So I’m reaching the end of Fish and Ghosts. I’ve just the epilogue to do and then well blurb and synopsis. I’ll let it sit for a bit before editing so in the meantime, I’ll be working on that steampunk short to submit to DSP’s anthology.
Steampunk is an odd genre. It requires a delicate balance of science and non-contemporary voice. A certain mood needs to be set and since this is a short… twelve thousand words max… I won’t have much time to do it. But I think it can be done. Just has to be layered through.
And somehow have two guys meet and fall into something in that short of a time. *grins* Which also can be done.
So, what do you like about steampunk? Or dislike? What draws you to the genre? Or have you not read any and are curious? Or not curious? Let me know 😀 I’ve got a day or two before I start tinkering with my brain and kick into the gears.
Depends on the sub-genre. Victorian/Industrial Age Paranormal has its niche and tends to be a favorite. I find it to be a bit over done on the short stories. Fantasy Steampunk has been harder to find, the wizard duking it out with the iron dwarf in a powered exo skeleton while the dragons are making wagers on the side is amusing.
I’ll probably have a bit of fantasy in it. I’ll have to see what hammers out. I’m going to use a world that I’m going to build out for a full length so this will be testing the waters. Pure fantasy steampunk is a bitch. I am definitely going to stick with a more “Victorian” flavour but I’m going to work some fantasy elements in. *nods* Paranormal I should say.
Western steampunk would be interesting. Don’t think I could pull that off. *laughs*
Oh, and Western paranormal steampunk leaves all kinds of interesting twist and turns!
I think it’s the tech in steampunk that draws me. It has to be fantastical yet believable. Which I think is a challenge for the writer. I read a steampunk M/M recently (might have been TA Chase’s The Whore of New Slum) where one of the MCs had mechanics implanted in his body. I thought that was pretty cool!
Tech and body blends are pretty cool. I have to figure out really where I want to go with this. 😀 I’ll probably botch something together 😀
I only know Ginn Hale. Love her. Will have to start her Rifter series.
I LOVE Ginn Hale. I would toss Jordan L Hawk’s stuff kinda in the steampunk direction?
I personally like the genre. Mixing futuristic science with Victorian/Edwardian fashion and ideas. There is just something thrilling about it. I wish you luck on it!
I’m probably gonna have some magic and science together. That’s what I”m thinking 😀
I like the imagery of clock works, gears, trains and other mechanical items. It makes the technology seem more understandable and tangible than fiction with a lot of computers or other high tech gadgetry. Even though I intellectually understand my computer works due to scientific principals, due to my lack of understanding of the very complicated field it still feels a bit like magic. Where if I can see the gears of a clock turning, it makes it seem more real and understandable like if I took the time I could understand exactly how it works.
I definitely agree with you that clockwork is much more approachable tech wise.. The physical nature of gears and such are just very cool.
I enjoy the sense of possibility–what if a particular technology was discovered earlier or developed faster or more fully. I like steampunk that also introduces social/cultural change from the purely historical time. Reading Dickens, for example, was soul-crushing, viscerally painful in its depiction of the inhumanity of the time’s social structure. I enjoy works like Meljiean Brooks’s steampunk series not only because of it’s wonderful tech and gadgetry, but also because of its alternate history elements that altered the social/cultural underpinnings of the timeframe.
(By the way, I did “enjoy” and appreciate Dikens’s works that I read. They were excellent books, particularly evidenced in the many emotions I felt while and after reading them. But, wow, how painful and soul-sucking.)
I’m definitely going to be doing an AU. I have plans for that. Muah hah hah. I do want to do something interesting so we’ll see how that works. *grins* Wish me luck
What does steampunk mean?
Ah, it’s a genre loosely based off of Victorian London. Usually with a lot of mechanical devices and sometimes even magic. It’s kind of like historical fantasy / sci-fi 😀