Steampunk III: Steampunk Revolution

The Bookman Histories #3.1

by Ann VanderMeer (Editor)

27 fiction, 4 non-fiction entries imagine technology in Victorian era and philosophize on influences. Intro, bios, notes.
Fiction
“Harry and Marlowe and the Talisman of the Cult of Egil” by Carrie Vaughn
“Addison Howell and the Clockroach” by Cherie Priest
“On Wooden Wings” by Paolo Chikiamco
“Sir Ranulph Wykeham-Rackham” by Lev Grossman
“The Heart Is the Matter” by Malissa Kent
“Mother Is a Machine” by Catherynne M. Valente
“Possession” by Ben Peek
“Beatrice” by Karin Tidbeck
“Arbeitskraft” by Nick Mamatas
“Study, for Solo Piano” by Genevieve Valentine
“Beside Calais” by Samantha Henderson
“An Exhortation to Young Writers (Advice Tendered by Poor Mojo’s Giant Squid)” by David Erik Nelson, Morgan Johnson, and Fritz Swanson
“A Handful of Rice” by Vandana Singh
“Fixing Hanover” by Jeff VanderMeer
“Salvage” by Margaret Ronald
“Urban Drift” by Andrew Knighton
“Ascension” by Leow Hui Min Annabeth
“Nowhere Fast” by Christopher Rowe
“The Effluent Engine” by N. K. Jemisin
“To Follow the Waves” by Amal El-Mohtar
“Captain Bells & the Sovereign State of Discordia” by JY Yang
“The Seventh Expression of the Robot General” by Jeffrey Ford
“The Stoker Memorandum” by Lavie Tidhar
“Smoke City” by Christopher Barzak
“Goggles (c.1910)” by Caitlín R. Kiernan
“Peace in Our Time” by Garth Nix
“White Fungus” by Bruce Sterling

Nonfiction
“Winding Down the House: Towards a Steampunk Without Steam” by Amal El-Mohtar
“Steampunk Shapes Our Future” by Margaret Killjoy
“From Airships of Imagination to Feet on the Ground” by Jaymee Goh
“The (R)Evolution of Steampunk” by Austin Sirkin

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

428 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2012

About the author

Ann VanderMeer is an American publisher and editor, and the second female editor of the horror magazine Weird Tales. She is the founder of Buzzcity Press.

Her work as Fiction Editor of Weird Tales won a Hugo Award. Work from her press and related periodicals has won the British Fantasy Award, the International Rhysling Award, and appeared in several year's best anthologies. Ann was also the founder of The Silver Web magazine, a periodical devoted to experimental and avant-garde fantasy literature.

In 2009 "Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer and Stephen H. Segal" won a Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine. Though some of its individual contributors have been honored with Hugos, Nebula Awards, and even one Pulitzer Prize, the magazine itself had never before even been nominated for a Hugo. It was also nominated for a World Fantasy Award in 2009.

Reviews

[Leonardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have had a mixed experience with steampunk and this anthology seems to follow the trend. My first experience was a novel whose title I have entirely forgotten (filled with all the clichés of the genre: airships, Victorian adventurers, Western European environment) followed by an incursion into the local steampunk/dark cabaret scene. Neither convinced me to fully immerse myself into the scene, but this anthology has piqued my interest and I'm actually interested in finding out how literary steampunk has evolved in the 11 or so years since this anthology was published. The overall feeling of this anthology is one of a genre trying to outgrow its own aesthetic limitations and grapple with the implications of romanticizing or simplifying the past. Is it actually and always succesful? Certainly not, but the best short stories in this anthology do challenge the Victorianesque, careless adventure entertainment and turn its clichés inside out and image how steampunk would work in non-Western environments with non-cisgender characters. In that sense, this is not the best book to get into mainstream steampunk, but it is a great way to get in touch with the many possibilities that lay outside the box. Additionally, the short stories are nicely complemented by a careful selection of essays that discuss the genre with a mixture of love and a critical eye. Has steampunk fulfilled the promises or dreams that the editors had back in 2012? It will be interesting to find out.

[Shamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid anthology, as per usual from Ann VanderMeer. My only complaint is only a teensy one, and perhaps not even really one. Most of the works here seem like "teasers," in that they'd build up steam (Ah HA HAHAHAhahahaha) and then...boom. Story over. Technically, that's doing what an anthology is supposed to do, I guess, in introducing me to authors. So even though that left me a bit frustrated, I guess it warrants a tip of the hat.

Also, if you want to know what's going on with steampunk, reading all three of these anthologies (in order, for reals) will give you an excellent feel for the genre. The genre that is ALL OVER the place, as this collection, in particular, makes clear.

