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Steam-Powered #1
Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories
The fifteen tantalizing, thrilling, and ingenious tales in Steam-Powered put a new spin on steampunk by putting women where they belong -- in the captain's chair, the laboratory, and one another's arms. Here you'll meet inventors, diamond thieves, lonely pawn brokers, clockwork empresses, brilliant asylum inmates, and privateers in the service of San Francisco's eccentric empire. Though they hail from across the globe and universes far away, each character is driven to follow her own path to independence and to romance. The women of Steam-Powered push steampunk to its limits and beyond.
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
13 people are currently reading
1301 people want to read
About the author
JoSelle Vanderhooft
26 books37 followersA dramaturg and something of a lapsed playwright, Vanderhooft works as a freelance journalist, poet and fiction writer. Her work has appeared or will soon appear in print and online in such venues as Aofie’s Kiss, Byzarium, Cabinet des Fées, Jabberwocky, Not One of Us, MYTHIC, Mythic Delirium, Reflections Edge, Star*Line and several others.
To date, she has published seven poetry books: 10,000 Several Doors (Cat’s Eye Publishing, 2005), The Minotaur’s Last Letter to His Mother (2007, Ash Phoenix Press, to be re-released by Sam’s Dot Publishing in the future), Ossuary (2007, Sam’s Dot Publishing), The Handless Maiden and Other Tales Twice Told (2008 Sam’s Dot Publishing), The Memory Palace (2009, Norilana Books) and Fathers, Daughters, Ghosts & Monsters (2009, VanZeno Press).
Her first novel The Tale of the Miller’s Daughter was released from Papaveria Press in June, 2006 and her second and third, Owl Skin, and Ebenezer, a retelling of A Christmas Carol, are forthcoming from Papaveria and Drollerie Press, respectively . She edited the Torquere Press anthology of lesbian fairytales Sleeping Beauty, Indeed (reissued in 2009 by Lethe Press) as well as Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories (2011, Torquere Press) and (with Catherine Lundoff) Hellebore & Rue, an anthology of stories about lesbian magic users (Drollerie Press, 2010). Bitten By Moonlight, an anthology of lesbian werewolf stories, will be released from Zumaya Books in 2011.
To date, she has published seven poetry books: 10,000 Several Doors (Cat’s Eye Publishing, 2005), The Minotaur’s Last Letter to His Mother (2007, Ash Phoenix Press, to be re-released by Sam’s Dot Publishing in the future), Ossuary (2007, Sam’s Dot Publishing), The Handless Maiden and Other Tales Twice Told (2008 Sam’s Dot Publishing), The Memory Palace (2009, Norilana Books) and Fathers, Daughters, Ghosts & Monsters (2009, VanZeno Press).
Her first novel The Tale of the Miller’s Daughter was released from Papaveria Press in June, 2006 and her second and third, Owl Skin, and Ebenezer, a retelling of A Christmas Carol, are forthcoming from Papaveria and Drollerie Press, respectively . She edited the Torquere Press anthology of lesbian fairytales Sleeping Beauty, Indeed (reissued in 2009 by Lethe Press) as well as Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories (2011, Torquere Press) and (with Catherine Lundoff) Hellebore & Rue, an anthology of stories about lesbian magic users (Drollerie Press, 2010). Bitten By Moonlight, an anthology of lesbian werewolf stories, will be released from Zumaya Books in 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
January 7, 2011
Say you're a big fan of steampunk. Say also that you think the world needs more queer short fiction--and in particular, F/F. If both of these apply to you, you absolutely need to check out Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, a forthcoming anthology from Torquere Books. Editor JoSelle Vanderhooft kindly sent me an ARC of this antho, and I can happily say it was one of the more unusual anthologies I've read, not only because of the lesbian aspect but also because of the sheer diversity of stories and the emphasis on non-European and non-American cultures when possible.
Hands down, my favorite story in the whole thing was N.K. Jemisin's "The Effluent Engine". Fantasy fans may recognize that name from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which got a whole lot of favorable buzz; now that I've finally read something by this author, I can see why. I very much enjoyed her story, thanks to my ideal level of romance (i.e., it's an aspect of the story but not the dominant point of the plot), the intrigue (a female spy in New Orleans is looking for hotly sought secrets of clean methane production, because whoever gets hold of that gets airship superiority), and the emphasis on Haiti. The heroine of this story is Haitian, and it's just after the revolution in that country--so not only do you get a lesbian romance, it's multi-racial and multi-cultural as well.
