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Grease Monkeys: The Heart and Soul of Dieselpunk
Innovation Goes Rolling Along, But Who Keeps the Engines Running? In the midst of war and a changing world, you seldom hear tales of the dedicated souls that keep ingenuity and progress moving. The mechanics who not only hear the music of the machine but can tear them down and put them together again better than before. Those who love to get their hands dirty figuring out how things work, those without whom progress would grind to a halt. That changes now. We give you Grease The Heart and Soul of Dieselpunk with stories David Lee Summers, Aaron Rosenberg, John L. French, Heather E. Hutsell, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Ken Schrader, Misty Massey, James Chambers, Derek Tyler Attico, Maria V. Snyder, and Bernie Mojzes.
277 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 1, 2023
2 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
116 books206 followersAward-winning author, editor, and publisher Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. In 2014 she joined forces with husband Mike McPhail and friend Greg Schauer to form her own publishing house, eSpec Books (www.especbooks.com).
Her published works include eight novels, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, Daire’s Devils, The Play of Light, and Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of the solo collections Eternal Wanderings, A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, Transcendence, Between Darkness and Light, The Fox’s Fire, The Kindly One, and the non-fiction writers’ guides The Literary Handyman, More Tips from the Handyman, and LH: Build-A-Book Workshop. She is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Gaslight & Grimm, Side of Good/Side of Evil, After Punk, and Footprints in the Stars. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections.
In addition to her literary acclaim, she crafts and sells original costume horns under the moniker The Hornie Lady Custom Costume Horns, and homemade flavor-infused candied ginger under the brand of Ginger KICK! at literary conventions, on commission, and wholesale.
Danielle lives in New Jersey with her husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail and four extremely spoiled cats.
Her published works include eight novels, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, Daire’s Devils, The Play of Light, and Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of the solo collections Eternal Wanderings, A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, Transcendence, Between Darkness and Light, The Fox’s Fire, The Kindly One, and the non-fiction writers’ guides The Literary Handyman, More Tips from the Handyman, and LH: Build-A-Book Workshop. She is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Gaslight & Grimm, Side of Good/Side of Evil, After Punk, and Footprints in the Stars. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections.
In addition to her literary acclaim, she crafts and sells original costume horns under the moniker The Hornie Lady Custom Costume Horns, and homemade flavor-infused candied ginger under the brand of Ginger KICK! at literary conventions, on commission, and wholesale.
Danielle lives in New Jersey with her husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail and four extremely spoiled cats.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 26, 2024
Stars: 3 out of 5.
I have a love hate relationship with anthologies. They can be a lot of fun if the stories held within are entertaining and written by authors who have the knack of writing compelling stories in the least amount of words possible. Trust me, it's a hard art to master. On the other hand, they can be a slog if most of the stories are lackluster at best and uninspired at the most. Then it turns into an exercise of frustration reading them, because I feel bad skipping a story I don't like, especially since I'm not guaranteed that I would like the next story, or the one after that either... Yet, for some reason, I keep requesting anthologies every time I see them on NetGalley, and I read every single one of them.
In this case, the anthology is rather meh. Most of the stories felt rather uninspired. And a few only vaguely touched on the theme. I came expecting fun stories of mechanics with grease on their coveralls and under their fingernails, and a knack of fixing anything with the right size wrench and a few curse words. But a lot of stories concentrated more on their own policical messages than that particular theme. I felt like I was being preached to instead of entertained. And a short story is NOT the right medium to get your policital, philosophical, or moral point across. There is simply not enough pages to establish the world, the stakes, and make us care for the characters and the message you want to deliver.
Also, there was a lot less machanical shennanigans than I wanted in a dieselpunk anthology.
The two stories that stood out for me where "Nobody's Hero" and "The Return of the Diesel Kid". They were written by different authors, but seem to share the same world, where superheros, called Capes, and their sidekicks are a common occurence. Those stories didn't take themselves seriously, but were really fun to read. I thouroughly enjoyed our non-powered mechanics saving the day in both of them.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have a love hate relationship with anthologies. They can be a lot of fun if the stories held within are entertaining and written by authors who have the knack of writing compelling stories in the least amount of words possible. Trust me, it's a hard art to master. On the other hand, they can be a slog if most of the stories are lackluster at best and uninspired at the most. Then it turns into an exercise of frustration reading them, because I feel bad skipping a story I don't like, especially since I'm not guaranteed that I would like the next story, or the one after that either... Yet, for some reason, I keep requesting anthologies every time I see them on NetGalley, and I read every single one of them.