[Joe Karpierz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really didn't know what to expect when I started reading this. I've not read any steampunk in the past, so I had no basis on which to make a statement about whether this was good or bad steampunk.

It turns out that didn't matter. These stories are examples of a brewing change in steampunk, and as such I could read them without thinking about that label. It is a very good collection of stories. As with any collection, there are a few stories that aren't to my tastes, but that didn't deter me from enjoying the book.

[Fleece · Rating 4 out of 5]

consistently better than the second one

[Nafiza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steampuk III: Steampunk Revolution is an anthology brimming with glimpses of lives and worlds as diverse as reality. While all the stories have substance to them, I will review the ones that spoke to me in some way or other.

“Mother is a Machine” by Catherynne M. Valente

As is Valente’s style, this short story is vivid, provocative and disturbing. It takes a moment for the reader to situate herself in the narrative, find her ground, figure out who is what and what’s happening but once that is done, there is a definite thrill – this short story for all its briefness, speaks volumes about being human. About being inhuman. I finished reading and sat for a while just mulling over what I had read and now, days later I can still pull up the details in my mind as fresh as though I had read them yesterday.

“Possession” by Ben Peek

This was heartbreaking in a lot of different ways. The main character finds a woman, a “Returned,” as she is called due to her body being integrated with mechanical parts. This woman, Rachel, has lived for a long time and seen many things, too many things. The short story etches the last few moments of her life when she and Eliana, the main character, find each other, form a friendship of sorts and a connection. Beautiful and tragic.

“An Exhortation to Young Writers (Advice Tendered by Poor Mojo’s Giant Squid)” – David Erik Nelson, Morgan Johnson and Fritz Swanson

This short story was more light hearted and featured a series of “texts” from a anthropomorphized giant squid who tenders advice to his readers in the midst of his own adventure. There is danger galore and threats of being turned into squid soup. The story is amusing and fast paced. I liked it.

“A Handful of Rice” – Vandana Singh

We move on to India where there is much discussion of prana, brotherhood and kings. At once foreign and familiar, this tale gives a glimpse of a world populated by colour, passion and peace. Contradictory and thought provoking.

“The Effluent Engine” – N. K. Jemisin

This story presents fascinating narratives about colour, race and colonization. Haiti with its freed slaves have constructed for themselves a country and they are determined to keep their freedom. This story gives us a brief glimpse of the desperate measures people will take where liberty is concerned. This was a bit spoiled for me however by the excessive attention to romance. I’m strange that way.

“To Follow the Waves” by Amal El-Mohtar

This one details the lengths one woman goes to find (and perhaps experience) another woman she saw for just a short second. Her love, if it can be called that, manifests itself in beautiful ways. She constructs dreams from precious stones and I found this new mythology definitely intriguing.

“Peace in Our Time” – Garth Nix

This was quite easily my favourite story of the bunch. I love Garth Nix’s writing and this short story with its lingering imagery and characters will stay with me for a very long time.

“White Fungus “ by Bruce Sterling

A story set in a post-apocalyptic world that details how a man tries to reclaim the land and along the way, love a woman who is not very keen on being loved. It was interesting though not my favourite.

There are also nonfiction articles on steampunk and I found those to be quite illuminating. On the whole, this anthology delivers and should keep an avid lover of all things steampunk entertained for a long time. I recommend reading one story at a time and not several in one go as these stories, though short, carry a lot of depth that need to be savored and absorbed slowly. I recommend this to those who like short stories and love steampunk. You won’t regret giving this one a try.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not even sure if the journey was all worth it for me. It wasn't until the fourth story that I was really into anything:

"Leg Grossman’s “Sir Ranulph Wykeham-Rackham, GBE” gets disfigured in WWI and ends up having 12 masks manufactured for him. He even gets a Cubist one made by Picasso, which he thinks looks worse. He becomes a celebrity of sorts, but ends up only needing the sad mask. Love the Oscar Wilde quote, “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tel you the truth.”"

This was followed by a similarly themed story "The Heart is the Matter," which I enjoyed. And then after the odd "Mother is a Machine," I was really immersed in "Possession" by Ben Peek. And then "Beatrice" was weird, and it's like you can't look away while reading that. And then after going through a LOT more stories, I wasn't really feeling it until I got to "The Stoker Memorandum":

""The Stoker Memorandum" by Lavie Tidhar actually grabbed my attention since I'm a fan of Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jekyll & Hyde. This was kinda confusing though because, while there are elements of the Dracula setting and a mention of Vlad the Impaler, which are sure to inspire the idea of Dracula, the story goes in this weird direction involving rockets. I did enjoy reading it, though."

