The Mammoth Book of Steampunk

by Sean Wallace (Editor), Jeff Vandermeer, Caitlín R. Kiernan

The Mammoth Book of Steampunk showcases the very best in the form of stories by Paul Di Filippo, Neil Gaiman, Cherie Priest, and many more.

An anthology that looks to the future through the lens of the past, these 30 mash-ups of past and future push the boundaries of steampunk.

This is steampunk with a modern, post-colonial sensibility. Contributors include: Jeff VanderMeer, Caitlín Kiernan, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jay Lake, Cherie Priest, Cat Rambo, Catherynne M. Valente, Genevieve Valentine, and many more.

Contents:
Steampunk : looking to the future through the lens of the past / Ekaterina Sedia --
Fixing Hanover / Jeff VanderMeer --
The Steam Dancer (1896) / Caitlin R. Kierman --
Icebreaker / E. Catherine Tobler --
Tom Edison and his amazing telegraphic harpoon / Jay Lake --
The Zeppelin Conductors' Society Annual Gentlemen's Ball / Genevieve Valentine
Clockwork fairies / Cat Rambo --
The mechanical aviary of Emperor Jala-ud-din Muhammad Akbar / Shweta Narayan --
Prayers of forges and furnaces / Aliette de Bodard --
The effluent engine / N.K. Jemisin --
The clockwork goat and the smokestack magi / Peter M. Ball --
The armature of flight / Sharon Mock --
The anachronist's cookbook / Catherynne M. Valente --
Numismatics in the reigns of Naranh and Viu / Alex Dally MacFarlane --
Zeppelin City / Eileen Gunn & Michael Swanwick --
The people's machine / Tobias S. Buckell --
The hands that feed / Matthew Kressel --
Machine maid / Margo Lanagan --
To follow the waves / Amal El-Mohtar --
Clockmaker's requiem / Barth Anderson --
Dr Lash remembers / Jeffrey Ford --
Lady Witherspoon's solution / James Morrow --
Reluctance / Cherie Priest --
A serpent in the gears / Margaret Ronald --
The celebrated carousel of the Margravine of Blois / Megan Arkenberg --
Biographical notes to ''A discourse on the nature of causality, with air-planes'' by Benjamin Rosenbaum / Benjamin Rosenbaum --
Clockwork chickadee / Mary Robinette Kowal --
Cinderella suicide / Samantha Henderson --
Arbeitskraft / Nick Mamatas --
To seek her fortune / Nicole Kornher-Stace --
The ballad of the last human / Lavie Tidhar.

Genres: Steampunk, Short Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction, Historical Fiction

498 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2012

About the author

Sean A. Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an award-winning American science fiction and fantasy anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for his work on Prime Books and for co-editing two magazines, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Fantasy Magazine. He has been nominated a number of times by both the Hugo Awards and the World Fantasy Awards, won two Hugo Awards and one World Fantasy Award, and has served as a World Fantasy Award judge.

Reviews

[Fiona Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

This probably averaged out closer to a 3.5 for me, but the last few stories persuaded me to err on the side of optimism.

There's a great deal of variety in the Steampunk on show here, with tinges of influence from all over map - zombies, cyberpunk, Lovecraft - from the abstract to the very precise. There's a few of the stories that use steampunk mostly as a decorative element, and others that leak steam with every sentence.

With any anthology there's stories that work for one reader and don't for another, but there was plenty to like here for me at least; plus a few I loved, which is always a bonus. Some fell a little flat (or more precisely, a little vague) for me, but it's exceptionally rare that nothing does, and these weren't what I'd call bad, just a mismatch of taste.

Overall definitely one I'd chalk up as a win for steampunk and anthology readers alike.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jalalud-din Mohammed Akbar by Shweta Narayan ★★★★★
This was a complete, and well executed, steampunk fable. Beautifully envisioned to wind into a flawless ending. Well done!


Prayers of Forgers and Furnaces by Aliette de Bodard ★★★★½
Aztec steampunk!!! I haven’t seen anything like it since Stephen Baxter’s The Unblinking Eye. At the height of Aztec power somehow they were toppled and subsumed by mechanical gods. Now a woman on the fringe of society is faced with a choice between the new and old gods. But in a world where all gods are cruel, the best she can hope for is the strength to make her own choices.



The People’s Machine by Tobias S. Buckell ★★★★½
”We were bound by tradition, and religion, but it kept hindering us...only radical new ways of thinking could save us...”
To defeat the Spanish the Aztec embraced their tributary cities to unite as the Mexica and hold their own. After hundreds of years of being a safe haven for intellectual the Mexica are the technological powerhouse of the world.