"Brilliant", by Georgina Bruce, mostly worked for me as a character study--although again, we have an emphasis on non-European culture, as there are references to the "Egyptian Empire", and the title character of the story is the daughter of the Nigerian ambassador to Cairo. Nice.
D.L. MacInnes' "Owl Song" was a bittersweet one, which I didn't entirely enjoy. And yet, the ending of it was haunting and powerful.
"Where the Ocean Meets the Sky" by Sara M. Harvey somewhat contrasted for me with Jemisin's story, since there's more emphasis here on the sexual attraction between the two main characters and not quite as much on the actual plot. But that said, I quite enjoyed that the plot featured a colorful character from San Francisco history, Emperor Joshua Norton I.
Beth Wodzinski's "Suffer Water" gets points for a nice little blend of Old West, nanotech done steampunk style, a relationship gone wrong, and a bit of mad scientist to boot.
In "Steel Rider", Rachel Manija Brown brings us a tale with a bit of anime-style mecha to spice up her steampunk. There's a hint of Jewish culture here as well as Aztec and Mexican, not to mention all sorts of interesting questions about the world only barely seen in this story.
Shira Lipkin's vignette "Truth and Life" is a glimpse of the sadness of a brilliant engineer.
Matthew Kressel, in "The Hands that Feed", brings us a solid little tale of a shopkeeper with hidden talents, and the seemingly innocent young woman she comes to love. Our two heroines are Jewish and Hindu, as well as separated by thirty years of age, which makes for quite the unusual pairing indeed.
My fellow Drollerie author Meredith Holmes brings us "Love in the Time of Airships", a tale of romance across social classes--and a woman who discovers not only that she has romantic inclinations she never dreamed of, but that her so-called husband is far more dangerous than she ever imagined.
Teresa Wymore, another fellow Drollerie author, has some intriguing glimpses of genetic manipulation shaping the society that exists "Under the Dome".
"Clockwork and Music", by Tara Sommers, is a poignant tale of a young woman who must wrestle madness, possibly nefarious intentions of the doctor who looks after her in a sanitarium, and the clockwork servants that carry out his will. All she has to sustain her is the love of a fellow inmate, who may or may not be mad herself.
Mikki Kendall's "Copper for a Trickster" is brutal, and believably so, if you take a steampunk culture and think about how it would have impacted the development of African slavery. Protagonist Dalila and her beloved Ashaki are willing to do anything to free themselves and the children enslaved with them--but Dalila learns the price of the bargain they make with the Hare.
"Sleepless, Burning Life", by Mike Allen, is perhaps the oddest piece in the collection. The prose is almost more metaphor than narrative, and even after having read through it, I'm still not entirely sure what it's about. There are goddesses and priestesses and gears involved, and that's pretty much what I came away with; more than that will have to wait until I get a formal copy of the anthology. (This was the first of two stories where I found the watermarking on the ARC to interfere enough with my ability to read the story that I will need to re-read it later.) Still, there's imagery to be admired here, as well as the sheer lyricism of the writing.
And lastly, we have Shweta Narayan's "The Padishah Begum's Reflections", another piece complex enough that I had a hard time reading it given the watermarking on the ARC and reading it on my iPhone. There's a lot of jumping around between time frames in this story, which made it hard to follow on a small screen--but I glimpsed enough complexity of plot in this final piece that it's another reason I absolutely want to acquire a full formal copy of the book.
In conclusion: highly recommended for steampunk fans as well as readers in search of lesbian fiction as well as fiction that embraces non-Western cultures. Not every piece was to my particular tastes, but they were all solid, and I look forward to buying my formal copy. Four stars.
Hands down, my favorite story in the whole thing was N.K. Jemisin's "The Effluent Engine". Fantasy fans may recognize that name from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which got a whole lot of favorable buzz; now that I've finally read something by this author, I can see why. I very much enjoyed her story, thanks to my ideal level of romance (i.e., it's an aspect of the story but not the dominant point of the plot), the intrigue (a female spy in New Orleans is looking for hotly sought secrets of clean methane production, because whoever gets hold of that gets airship superiority), and the emphasis on Haiti. The heroine of this story is Haitian, and it's just after the revolution in that country--so not only do you get a lesbian romance, it's multi-racial and multi-cultural as well.
"Brilliant", by Georgina Bruce, mostly worked for me as a character study--although again, we have an emphasis on non-European culture, as there are references to the "Egyptian Empire", and the title character of the story is the daughter of the Nigerian ambassador to Cairo. Nice.