After that, "Smoke City" was good, and then the rest didn't really impress me. I guess I enjoyed a bit more than I remembered, but no more than a quarter of the stories presented. When I look back at the whole collection, I remember how much I had to go through before getting to something that truly caught my interest. Thankfully, this was pretty cheap in the Humble Bundle I got. I wouldn't suggest buying the collection at full price.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many cultures are represented in this book, proving "steampunk" doesn't have to mean "Victorian England!" There's a touch of Lovecraft and Indiana Jones, metafiction providing multiple perspectives on a folk story, typical YA coming-of-age folderol, and much more. And if you don't like a particular story, try the next one!

[Kendra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't mind reading an anthology that collects pieces from other sources, but when the pieces are from other collections by the same editors, it's lazy. And on top of that there were only about 2 good stories in here...both of which, of course, I'd read elsewhere.

[Malissa Kent]

I keep skipping over my own story in this collection; it almost feels like if I read it, it might disappear. And, well, I know my story. Discovering all the other pieces is great fun!

[Juan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been reading steampunk since the “Difference engine” came out; this one was part of a bundle that included several others. There comes a time in a genre when all tropes have to be twisted, and everything has to be revisited so that the genre does not simply die. Dangerous Visions did that for science fiction in general in the late sixties; the seventies saw a revamping of the genre and the spawning of many new ones, from slipstream to cyberpunk… And obviously steampunk.
But what is cyberpunk and what is steampunk and what is (whatever)punk? Postmodern discourse wants to assign meanings to words in a subjective way. This book is a bit of that. By first attacking the preconceptions of steampunk (racism, colonialism, wild-ass capitalism) and then extending it to the non-literary realm, an embrace, extend, extinguish strategy seems to enter into this third phase. The essays by the end of the book (which you can very safely skip) seem to imply that steampunk, and by extension science fiction, and even literature, is whatever you say is.
No wonder “classical” steampunk stories, that merely change the preconceptions and milieu of steampunk to other than Victorian England, are the best. N.K.Jemisin’s “The Effluent Engine” make Haiti the place and change the race of the heroes, but is the best steampunk I’ve seen; Lavie Tidhar’s “The Stoker memorandum” in also using steampunk tropes and characters, and is entertaining and well written. “Fixing Hanover” by Jeff Vandermeer is also a history of drifters and robots, and meshes a love story with a post-apocalyptic history of the world. In general, good steampunk stories, and good stories like “On wooden wings” or “An exhortation for young writers”, don’t need a label, or a justification. Other bad ones probably need: Bruce Sterling’s “White fungus” lacks either plot or characterization, and I’m starting to be convinced that he never was a good writer and reached fame only for his collaboration with William Gibson.
All in all, good enough. Probably not revolutionary, except if you consider revolutionary to totally dilute the meaning of a genre.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rather like steampunk as an aesthetic, and I also like the attempts of these authors to move it out of Victoriana into the rest of the world. Also nothing wrong with Victoriana, but the former should not require the latter. I will note that many of these stories are a bit abbreviated in some way, lacking resolutions. This probably fits with the tinkerer attitude of the steampunks: not happy with the ending? Write your own. Having said that, I enjoyed this collection quite a bit. My favorites were N. K Jemisin's "The Effluent Engine" and "Arbeitskraft," by Nick Mamatas. YMMV.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished this with more a sense of accomplishment than pleasure. The high spot for me was “White Fungus,” brainy and geeky at once. “An Exhortation to Young Writers” was pretty funny, “Addison Howell and the Clockroach” was amusing for the names (“Humptulips,” “Julia Frimpendump”), “On Wooden Wings” and Lev Grossman’s “Sir Ranulph Wykeham-Rackham…” worked pretty well…but the rest were forgettable.

[John Lawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of steampunk short stories. Yeah, I'm pretty sure this anthology is what convinced me I don't like the genre. I'm sure all these stories were perfectly good, but the only ones I really enjoyed were the ones that seriously down-played the "steampunk" angle.

[Janta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stories, a few that were too horror-y for my own tastes.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good ones, but kind losing steam, pun intended.

[Abigail Douglas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only read a few for an urban gothic module at uni so my rating isn’t exactly fair but the ones I read weren’t amazing.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I saw this book featured in the "new arrivals" section at my local library, I had to snatch it up. I can't tell you how many times I've dropped the word steampunk into a conversation only to receive a blank stare (which then launched me into a giddy explanation of what steampunk is all about). In that sense, I'm really the target audience.