The story takes place in New Amsterdam (what would have been New York) and shows how the Mexica are quietly holding onto power and freedom of thought. Loved this story!


Fixing Hanover by Jeff VanderMeer ★★★★☆
“If there is no mercy in them, it is because I never thought of mercy when I created them.”

A master engineer creates the first airship and rebels in his accolades and scientific prowess. Over a decade, and an Empire, later he realizes pain, death, and subjugation he brought to the world.

”That is a tragedy of every day life: when you are in it, you can never see yourself clearly.”


The Steam Dancer (1896) by Caitlín R. Kiernan ★★★★☆
Gorgeous imagery, a lusty and hopeful tale of an orphan who finds happiness after great misfortune.
It also reminded me a little of a maligned Lindsay Lohan movie where she loses an arm and a leg. Ok, it wasn’t a good movie but I just remember being so impressed by her brazen sexuality after being disabled.


The Ballad of the Last Human by Lavie Tidhar ★★★★☆
This is my fifth Tidhar story and by far the best. A sweet far future story of a world that no longer belongs to humans, of the adventures of a dog and spider.


A Serpent in the Gears by Margaret Ronald ★★★★☆
”No full automata. No full humans. Only the same Merged calm on every visage.”

Some short stories, like this one, feel like prologues to novels. I enjoyed this world of secret cyborg lands with dragons. It reminded me of The Clockwork Dynasty.


Lady Witherspoon’s Solution by James Morrow ★★★★☆
This was like a fabulous old school episode of Tales From the Crypt. A group of high society women have found a way to punish the worst of men by turning them into beasts. But their newest member wants to experiment with raising herself above all the primal. It does not go well.


Clockwork Fairies by Cat Rambo ★★★★☆
Oh this was great! Told from the point of view of the dislikable Victorian man who thinks much of himself we meet Desiree, a talented mixed race inventor. With the help of her father, and an Irish Lord from the other side, she realizes her life can be more than she ever thought possible.


Numismatic in the Reigns of Naranh and Viu by Alex Dally MacFarlane ★★★½☆
“I am not in the business of building an empire.”
“Then what manner of queen are you?”
“A new one.”

This read as a storyboard submission for a TV series I would enjoy. A gifted queen flees her power hunger brother and his assassins. She knows the point of her gift is to share it with her people.


To Follow the Waves by Amal El-Mohtar ★★★½☆
“Perhaps then, when I can teach you what it felt like, when I can silence you and bind you in all the ways I find delicious without asking your leave – perhaps then, I can forgive you.”

This was an interesting story about how desire shapes the world, how it could effect the desired. It was a little beautiful but I just remembered Robin Williams in The Bird Cage explaining something like this to a drag queen chewing gum. https://youtu.be/H5TQ4GF8rNI


Machine Maid by Margo Lanagan ★★★½☆
“...the encoded list of Clarissa’s tortures, the list of my own.”
I do enjoy a story where a rapist gets his comeuppance, but this story had some collateral damage and my, it was more graphic than expected. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it felt more awkward ick than sexy graphic.

Icebreaker by E. Catherine Tobler ★★★½☆
A dwarf woman mourns the death of her husband, a cutting edge inventor. As she sails the Arctic to return him home she wonders if the technology of his contemporary could make her into an average sized woman.

The Effluent Engine by N.K. Jemisin ★★★½☆
Haitian Steampunk set after the slave revolt. A spy goes to New Orleans for technology that will enable her country to convert sugar cane refuse to clean, or at least moderately safe, energy.

The Hands That Feed by Matthew Kressel ★★★½☆
A sweet sad story of a older Jewish woman who falls in love with a poor beautiful Hindu girl. They get caught up in a larger crime plot and their budding romance comes to naught.


Tom Edison and His Amazing Telegraphic Harpoon by Jay Lake ★★★☆☆
In an alternate world filled with biblical monsters Edison uses his knowledge to make weapons. The Nephil was well described the overall story just ok.

The Zeppelin Conductors’ Society Annual Gentleman’s Ball by Genevieve Valentine ★★★☆☆
Story of the engineers/conductors of Zeppelins. Rather like the belters The Expanse, those who toil in the helium balloons go through a physical change that stretches them out making regular gravity/life unpleasant. They find comfort in each other, and their work, but are treated as second class citizens.


The Clockwork Goat and the Smokestack Magi by Peter M. Ball ★★★☆☆
“There are stories about a horse,” the Magi said, “which was offered in friendship and caused the downfall of an empire.”
“That there are,” said the clockwork goat. “I am not a horse.”