D.L. MacInnes' "Owl Song" was a bittersweet one, which I didn't entirely enjoy. And yet, the ending of it was haunting and powerful.
"Where the Ocean Meets the Sky" by Sara M. Harvey somewhat contrasted for me with Jemisin's story, since there's more emphasis here on the sexual attraction between the two main characters and not quite as much on the actual plot. But that said, I quite enjoyed that the plot featured a colorful character from San Francisco history, Emperor Joshua Norton I.
Beth Wodzinski's "Suffer Water" gets points for a nice little blend of Old West, nanotech done steampunk style, a relationship gone wrong, and a bit of mad scientist to boot.
In "Steel Rider", Rachel Manija Brown brings us a tale with a bit of anime-style mecha to spice up her steampunk. There's a hint of Jewish culture here as well as Aztec and Mexican, not to mention all sorts of interesting questions about the world only barely seen in this story.
Shira Lipkin's vignette "Truth and Life" is a glimpse of the sadness of a brilliant engineer.
Matthew Kressel, in "The Hands that Feed", brings us a solid little tale of a shopkeeper with hidden talents, and the seemingly innocent young woman she comes to love. Our two heroines are Jewish and Hindu, as well as separated by thirty years of age, which makes for quite the unusual pairing indeed.
My fellow Drollerie author Meredith Holmes brings us "Love in the Time of Airships", a tale of romance across social classes--and a woman who discovers not only that she has romantic inclinations she never dreamed of, but that her so-called husband is far more dangerous than she ever imagined.
Teresa Wymore, another fellow Drollerie author, has some intriguing glimpses of genetic manipulation shaping the society that exists "Under the Dome".
"Clockwork and Music", by Tara Sommers, is a poignant tale of a young woman who must wrestle madness, possibly nefarious intentions of the doctor who looks after her in a sanitarium, and the clockwork servants that carry out his will. All she has to sustain her is the love of a fellow inmate, who may or may not be mad herself.
Mikki Kendall's "Copper for a Trickster" is brutal, and believably so, if you take a steampunk culture and think about how it would have impacted the development of African slavery. Protagonist Dalila and her beloved Ashaki are willing to do anything to free themselves and the children enslaved with them--but Dalila learns the price of the bargain they make with the Hare.
"Sleepless, Burning Life", by Mike Allen, is perhaps the oddest piece in the collection. The prose is almost more metaphor than narrative, and even after having read through it, I'm still not entirely sure what it's about. There are goddesses and priestesses and gears involved, and that's pretty much what I came away with; more than that will have to wait until I get a formal copy of the anthology. (This was the first of two stories where I found the watermarking on the ARC to interfere enough with my ability to read the story that I will need to re-read it later.) Still, there's imagery to be admired here, as well as the sheer lyricism of the writing.
And lastly, we have Shweta Narayan's "The Padishah Begum's Reflections", another piece complex enough that I had a hard time reading it given the watermarking on the ARC and reading it on my iPhone. There's a lot of jumping around between time frames in this story, which made it hard to follow on a small screen--but I glimpsed enough complexity of plot in this final piece that it's another reason I absolutely want to acquire a full formal copy of the book.
In conclusion: highly recommended for steampunk fans as well as readers in search of lesbian fiction as well as fiction that embraces non-Western cultures. Not every piece was to my particular tastes, but they were all solid, and I look forward to buying my formal copy. Four stars.
April 13, 2011
OK, I got this book pretty much expecting a good N.K. Jemisin story and some cheesy-but-hopefully-fun erotica.
It significantly exceeded my expectations. Although only a couple of the stories are sexually explicit, all but a couple of them are well above the literary quality I would expect from an anthology from a romance/erotica publisher featuring several lesser-known and new writers. I'm definitely going to look up more work from some of these authors - I very much enjoyed the stories from Georgina Bruce, Rachel Manija Brown, Teresa Wymore (even if it's derivative of Mieville!), Amal el-Mohtar & Tara Sommers.
Only a few minor points:
The prologue is really annoying. Good job on the story selection, could have skipped the prologue. People patting themselves on the back for being wonderful, diverse and blah blah really gets to me. Just Do It.
