A witch, more machine than human, judges the character of the wicked and hands out justice in a ravaged Chicago. John Henry wields his mighty hammers in a war against machines and the undead. Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman rule a country of freed slaves that rivals – and often bests – England and France in power and technology. You will find all this – and much more – between the pages of Steamfunk, an anthology of incredible stories by some of today’s greatest authors of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Steamfunk – African and African American-inspired Steampunk. Editors Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade have put together a masterful work guaranteed to transport you to new worlds. Worlds of adventure; of terror; of war and wonder; of iron and steam. Open these pages and traverse the lumineferous aether to the world of Steamfunk!
Milton Davis is owner of MVmedia, LLC , a small publishing company specializing in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Sword and Soul. MVmedia’s mission is to provide speculative fiction books that represent people of color in a positive manner. Milton is the author of eight novels; his most recent The Woman of the Woods and Amber and the Hidden City. He is co-editor of four anthologies; Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griot: Sisters of the Spear, with Charles R. Saunders; The Ki Khanga Anthology with Balogun Ojetade and the Steamfunk! Anthology, also with Balogun Ojetade. MVmedia has also published Once Upon A Time in Afrika by Balogun Ojetade. Milton resides in Metro Atlanta with his wife Vickie and his children Brandon and Alana.
A good book cover. The Kindle format was poorly done, many sentences were broken in two. This work needed a professional edit to correct the multiple punctuation and typo errors.
Steamfunk is a solid collection of stories. While I found a number of them to be good or better, there were more than a few that I felt could've used a firmer hand at editing -- many of those were too long. One in particular soured me on the collection so much that I put it down for nearly a year before giving it another go. Still, overall I liked this anthology; despite the problems I had, it's a worthwhile read that I enjoyed much more than not. What's most important about STEAMFUNK is that it brings positive representation for people of color to the steampunk world -- something sorely needed.
Some good stories, some good writing, and a good range of perspectives. Suffers from editing/proofreading problems (as have a bunch of the indie/self-pubbed anthos I've read recently).
We want the Funk! Gotta have the Funk! Well you need to go out and cop Steamfunk by Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade. What is Steamfunk? It's blend of alternative history during the 19th century with steam technology creating a world of action and adventure with blacks as the heroes not background characters.Imagine a world where John Henry fights robots on Mars. Or a world where George Washington Carver creates steam powered mechanism to combat nefarious forces trying to overthrow a nation of African Americans with Fredrick Douglas as president and Harriet Tubman as vice president. Anything is possible in this anthology. The contributors come up with a variety of stories sure to please enthusiast of the genre. Highlights include the Delivery by Milton Davis, The Switch by Valjeane Jeffers, the Lion Hunters by Josh Reynolds, the Tunnel at the End of the Light, Geoffery Thorne and Rite of Passage by Blaogun Ojetade. These were my personal favorites but each story in this anthology holds it's on weight.
Diverse and well written it was great to see heroes that looked like me in worlds completely fleshed out. I would love to see more in this genre so to all in involved thanks for the Pulpy Goodness. Grab Steamfunk for pure escapism and support diversity in the arts.
Steamfunk can be defined as a subgenre of SF/Fantasy that is aligned with Steampunk. Like Steampunk, Steamfunk resides in an imaginative alternative world in which electricity does not exist; machinery is powered by steam and (sometimes) gas, such as with gas streetlights. And the heroes are African American, and all the social ramifications of that are very real. Some alternate history about the Civil War is one of my favorite themes.
Of course, as anyone whose ever read it will tell you, the above is a bare bones definition. Steamfunk is full of marvelous creations…of steam-powered robots, fantastical flying machines and worlds separated by layers of technology and class, all of which are wild and weird and take some getting used to (for me), but were well worth the effort.
This is a collection of truly excellent ideas by some very interesting and talented authors. I applaud the concept, creating a space for authors who might otherwise have been overlooked by larger publishing houses.
However, the editing here is so poorly done that the first two stories are nearly unreadable. I honestly nearly quit after the second story, because although it was an interesting and inventive idea, I could barely track the details of what was happening or the logic behind the events (sorry, but how does a professor at a university have the clout to call in a military operation on foreign soil??).
This book reads like a series of really excellent and creative first drafts. If you have the patience, I recommend supporting these authors. But if you can finish it, you’re better than me. I stopped at 25%.
Stories that build a mythology that stimulates young people's minds fill this book. I recommend it highly. I wish I had had this to read as a young person.