Passable fable of a magi taking his time in deciding whether or not to allow a peace offering inside the house. This could have gone either way so I don’t see it as good story for moral example.

Zeppelin City by Eileen Gunn and Michael Swanwick ★★★☆☆
This was a fat book squished into a novella. I enjoyed the mad brains, which I remembered from the Dune prequel I read ages ago. The raging fish was also a good character, and reminder for compassion towards animals who can’t vocalize but feel. Here’s a video from Ohio Fish Rescue, the only people I’ve heard of who will help fish in the kind of dire straights pictured in this story: https://youtu.be/EJ97fYd1CBU

Clockmaker’s Requiem by Barth Anderson ★★★☆☆
A beautiful wild world of personal time and space is crushed under the boot of a unified empty ticking clock.


Dr. Lash Remembers by Jeffrey Ford ★★★☆☆
A brief tale of illness, money, and madness. I enjoyed the author’s introduction to the story, his motivation.


Reluctance by Cherie Priest ★★★☆☆
Zombie western with a Western Union Airship and a disabled main character. It was a bit of fun.

Biographical Notes to “A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-Planes” by Benjamin Rosenbaum by Benjamin Rosenbaum ★★★☆☆
I enjoyed the alternative history aspects of the Eastern colonial powers and the non-passive Israeli writer. I did not enjoy the format of the writer mentally writing and considering all his actions as a story as it happened. It distracted and bloated the story.


Clockwork Chickadee by Mary Robinette Kowal ★★★☆☆
A little clockwork bird that cannot fly devises a plan to take out the bully that thinks he can. Your days are numbered Sparrow, lol.

Arbeitskraft by Nick Mamatas ★★★☆☆
That was an interesting exercise in blending budding socialism ideas in Victorian England with steampunk.

To Seek Her Fortune by Nicole Kornher-Stace ★★½☆☆
That was a frustrating unfulfilling story about a women obsessed with her son and stifling all life around her. It could have been an adventure but it just felt sad and desperate.

The Anachronist’s Cookbook by Catherynne M. Valente ★★½☆☆
Rant. Rant. RANT! And maybe a communist utopia on the moon, maybe.


The Armature of Flight by Sharon Mock ★★☆☆☆
A man falls in love with a male hooker but decides to go home to his family money and marry because he couldn’t afford the hooker anyway without the money. The hooker decides to get wings in order to appeal to a more expensive clientele. I don’t think they loved each other, I think they loved money.

The Celebrated Carousel of Margravine of Blois by Megan Arkenberg DNF
I wasn’t getting into this so I passed.

Cinderella Suicide by Samantha Henderson
DNF
The language was clunky and the backstory was as clear as mud.

I read 28/30 stories that averaged 3.4 stars.

[Diamond Cowboy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was well written. However, I cannot give it a fair review because I found out I can't stand steampunk.

[D Dyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This features some really great stories and some new in trysting takes on the steampunk subgenre but as a collection it is very uneven. And some of the best stories in my opinion are a bit of a stretch to fit the anthology‘s intended theme.

[Evelyn Hail · Rating 3 out of 5]

As paradoxical as this book title may be (since it mingles the smelly prehistoric woolly animals with wonderful mechanic thingamajigs), it turned out to ring true this time around. You know that it is basically an encyclopaedic anthology which combines different stories by various authors. But what kind of stories?
The biggest flaw I have found, even though I’ve been thrilled (initially) to start reading it is that they are aligned thusly: awful-boring-horrible-meh-acceptable-what/in/the/name/of/Lord Allmighty/is/this /thing/-predictable plot-AMAZING!-flat-non-engaging-let down and so on. To find a steampunk gem you are looking for you have to browse through a lot of rocks, that’s how different is the quality of the stories included and the reader can feel it. If you are a newbie to the clockwork mechanic world, this is not a bad way to start. If not, then you might find yourself tad disappointed.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