N.K. Jemisin's story: I loved it. Wonderful settings and characterization. But it ends with That Ending. The one I hate. The one where the brilliant, competent woman who is good at what she does acquires a rich lover and the lover says: "I'm not fond of you keeping up this dangerous line of work... I can keep you in comfort for the rest of your days." And the woman instantly gives up everything, and says that sounds great. It doesn't matter if it's a woman lover; it's still aggravating. I'm trying to find some irony in it, but if it's supposed to be there, it's not coming through for me.
Mikki Kendall's story: I completely fail to be convinced that any woman would or should feel guilty for calling on her deity to violently destroy the invaders who enslaved her people and repeatedly raped their children. Not even one from an unusually pacifist culture.
Other than those quibbles - I'd highly recommend this book to anyone; I feel that its appeal transcends both the steampunk and lesbian-erotica niche markets.
It significantly exceeded my expectations. Although only a couple of the stories are sexually explicit, all but a couple of them are well above the literary quality I would expect from an anthology from a romance/erotica publisher featuring several lesser-known and new writers. I'm definitely going to look up more work from some of these authors - I very much enjoyed the stories from Georgina Bruce, Rachel Manija Brown, Teresa Wymore (even if it's derivative of Mieville!), Amal el-Mohtar & Tara Sommers.
Only a few minor points:
The prologue is really annoying. Good job on the story selection, could have skipped the prologue. People patting themselves on the back for being wonderful, diverse and blah blah really gets to me. Just Do It.
N.K. Jemisin's story: I loved it. Wonderful settings and characterization. But it ends with That Ending. The one I hate. The one where the brilliant, competent woman who is good at what she does acquires a rich lover and the lover says: "I'm not fond of you keeping up this dangerous line of work... I can keep you in comfort for the rest of your days." And the woman instantly gives up everything, and says that sounds great. It doesn't matter if it's a woman lover; it's still aggravating. I'm trying to find some irony in it, but if it's supposed to be there, it's not coming through for me.
Mikki Kendall's story: I completely fail to be convinced that any woman would or should feel guilty for calling on her deity to violently destroy the invaders who enslaved her people and repeatedly raped their children. Not even one from an unusually pacifist culture.
Other than those quibbles - I'd highly recommend this book to anyone; I feel that its appeal transcends both the steampunk and lesbian-erotica niche markets.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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April 24, 2011This anthology surpassed my expectations, and those were high. While there were a few stories that didn't quite work for me, the majority were entertaining at the least. Two things I especially appreciated: the nifty worldbuilding, and the fact that women were central characters with agency and action. The stories were not all lesbian erotica--which would have been fine, but I really love variety. All kinds of relationships here, including tragic, with most being female.
Standouts for me were Rachel Manija Brown's "Steel Rider" and Amal El-Mohtar's "To Follow the Waves." I really liked NK Jemisin's The Effluent Engine" until the very end, and I thought Shweta Narayan's" The Padishah Begum's Reflections" a bravura piece that might have worked more powerfully if the compressed narrative were expanded out into a novel. I think that would be amazing.
Standouts for me were Rachel Manija Brown's "Steel Rider" and Amal El-Mohtar's "To Follow the Waves." I really liked NK Jemisin's The Effluent Engine" until the very end, and I thought Shweta Narayan's" The Padishah Begum's Reflections" a bravura piece that might have worked more powerfully if the compressed narrative were expanded out into a novel. I think that would be amazing.
August 16, 2017
Steam Powered was a mixed bag for me. There were some stories that were really poignant and will stay with me for quite awhile. And then there were a few of a more esoteric and dreamlike nature that did not grab me as much. What I did love about Steam Powered was the ethnic diversity and exotic locations (the South American jungle, Egypt, India).
All stories were very well written and varied and always with interesting women as the main character (YES!), something we don't always see in the Steam Punk genre.
My favorites were The Effluent Engine, Brilliant, Owl Song, Steel Rider, Where the Ocean Meets the Sky, Suffer Water, and Copper for Trickster.
4.5 stars!
All stories were very well written and varied and always with interesting women as the main character (YES!), something we don't always see in the Steam Punk genre.
My favorites were The Effluent Engine, Brilliant, Owl Song, Steel Rider, Where the Ocean Meets the Sky, Suffer Water, and Copper for Trickster.
4.5 stars!