In this case, the anthology is rather meh. Most of the stories felt rather uninspired. And a few only vaguely touched on the theme. I came expecting fun stories of mechanics with grease on their coveralls and under their fingernails, and a knack of fixing anything with the right size wrench and a few curse words. But a lot of stories concentrated more on their own policical messages than that particular theme. I felt like I was being preached to instead of entertained. And a short story is NOT the right medium to get your policital, philosophical, or moral point across. There is simply not enough pages to establish the world, the stakes, and make us care for the characters and the message you want to deliver.
Also, there was a lot less machanical shennanigans than I wanted in a dieselpunk anthology.
The two stories that stood out for me where "Nobody's Hero" and "The Return of the Diesel Kid". They were written by different authors, but seem to share the same world, where superheros, called Capes, and their sidekicks are a common occurence. Those stories didn't take themselves seriously, but were really fun to read. I thouroughly enjoyed our non-powered mechanics saving the day in both of them.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 30, 2023
TL;DR: A pleasant read with a few standout stories. Favorite: "Hyena Brings Death" by Bernie Mojzes.
I requested Grease Monkeys: The Heart and Soul of Dieselpunk from NetGalley on a whim, despite my towering TBR pile, firstly because of the great cover illustration (credited to Mike McPhail), secondly because because I like stories about keeping machinery and infrastructure going, thirdly because the title implied I'd be looking at stories about little folk instead of titans of industry, unlike a fair number of steampunk stories that focus on great inventors instead of having much "punk" flavor, and fourthly because an anthology is a low-commitment reading project -- if I didn't like a story, it wouldn't take much of my time. It turned out to be a quick read with several interesting stories and ideas.
I hadn't heard of either of the editors, Danielle Ackley-McPhail or John L. French, and only a few of the authors sounded faintly familiar. The 12 stories are by the two editors and David Lee Summers, Aaron Rosenberg, Heather E. Hutsell, Ken Schrader, Misty Massey, James Chambers, Derek Tyler Attico, Maria V. Snyder, and Bernie Mojzes.
Summers' "The Falcon and the Goose" is about railroad mechanics vs. airship innovators in the U.S. Southwest. Rosenberg's "Nobody's Hero" is about a mechanic for a team of capes. French's "No Man's Land" is a grim story about an innovator during World War I trench warfare. Ackley-McPhail's "The Impossible Journey" is a grease monkey's coming-of-age story. Schrader's "Storm Spike" features airship warfare and sabotage. Massey's "My Mechanical Girl" is about a robot entertainer, espionage, and an unexpected guest. Hutsell's "On the Fly" is another coming-of-age story, about a farm mechanic thrilled to work on planes. Chambers' "The Maps of Our Scars" is about an aircraft competition with espionage and war machines in the wings. Attico's "The Harlem Hellfighters" is another trench warfare story, with mechas. Snyder's "Under Amber Skies" is about a girl who idolizes her absent inventor father but learns some unpleasant secrets. French's "The Return of the Diesel Kid" was about cops, crooks, capes, and a mechanic. Mojzes' "Hyena Brings Death" is about an angry eternal scavenger who wants to go to war with Heaven for allowing war to devastate the Earth.
I really enjoyed "Nobody's Hero" and how "Lady Linkage" (the superhero team's mechanic) performed during some unexpected crises, and how her teammates and partner appreciated and supported her. "Storm Spike" was also vividly told fun. I was intrigued by "Under Amber Skies" and really liked a developing relationship in it, although Zosia's stern mother could have used more character development.
But the story that interested me most was "Hyena Brings Death." The worldbuilding sketches felt appropriately mythic, while the cobbling together of war machines felt appropriately grounded (although Hyena's chimeric plane probably shouldn't be able to get off the ground without magic). I also really like how the British pilot she kidnapped came to believe in Hyena's cause, or at least in her, and she eventually sees him as a person rather than just an aide. I love her crazy goal too, although in this short story, we just see the beginning of her attack on Heaven, not how things turn out. It's a very rich and engaging story.
Grease Monkeys: The Heart and Soul of Dieselpunk is slated for publication on Sept. 1 from eSpec books, starting at just $3, or from Barnes&Noble currently on sale at $2.99 for the ebook or $15.95 for the paperback. I can recommend the ebook if you're in the mood to dip into some dieselpunk, but it's probably not worth the price of the paperback unless you're a collector -- and that cover really is appealing!
Diversity count: Only one or two of the authors appear to be BIPOC from their author photos that I found online, and only one protagonist was definitely Black. Despite the majority of authors having male-coded names, about half of the stories featured female protagonists. Several stories featured same-sex or queer relationships. (There was also an apparent interspecies relationship.)
Content Warnings: War, violence, death, tangential implications of sex (none graphic).
Comparisons: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk (2015).
Disclaimers: ebook provided by NetGalley, with some expectation of a review in return.