7 - I was aware of the concept of steampunk for a long time, of course. I have visited comic cons and fantasy fairs, and I have been on the internet. I also saw several steampunk movies. I quite like the aesthetic. I love me the 19th century of the H.G. Wells Classics, the Jules Verne transportation and Sherlock Holmesian clash of ratio and mystery. But I often wondered if the steampunk genre could be seen as more than an aesthetic. Or more than a variant of 'alternative history'. Especially as a SF-reader and -writer I wondered if steampunk could stand on its own as a genre, if it didn't have something to say. As fantasy has something to say about our desires and the worlds we like to escape in and aspire to, and SF has something to say about the consequences of scientific discovery and technology and our relationship with the laws of nature, and horror has something to say about our insecurities and fears, and the thin veil that separates us from chaos. What does steampunk have to say to justify taking it seriously?
It is not about our desires the way fantasy is - as it's about our own world, and the industrial age (which is the period the fantasy genre is rooted in, as well as the SF-genre). But steampunk is not about escaping the age of industry and discovery, but of living in the middle of it - and all the fanciful possibilities.
It's not about science and technology the way SF is - it is about technology, but it's not an extrapolation of current knowledge of the universe and technology. It has no surprising ways to look at our own science and technology. So, instead of exploring the science and technological principles itself, it look at the lives of people surrounded by the science and technology.
It's not about fear and insecurity the way horror is - though it can be combined with horror quite well. Being set in an alternate world creates a psychic distance that keeps the fear away from us. So, it's not really about the nature of fear instead, but about how these fears influence a society.
This collection is built explicitely to be more than a 'pastiche' and more than an aesthetic. Most stories try to use the steampunkgenre to really say something - that cannot be said in any other genre. And what these stories say has to do with the injustices of our technological society. For, as far developed as we think ourselves to be, the consequences of rampant kapitalism, disregard for the environment, gender inequality, racism and a colonialist mindset are still with us. We don't often recognize them anymore. And if we see them represented in historical drama's from the 19th centry we tend to scoff - we allow women to vote, so we are better then they were. But! Seen through the funhouse mirror of steampunk, we are able to discern what differs from reality (the zeppelins, the steam, the goggles) and what has stayed the same (the bad stuff mostly, even if people in these stories have gained more freedom than their counterparts in our history). And what is the same with us. In this regard the genre can be seen as a kind of societal science fiction. If it makes you think, it makes you think about how society is influenced by science and technology and how these can be applied to control people or to set them free.
Not every story in this collection does this. There are a few that do not veer far from the purely aesthetical component of steampunk. Some even combine that with zombies. Other stories do not belong to the steampunk genre at all (at least seen from our current understanding of subgenres) stories of clockwork automatons would now be regarded as 'clockpunk' (and the stories of antropomorphized clockwork animals felt more like fables anyway and not like steampunk). Then there were a few stories that checked all the boxes but felt a bit slight, or fragmentary, and did not tell a full story. This is the reason for my 3,5 star rating. Too many fell beneath the mark for me, a steampunk novice, for this collection to gain a four or five star rating. But there were enough 'five star'-stories for me to not regret reading this at all. I mostly enjoyed myself reading even the lesser stories and I was never bored.
A few stories that stood out:
'Fixing Hanover' by Jeff Vandermeer was not the best story here, and a bit of a weak opener as the steampunk in this is pretty subdued. But of course Vandermeer has a feeling for the subtle weird and strikes an elegiac tone.
'Clockwork Fairies' by Cat Rambo was not technically a steampunk story, but it dit shine light on 19th century marriage and the inequality between the sexes. With a beautiful ending. A small but poignant tale.
N.K. Jemisin is always great value and even though I had read 'The Effluent Engine' in her own collection 'How Long 'Till Black Future Month?' it was great on a second read too. And as always the resonances with our own history of slavery and racism are on the nose
Zeppelin City by Eileen Gunn & Michael Swanwick is maybe closer to Dieselpunk. It made me think of 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'. With a great sense of action and adventure, SF-nal idea's, but also some great social themes, it's a banger.
'The People's Machine by Tobias S. Buckell imagines an alternate 19th century where the East is dominant, with an Aztek version of Sherlock Holmes investigating a case ... I grinned at the ironies in this story.
'Machine Maid' by Margo Lanagan managed to capture the style of Victorian literature remarkably well and with the story about a woman spending time alone with a clockwork servant - and finding out it was programmed by her husband for more than just household tasks, was set up very well. It built up towards a satisfying ending (even though it could have been written about a cyborg on an isolated space station and didn't necessarily need the steampunk elements).
'Lady Witherspoon's Solution' is another great pastiche of the Victorian writing style, in this case the story composed of diary entries. It starts out as a story of exploration concerning an island where Neanderthals are found. But the stories of the Neanderthals is not as clear cut, and well - it has to do with how women are often treated by men as well. I had a big grin on my face while reading this one.
'A Serpent in the Gears' by Margaret Ronald has steampunk gears combined with biological forms. Not the best of the stories, but I liked the world she created in here, and the cold nature of the conclusion.
'Cinderella Suicide' by Samantha Henderson was more like a cyberpunk story set in an alternate version of Australia, with a trio of characters setting of on a trek in the forbidding centre of the continent. Some great SF-idea's here - on of the few steampunk-stories that also works as great SF. I liked it a lot.
'Arbeitskraft' by Nick Mamatas has Frederich Engels construct a giant Difference Engine to bring alive his friend Marx again. Also new technology has given factory owners new ways to exert control over their personel. Maybe a bit preachy, but I liked that - the matchstick girls with their mechanical jaws, only able to say 'Buy Briant and May Matchsticks, sir' were spine chillingly horrifying. But it's sad that the girls in the real world matchgirls strike had more control of their own story than their fictional counterparts.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find myself torn, as I so frequently am with anthologies, between great enthusiasm and complete boredom concerning this book. Some of the stories I found excellent; some were little more than scenes or prose poems. Most are not what I’ve come to expect from standard steampunk; while there are airships and robotics and alternate histories, there is not the perky heroine and handy, well dressed hero racing through an Indiana Jones type adventure. Many of these stories tackle racism, colonialism, sexism, and class stratification. Many also desert the usual Victorian London or American wild West settings so common in steampunk; we find ourselves in Haiti and Meso-America as well as other places. I applaud the inclusion of these tales that stretch the usual boundaries of steampunk, but some of them could have been a lot more interesting.

