Steampunk! an anthology edited by Kelly Link & Gavin Grant

Steampunk!

editors : kelly link & gavin grant

with stories by M. T. Anderson, Holly Black, Libba Bray, Shawn Cheng, Cassandra Clare, Cory Doctorow, Dylan Horrocks, Kathleen Jennings, Elizabeth Knox, Garth Nix, Christopher Rowe, Delia Sherman, Ysabeau S. Wilce

pages : [hardcover] 421

memorable stories : steam girl, everything amiable and obliging, & the summer people

summary :

In an alternate steampunk universe created by 14 authors, romance and technology reign. Tinkerers and dreamers craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships. Settings range across Appalachia, ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California.

1 Some Fortunate Future Day by Cassandra Clare
2 The Last Ride of the Glory Girls by Libba Bray
3 Clockwork Fagin by Cory Doctorow
3 Seven Days Beset by Demons by Shawn Cheng

4 Hand in Glove by Ysabeau S. Wilce
5 The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor by Delia Sherman
6 Gethsemane by Elizabeth Knox
7 The Summer People by Kelly Link
8 Peace in Our Time by Garth Nix
9 Nowhere Fast by Christopher Rowe
10 Finishing School by Kathleen Jennings
11 Steam Girl by Dylan Horrocks
12 Everything Amiable and Obliging by Holly Black
13 The Oracle Engine by M.T. Anderson

review :

I’ve been trying to read more steampunk! I feel like I haven’t even broken past the surface of this genre and I’m already completely fascinated by it. What better way to get a little more obsessed than to read fourteen stories written by some of my favorite authors? I love anthologies in general, anyway. I feel like they always splash a few popular author’s names on the cover to gain attention, but I always see them as a chance to find new favorite writer’s, too. If I’m completely captivated by an idea or writing style, I’m definitely more likely to go out and look for other works by the same person.

Steampunk! was no different. Of course every tale didn’t have the same impact on me and I enjoyed some a lot more than others. I mentioned a few memorable ones up top, but there weren’t any that I detested or found it hard to get through. All of them were a good length and two were in comic form, which was different and awesome. Some different quite end how I expected them to and some didn’t really have any conclusion to them at all.

I really enjoyed this anthology. I think that it was a wonderful mix of the subtle steampunk changes and those in full-blown Victorian steampunk settings. There are battles and wars, ladies and orphans, gadgets that belong only to dreams. It was nice to escape into this world for a little while and I think fans of this genre, as well as those just discovering it like I am, will enjoy Steampunk! I definitely recommend that you give it a try!

4/5 stars