So it surprises me that I'm only giving this book three stars (and by the way, it's a little intimidating to post when the first couple of reviews are from contributors from the book). The more pages I turned, the more I wished for characters, and an ideology, and a world of gadgets that would keep expanding. I wanted to care deeply for the characters I was meeting. But every few pages would be a new short story, with new details zooming by (like the names of war factions I'd never really meet or understand). The images and wordchoice of steampunk are fun (like using "airship" instead of "ship," or whatever) but after 400 pages of it, I grew a bit weary. Personally I wouldn't have minded 100-150 pages less fiction and 50-100 pages more nonfiction. In fact, the final 30 pages of nonfiction were the highlight for me (and definitely helped to retrospectively breath new life into the stories I had just finished reading).

Was this what the first steampunk anthology was like? Perhaps I should look back at stories that were written when steampunk was finding itself rather than stories of 2012 where authors are trying to show how non-steampunk steampunk can be while still being steampunk. Hmm.

[Susan Laine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good anthology. It's not terribly consistent, as in some stories have only a small steampunk element and are actually more some other genre, like horror. But overall every story has a touch of something interesting going on. There are good ones, some not-so good ones... and then there are the freaky-deaky ones, like Mother Is A Machine. In any case, I'll be checking out the rest of the books in this series.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thought recognized one or two from elsewhere, can't find. Start with plots. Deteriorate fast.
1 Harry and Marlowe and the Talisman of the Cult of Egil by Carrie Vaughn - When she finds alien Aetherian artifact, Harry flees barbaric guardians "this horde - descendants of a lost tribe of Vikings trapped under the Icelandic volcano .. A hundred leather-clad footsteps pounded on the stone behind her" p 17. As a Princess, she bids farewell for now to faithful pilot Marlowe.

2 Addison Howell and the Clockroach by Cherie Priest - A reclusive inventor rescues a mute orphan girl and builds vehicle, but close-minded townspeople would rather lynch him and approve his murder.

Typo:
p 111 "bails of hay" is bales

[Wealhtheow]

Carrie Vaughn's "Harry and Marlowe and the Talisman of the Cult of Egil": in the midst of a war, a lady and an airship pilot are the British Empire's best hope of getting an Aetherian artifact that might defeat Prussia. Introduces an interesting set of characters and hints at a cool alternate world, but this is too short to do much else.

Cherie Priest's "Addison Howell and the Clockroach"...

The problem with electronic lending is when the lending period is up, the library can just snatch the book back without a by-you-leave! Hopefully I'll get a chance to finish this someday.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am intrigued by this genre, and I want to read more. I have never been a big sci-fi guy, but the twist here is that most of these stories are set in the past (commonly the Victorian era) imagining little bends in the path of history and technology. I always loved Jules Verne and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which are both commonly cited as precursors to steampunk.

Now, to get myself a nice pair of flight goggles and a waistcoat!

[Wayland Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with every anthology, this was uneven. Some were good, some not quite as good, and a few didn't really seem to fit with Steampunk as a whole. There were also a few essays near the end that were interesting. I think my favorites were Effluent Engine and To Follow The Waves. I'm not a huge steampunk guy, but I enjoyed a lot of these. Still not quite sure what A Handful of Rice had to do with Steampunk, but it was good.

[Rachel Brune · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this collection as much as the first two. That said, there are some fun stories in here. However, on the whole, I felt that there was this overriding sense of earnestness that sucked a lot of the joy from the work. I prefer a little less manifesto in my steampunk, and a little more steampunk.

[Gabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best of the three. I didn't love every story, but I enjoyed the vast majority of them; the perfect balance of dark and light stories, some classic neo-Victorian steampunk and some more unconventional pieces. Note: Why is this volume edited by Ann VanderMeer alone? Did Jeff VanderMeer not have time or inclination, or is it an attempt not to be biased since the book contains a story by him?

[Matteo Fulgheri · Rating 1 out of 5]

Painfully dull and boring. It's got nothing to do with Steampunk. Like AT ALL.
Maybe Vandermeer should think more about establishing a genre rather than revolutionize something that isn't quite there yet to begin with.
Steer clear of this, steam freaks! Volume 1 was pretty good. 2 was pretty bad. 3 is ridiculous.

[David Erik Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am 100% biased here because 1) I've really dug the other two VanderMeer steampunk anthos and 2) I have a story in this collection.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed bag, like most anthologies. I find myself more drawn to "traditional steampunk" (oxymoron?) as opposed to the post-apocalyptic scenarios that seem to run through this collection.

[T. Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

All three of the Steampunk anthologies were great. Just recently finished this last one.

[Katelynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

See my updates for more of my individual thoughts on the stories. Anything I rated 4 stars I'd recommend checking out!

[Amy Peavy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had a lot of great stories in it. The second volume was pretty bad.