[Iain Coggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially these are fun stories to read on my phone when I am not reading something more important or engaging. This anthology contains many stories that provide engaging examples of the Steam Punk worlds, but with weak or incomplete plots. It is a grab-bag really: one story is complete and fully satisfying, but the next is a let-down. All of them are well-written prose-wise, and very original, but the storytelling aspect tends to be hit or miss. I am glad I did not pay for a hard copy. All this being said, there is quality here and a good introduction to this popular sub-genre.

[Travis Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: this is my first time reading steampunk anything. I've always been put off by the top hats and goggles, but my wife suggested and we took a dive.

I've read five of the thirty shorts in this book so far, and while I appreciate the milieus and world building, the plots themselves seen to be thin membranes doing little more than supporting the steam punk atmospheres. More of a review when I've gotten to more of the shorts.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collect of steampunk short stories with actual punk.

I love the short story format for this genre since it allows authors to explore ideas which would be hard to sustain in a whole novel. In some cases the stories are closer to parables, others do leave you wanting more. I actually sat on the last 2 stories because I did not want it to be over.

I did prefer some writers style but I will need to re-read it soon because I neglected to note their names.

[Patrick DiJusto · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know a book is good when you dream about the stories, and I've been having steampunk dreams all week.

[Shomeret · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a really good steampunk story. I read this for a Goodreads group that is currently discussing this. I've been able to do several of these lately, but I have a low probability of doing group discussions for the foreseeable future. I happened to have this book from the library. They don't want people to return books while they're closed.

I think that the best story in this anthology is "The Anachronist's Cookbook" by Catherynne Valente which I read in Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded.

Of the stories that I read in this one, there were two that were almost what I was looking for.

"The People's Machine" by Tobias S. Buckell is a science fiction/mystery crossover that takes place in an alternate continuity in which the thirteen colonies are still under British rule and the Aztecs are still ruling in Mexico in the 19th century. An Aztec inquisitor is sent to investigate a murder that looks like an Aztec sacrifice in what is New York City in this timeline. It gets even more unusual from there which is the way I like my reading, but the ending left me feeling chilled. That's not the way I want to feel when I finish reading these days. If I want to feel like that, all I need to do is turn on the news. Ugh!

"Arbeitskraft" by Nick Mamatas is what seemed like an amazing retelling of "The Little Matchgirl" by Hans Christian Anderson. I recently read a novel that was a retelling of that tale that I found disappointing. This story was based on an actual historical event. I finished this story saying "Wow!" Then I researched the event which was the 1888 Matchgirls' Strike at the Bryant & May Match Factory in London. I expected it to be different from a steampunk story, but I didn't expect the difference to be that in real life these girls had so much more agency. Why did Mamatas set up a situation where they were such helpless victims who needed to be rescued by a man? The story no longer felt inspiring. On the other hand, I found out about what sounds like a wonderful history book, Striking a Light: The Bryant and May Matchwomen and their Place in History by Louise Raw. I'm definitely going to want to get hold of that when the libraries re-open.

Other stories either didn't hold my interest, weren't memorable or I was engaged, but I felt that the stories were seriously problematic while I read through them. So I can't say that this was a good anthology or a good introduction to steampunk. I'm hoping to see better stories in The Mammoth Book of Steampunk Adventures.