I requested Grease Monkeys: The Heart and Soul of Dieselpunk from NetGalley on a whim, despite my towering TBR pile, firstly because of the great cover illustration (credited to Mike McPhail), secondly because because I like stories about keeping machinery and infrastructure going, thirdly because the title implied I'd be looking at stories about little folk instead of titans of industry, unlike a fair number of steampunk stories that focus on great inventors instead of having much "punk" flavor, and fourthly because an anthology is a low-commitment reading project -- if I didn't like a story, it wouldn't take much of my time. It turned out to be a quick read with several interesting stories and ideas.
I hadn't heard of either of the editors, Danielle Ackley-McPhail or John L. French, and only a few of the authors sounded faintly familiar. The 12 stories are by the two editors and David Lee Summers, Aaron Rosenberg, Heather E. Hutsell, Ken Schrader, Misty Massey, James Chambers, Derek Tyler Attico, Maria V. Snyder, and Bernie Mojzes.
Summers' "The Falcon and the Goose" is about railroad mechanics vs. airship innovators in the U.S. Southwest. Rosenberg's "Nobody's Hero" is about a mechanic for a team of capes. French's "No Man's Land" is a grim story about an innovator during World War I trench warfare. Ackley-McPhail's "The Impossible Journey" is a grease monkey's coming-of-age story. Schrader's "Storm Spike" features airship warfare and sabotage. Massey's "My Mechanical Girl" is about a robot entertainer, espionage, and an unexpected guest. Hutsell's "On the Fly" is another coming-of-age story, about a farm mechanic thrilled to work on planes. Chambers' "The Maps of Our Scars" is about an aircraft competition with espionage and war machines in the wings. Attico's "The Harlem Hellfighters" is another trench warfare story, with mechas. Snyder's "Under Amber Skies" is about a girl who idolizes her absent inventor father but learns some unpleasant secrets. French's "The Return of the Diesel Kid" was about cops, crooks, capes, and a mechanic. Mojzes' "Hyena Brings Death" is about an angry eternal scavenger who wants to go to war with Heaven for allowing war to devastate the Earth.
I really enjoyed "Nobody's Hero" and how "Lady Linkage" (the superhero team's mechanic) performed during some unexpected crises, and how her teammates and partner appreciated and supported her. "Storm Spike" was also vividly told fun. I was intrigued by "Under Amber Skies" and really liked a developing relationship in it, although Zosia's stern mother could have used more character development.
But the story that interested me most was "Hyena Brings Death." The worldbuilding sketches felt appropriately mythic, while the cobbling together of war machines felt appropriately grounded (although Hyena's chimeric plane probably shouldn't be able to get off the ground without magic). I also really like how the British pilot she kidnapped came to believe in Hyena's cause, or at least in her, and she eventually sees him as a person rather than just an aide. I love her crazy goal too, although in this short story, we just see the beginning of her attack on Heaven, not how things turn out. It's a very rich and engaging story.
Grease Monkeys: The Heart and Soul of Dieselpunk is slated for publication on Sept. 1 from eSpec books, starting at just $3, or from Barnes&Noble currently on sale at $2.99 for the ebook or $15.95 for the paperback. I can recommend the ebook if you're in the mood to dip into some dieselpunk, but it's probably not worth the price of the paperback unless you're a collector -- and that cover really is appealing!
Diversity count: Only one or two of the authors appear to be BIPOC from their author photos that I found online, and only one protagonist was definitely Black. Despite the majority of authors having male-coded names, about half of the stories featured female protagonists. Several stories featured same-sex or queer relationships. (There was also an apparent interspecies relationship.)
Content Warnings: War, violence, death, tangential implications of sex (none graphic).
Comparisons: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk (2015).
Disclaimers: ebook provided by NetGalley, with some expectation of a review in return.
August 21, 2023
The cover caught my eye first. Plus it is diesel punk stories! Not so many of those around. Grease Monkeys is a very divergent collection of tales with some taking place during World War I while others are during the lead-up to World War II. There are horror tales, hero tales, tales of flying, a mystery, and a very strange supernatural tale to end the book. An enjoyable, quick reading collection to satisfy that need for diesel fumes!
Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title.
Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title.
September 13, 2023
What an amazing collection of authors and tales. I've never really read "SteamPunk" before. This conglomeration of female led stories is a great introduction to that world in my opinion. There is such a wide variety of genera folded in, Science Fiction, Alternate History, Superheros just to highlight a few. This is sure to encourage more than a few readers to pick up a new author like Misty Massey and her colleagues.
September 6, 2023
It's novella of short stories from different authors about Diselpunk.
October 3, 2024
Very few clunkers in this anthology of dieselpunk stories. The WWI and WWII stories were haunting, grim, and very well written, but there are more light-hearted superhero stories as well. I was impressed by the overall quality of the writing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews