
About the genre:
It’s probably no accident that steampunk has gained a hold on our imaginations at this particular time in history. As the Datamancer blog explains: “I see it as a reaction to the utter soullessness and disposability of modern tech… Steampunk harkens back to a time when technology was still novel and romantic, when the world was still marvelling at its own cleverness with childlike pride and wonder, looking hopefully toward a strange and wonderful future.”
Yet it’s a time that never really existed, a re-imagined 19th century.
Wikipedia explains it as “a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of “the path not taken” of such technology as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage‘s Analytical engine); these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or with a presumption of functionality.
Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other). Apart from time period and level of technological development, the main difference between cyberpunk and steampunk is that steampunk settings usually tend to be less obviously dystopian than cyberpunk, or lack dystopian elements entirely.”
While quite a few of the steampunk novels written recently have done fairly well, they have yet to break into mainstream consciousness in a major way. Whether the genre has already peaked and will soon fade, or whether it has yet to hit its peak, is up for debate. Personally, I think we’ve only begun to see what can be done.
Click for a list of steampunk literary works
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Jake Von Slatt combines the power of modern technology with the grace and intricacy of Victorian design in his workshop. Visit steampunkworkshop.com for more information.
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