[Wren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed many of the individual stories in the collection, but as a whole the collection was just okay. I hadn't read any steampunk in a while but I remembered liking it, and so I did generally enjoy the collection, but some stories were just much more enjoyable reads. I'll list my favorites below.
**NOTE: some of my comments may have mild spoilers but nothing too crazy, and all of these stories are pretty fast reads anyways... but consider yourself warned. (I've marked them with *)
"The Zeppelin Conductors' Society Annual Gentlemen's Ball" - Interesting take on the life of a subset of the working class. It felt a bit allegorical to me.
"The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jala-ud-din Muhammad Akbar" - This one read like a fable, in the best way, and with a bit of tragedy to go along with that, it was a very engaging read all the way through.
"Prayers of Forges and Furnaces" - Perhaps I just liked the Aztec mythology going on here, but this one felt fresh and new compared to some of the European-centered stories, and had fun magic.
"The Effluent Engine" - I had been looking forward to reading this one, as I liked much of N. K. Jemisin's other work, and it was quite good. The spy-novel vibe and having Haiti at the center of it was very cool and interesting.
"The Armature of Flight" - A nice love story, if you're into that sort of thing.
"Zeppelin City"* - This one was a fun romp, and it even got a bit philosophical too. Gotta love angry disembodied brains as a worldbuilding concept.
"Reluctance"* - Short and fun. Kinda western, always fun to have steampunk zombies.
"A Serpent in the Gears" - I liked the suspense and the worldbuilding in this one.
"Cinderella Suicide" - This one borders on cyberpunk, but it was fun, and explores an interesting concept.
"The Ballad of the Last Human" - Super short and has animals.

[Bianca Klein Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but did not love it. The quality of the stories is very high and the ideas that are being explored are interesting. The worldbuilding is absolutely breathtaking. But this - for me - is also its weak point. I am not an English native speaker and the prose to really portray these intricate worlds was sometimes bewildering to me. I had to read passages multiple times and sometimes gave up on trying to understand a story. I was not fully immersed because I was trying to decipher the poetic language. But I believe that for somebody whose English is better, this would be a 5 star read.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed collection of stories in the Steampunk genre - several very good stories but overall only an okay read for me - 5/10.

[Newton Nitro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma coletânea enorme de contos de inspiração steampunk que buscam quebrar os limites do gênero!

The Mammoth Book of Steampunk - Sean Wallace (Editor) | 498 pgs, Running Press Adult | Lido de 28.12.18 à 2.01.19 | #steampunk #antologia #contos

SINOPSE

The Mammoth Book of Steampunk visões diferentes do gênero através de contos de Paul Di Filippo, Neil Gaiman, Cherie Priest, e muito mais.

É uma antologia que olha para o futuro através das lentes do passado, em 30 contos que misturam passado e futuro e ampliam os limites do Steampunk!

Este é um Steampunk com uma sensibilidade pós-colonial. Entre seus muitos autores, temos os trabalhos de Jeff VanderMeer, Caitlín Kiernan, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jay Lake, Cherie Priest, Cat Rambo, Catherynne M. Valente, Genevieve Valentine, etc.

Conteúdo:
Steampunk : looking to the future through the lens of the past / Ekaterina Sedia --
Fixing Hanover / Jeff VanderMeer --
The Steam Dancer (1896) / Caitlin R. Kierman --
Icebreaker / E. Catherine Tobler --
Tom Edison and his amazing telegraphic harpoon / Jay Lake --
The Zeppelin Conductors' Society Annual Gentlemen's Ball / Genevieve Valentine
Clockwork fairies / Cat Rambo --
The mechanical aviary of Emperor Jala-ud-din Muhammad Akbar / Shweta Narayan --
Prayers of forges and furnaces / Aliette de Bodard --
The effluent engine / N.K. Jemisin --
The clockwork goat and the smokestack magi / Peter M. Ball --
The armature of flight / Sharon Mock --
The anachronist's cookbook / Catherynne M. Valente --
Numismatics in the reigns of Naranh and Viu / Alex Dally MacFarlane --
Zeppelin City / Eileen Gunn & Michael Swanwick --
The people's machine / Tobias S. Buckell --
The hands that feed / Matthew Kressel --
Machine maid / Margo Lanagan --
To follow the waves / Amal El-Mohtar --
Clockmaker's requiem / Barth Anderson --
Dr Lash remembers / Jeffrey Ford --
Lady Witherspoon's solution / James Morrow --
Reluctance / Cherie Priest --
A serpent in the gears / Margaret Ronald --
The celebrated carousel of the Margravine of Blois / Megan Arkenberg --
Biographical notes to ''A discourse on the nature of causality, with air-planes'' by Benjamin Rosenbaum / Benjamin Rosenbaum --
Clockwork chickadee / Mary Robinette Kowal --
Cinderella suicide / Samantha Henderson --
Arbeitskraft / Nick Mamatas --
To seek her fortune / Nicole Kornher-Stace --
The ballad of the last human / Lavie Tidhar.

