Can you recommend me some good Steampunk novels?
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downtide (
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January 9th, 2011
For those who don’t know, Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction usually involving anachronistic technology in a historical (usually Victorian England) setting. Jules Verne and HG Wells are prime examples. Phillip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy also has a Steampunk-ish setting. Can anyone recommend me any more (ideally adult fiction but I’ll consider YA as well)?
Edited to add: I’ve also read “The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters” by G W Dahlquist, which I loved. More like this would be great.
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This isn’t a novel, but some of the stories within are roughly novella length. I’ve read it before and it’s pretty good.
The Difference Engine may be worth a look, although I don’t think it’s one of Gibson or Sterlings better works.
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson is worth reading although it’s not really steampunk but does have a society based on Victorian principles with a definite steampunk feel to it.
@downtide : I’m sending this Q to Katawagrey, she likes that stuff…
Alas, I don’t know any Steampunk novels! I just started reading one called City of Bone by Cassandra Clare. I haven’t gotten very far but I will let you know how it is!
Try some Michael Swanwick novels:
The Iron Dragon’s Daughter
The Dragons of Babel
You might also want to try Walter Jon William’s Metropolitan series:
Metropolitan
City on Fire
@KatawaGrey omg Cassandra Clare has a novel published? I remember when she was writing fanfiction on Livejournal. Awesome.
Thanks to the rest of you for suggestions so far. Keep them coming.
@downtide: Yeah, she has a trilogy plus a prequel to the trilogy published. So far, I’m not impressed, but if you like her, I’ll stick with it for a little while longer to see if things get better. :)
@KatawaGrey what I remember best is her comedy stuff; especially the Very Secret Diaries (Lord of the Rings). They’re hilarious. I lost interest when she moved on to Harry Potter. :/
@downtide: Holy crap, she wrote those??? I just discovered them yesterday! Those are hilarious! If he tries anything, Sam will kill him…
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