RESENHA

Uma ótima coletânea, apesar de um pouco irregular ao formato das narrativas. Aluns contos são completos, com resoluções interessantes, outros são apenas cenas recortadas de narrativas maiores, ou poemas em prosa.

Os tropos básicos do Steampunk estão presentes, desde aeronaves dirigíveis, robótica movida a vapor ou a corda e histórias alternativas. Mas a visão aqui é de desconstrução dos arquétipos clássicos. Temas como racismo, colonialismo, machismo, sexualidade LGBT+ e estratificação de classes sociais são abordados de um ponto de vista subversivo, quebrando muitos das expectativas de uma literatura especulativa pseudovitoriana.

Cenários diferentes da Inglaterra e dos Estados Unidos também estão presentes na coletânea, que tem contos que se passam na america latina, no Haiti, no oriente médio, entre outros lugares alternativos para o gênero.

Dentre as várias histórias, eu recomendo as seguintes:

Fixing Hanover / Jeff VanderMeer

Um gênio da mecânica, fugindo de um império steampunk, acaba vivendo com uma tribo primitiva e se vê obrigado a reconstruir um autômato encontrado no mar. Esse conto tem um final bem dramático, e em poucas páginas, desenvolve bem os personagens e deixa o leitor com vontade de explorar mais o cenário criado. Muito bom!

Machine maid - Margo Lanagan
Uma dama australiana com interesses na mecânica de autômatos movidos a vapor, se vê presa a um casamento horrível com um violento e insenível lorde inglês e trama sua vingança. Excelente conto, daria um filme sensacional e ainda aborda a complicada e reprimida sexualidade vitoriana.

Steam Dancer (1896) - Caitlin R. Kiernan’s
Uma história sobre uma dançarina exótica, casada com um mecânico e que possui membros artificiais steampunks. Muito bem escrito e com cenas eróticas envolvendo engrenagens!

The effluent engine - N.K. Jemisin
Uma espiã haitiana tenta preservar a liberdade recém-descoberta de seu país e que acaba se apaixonando por uma jovem química em New Orleans do final do século 19. N. K. Jemisin é fantástica e consegue criar personagens realistas e com intensa vida interior em poucas páginas. Excelente conto, parece até um capítulo de um romance maior, final sensacional, o meu conto favorito do livro!

The Anachronist’s Cookbook. - Catherynne M. Valente
A prosa polida e poética de Valente impressiona nesse estranho conto sobre uma jovem das ruas aprisionada e que se torna a líder de um movimento anarquista que envolve autômatos sentientes de metal e vapor.

Muitas outras histórias também chamaram atenção, principalmente pelos ponto de vista variados e diversos, como a visão dos índios americanos sobre a expansão ao oeste, uma história de detetives em um mundo onde os astecas se libertaram dos espanhóis no começo da colonização e avançaram até terem uma civilização industrial no século 19, etc.

Recomendo para fãs de Steampunk e de literatura de especulação que lida com pontos de vistas mais diversos do que os tradicionais.

Newton Nitro 07-01-19

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[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steampunk is such a mixture of things it's not easy to explain. It's part Victorian era, part steamships, part clockwork anything (people, animals, clocks(!)), strong women.... I guess the best explanation (used by Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter about pornography) is

“I shall not attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ..., and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it... "

You just KNOW when it's steampunk. And if you haven't read any (and like sci fi and fantasy) you should start with this book.

It's a collection of some of the best steampunk short stories by some of its best known writers. The stories include historical figures (Thomas Edison, Friedrich Engels, Queen Victoria), environments from stodgy Victorian London to the Outback in Australia, and all sorts of adventures.

Really. Read it. Steampunk is just plain fun. And it's an interesting twist on the "rewrite" of history.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy the steampunk genre, but am not a huge fan of the short story format, so it took me several months to work my way through this book. In the end, though, it was an excellent compendium of steampunkiness, with some really astonishing world-building and great writing. There were a few stories that didn't pique my interest, but the great thing about a book of standalone stories is that if a story isn't working for you, skip it! Thanks to this collection, I have a crop of new writers whose work I'm looking forward to checking out.

[Morv · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good book, I love pretty much all the stories in here. I did find some were a bit hit and miss for me though, but that is pretty much what every book with a selection of authors stories does, you prefer other stories which is a good thing.

On the whole I love this book and will be re-reading it in the future.

[Mark K.Astley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished!! It was a slog.. Plenty of fantastical descriptions of a future world viewed through the lens of the past. Except for 3 entries, this compendium is seriously lacking in storytelling. A frustrating read, that gives some insight into the fascinating world of Steam Punk, but really little else.. I recommend one story by Margo Lanagan.

[Roo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately the majority of these stories were horrendously dull and disappointing, the complete opposite of what steampunk is supposed to represent.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way too many stories, uneven quality, and an awkward theme tying them together. Not a great introduction to steampunk.

[LordSlaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a lightly entertaining collection of stories. As I reached the end of the volume, I came away with few strong remembrances, merely a handful of impressions. There were many fabulous settings and unique and compelling ideas, as well as intriguing characters. A lot of the tales felt more like brief sketches or character studies than proper stories. There weren't a lot of strong endings. And some of the tales were a bit heavy-handed with the politics, especially "Arebeitskraft" by Nick Mamatas. There were some word-usage problems with some of the writing, most egregiously "The Clockwork Goat and the Smokestack Magi" by Peter M. Ball where he consistently uses, it's even right there in the title, the plural 'magi' when he means the singular 'magus'; this misuse is particularly baffling in that the plural is used correctly elsewhere in the story. There is another tale, I don't remember which, wherein the singular/plural automaton/automata are confused. And in yet another (again I don't remember which one), in a description of a workshop, 'vice' is used when 'vise' is obviously what is meant. I don't mean to nitpick, but I really enjoy writing for its own sake, a beautifully turned phrase or exquisitely wrought paragraph, and these sorts of things are really jarring. More positively, none of the stories in this volume are outright bad; but at the same time, none really resonated deeply or strongly. Again, lightly entertaining, which is sufficient. I suppose, as is always the case, it's a matter of taste. I'd say my favorite stories in the collection are "Clockwork Chickadee" by Mary Robinette Kowal and "Cinderella Suicide" by Samantha Henderson.

[Skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve only recently gotten involved in steampunk. It’s a genre that I only started reading late last year and one that I kind of love. Although, as I discovered with this collection of short stories, it is also a genre that I have to concentrate a little more to read (unlike genre such as romance).

This anthology runs the gambit of steampunk stories and brings a number of themes, styles and settings to life. It is a perfect way to completely disappear from the world after a long day. Although, with many of the themes, once you have finished the story you are thrown back into reality ten times more heavily than you were before. After all, most of these stories have a great commentary about the world that we live in today.

From capitalism to feminist movements, every major issue and discussion that seems to be occurring in modern society is touched upon in this collection. Yet, these aren’t all serious commentaries on the world. Some of the stories are kind of hilarious, and some are downright weird. The one thing that they all have in common is that they are thoroughly enjoyable and have helped to give me a new addiction.

For independent reviews, head to: https://earthandskye.org/categories/s...

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit this was quite the array of steampunk stories. I don't read a lot of steampunk. The stories in here ranged from classic revisionist history (or as I like to call it dystopian past) to some straight up sci-fi/horror genre...think zombies and vampires. There were several that were quite philosophical.

In general I found it a mix of stories that stuck in my head and ones that left as soon as I started the next one.
This would be a great book to have for a road trip for passing the time.

[Charley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it! I know, I know, quite a few stories weren't that great (not to say awful), but this book was magical. I loved picking it up and seeing what the next story would bring me. For me it was the first introduction to steampunk and it makes me want to read more of it (and I guess that was the goal of the book, right?). I also kind of want to read it again right away... I highly recommend this book!

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

You get a pretty massive amount of stories here, but they weren't what I expected. I hoped for more like The Sisters of Saint Nicola of The Almost Perpetual Motion vs the Lurch . These stories were all much more... Bland. Mundane. Alt historical fans would probably like it.

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adequate but not overwhelming

Most of the stories herein are competently written and a number are especially imaginative. Yet in toto the book is not entirely satisfying. Too many of the tales end abruptly, as if - having painted their alternate worlds, the authors lost interest in the stories they were telling. The best of the lot is "The Serpent in the Gears".

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy short stories because the author has to build her/his world in a few paragraphs and resolve the conflicts within that world.

This collection was very uneven, but mostly good. I particularly enjoyed the Cherie Priest story (of course it included zombies).

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a rare occurrence for me, I enjoyed pretty much all of the stories in this collection. Some resonated with me more than others, but there were none I disliked.

I appreciated the variety in the characters, authors, and styles included in this collection.

Overall, an enjoyable read.