April 17, 2011
Loved this. One of the most entertaining anthologies I've ever read - only a couple of these really left me cold. My absolute favorites of the bunch were Rachel Manija Brown's Steel Rider (like a really trippy, lesbian Gundam set in the wild west!) and Mike Allen's Sleeping, Burning Life (amazing, surreal tale of gods and a warrior woman in a world made of gears!). Close runners up would be NK Jemisin's The Effluent Engine, Meridith Holmes's Love in the Time of Airships, Shweta Narayan's The Padishah Begum's Reflections, and Amal El-Mohtar's To Follow the Waves. All in all, a nice mix of the fun and the artsy, with lots of gears and lots of lady love.
Only downside was that there were an unusual number of formatting and editing hiccups in this. (This is really 4 1/2 stars rounded up, I guess, on account of the editing iffiness.)
Only downside was that there were an unusual number of formatting and editing hiccups in this. (This is really 4 1/2 stars rounded up, I guess, on account of the editing iffiness.)
July 28, 2017
So this is a collection of lesbian steampunk that makes a deliberate effort to take steampunk out of its normative setting. Not a single one of these is set in London. Several go outside of Europe entirely to set stories in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Some stick to historical settings, others go for futuristic clockwork and cyborg style worlds. It is basically an awesome smorgasbord of diversity and I would've appreciated it for that even if the stories hadn't stood out as anything particularly special.
Happily this is not the case! The quality varies but there's definitely more good in this collection than bad. I'll give a few words on each story, my favourites are starred.
The Effluent Engine by N. K. Jemisin*: Okay so. Awesome Haitian spy seeks talented inventor for reasons of national revolutionary independence. This a great start to the anthology: it is all adventures and chase scenes and intense gun standoffs! I really love the setting too, it's basically a steampunk take off the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution which is such an excellent alt-history I'd happily read it as a novel. The romance progressed a mite quickly but that's cool, I just recently came off finishing a romance novel anyways. My tolerance for implausibly rushed romances grows ever stronger by the day! 4 stars
Brilliant by Georgina Bruce: Character growth and romance on a train! Short but very charming throughout. I really liked the characters voices. This is the point where I remember thinking if the quality stayed this high this was going to be one of those rare anthologies I can recommend as consistently excellent. 3.5 stars
Owl Song by D.L. MacInnes: So it's a bit of a shame this next story had to lower my expectations. I can see how the story was trying to be progressive and critical of colonialism but it very much fell short of its goal. 2.5 stars
Where the Ocean Meets the Sky by Sara M. Harvey: Alternate history where Emperor Norton became the Emperor of California. The airship captain protaganist reminded me of Yasmeen from Meljean Brook's Heart of Steel, I'd be pretty into reading a crossover where they met. Do feel free to provide fandom! 3 stars
Suffer Water by Beth Wodzinski: Cyborg bounty hunter tracks down mad scientist in the Wild West. I haven't much to say on it but I did like it. 3.5 stars
Steel Rider by Rachel Manija Brown: So this has been a favourite in every single review I read before deciding to buy this anthology and I can see why. It's a Gundam Western story! I could visualize how it would play out on a screen while I was reading it, it was very cool. 4 stars
Truth and Life by Shira Lipkin: I liked the prose and concept but it was too short for me to really get into. 3 stars
The Hands That Feed by Matthew Kressel: No thanks! I found neither the characters or their relationship engaging. Definitely one I'll skip on rereads. 1.5 stars
Love in the Time of Airships by Meredith Holmes: Flat characterizations all around marred what could have been a potentially interesting story. 2.5 stars
Under the Dome by Teresa Wymore: And now we reach my least favourite story of this entire collection. Dystopian city where all the citizens have been forced into hybridization with animals? Interesting sure, tell me more. Oh a thematic exploration of what humanity means done mostly through sex scenes? Maybe not my preference but as valid a choice as any I suppose. An explicit rape scene that leads to a conclusion that associates brutality with humanity? Nope, no thanks, not a worldview I support or find enjoyable to read. 1 star
Clockwork and Music by Tara Sommers*: You know this is probably the first story I've read with a protaganist in a Victorian asylum that was actually mentally ill? This did a good job filling a gap I hadn't previously noticed. I also thought the writing was lovely and the romance sweet. 4 stars
Copper for Trickster by Miki Kendall: Well that was cruel. I don't know that this story needed to be as dark as it was, I would have liked it better if some of the horror had been pared down. 3 stars
Sleepless, Burning Life by Mike Allen*: *______________________* I have got to remember to look up more of Mike Allen's work, this was one of my absolute favourites of the anthology. Gorgeous take on a clockwork mythology. It reminded me a little of N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy with its exploration of a human woman's relationship with her gods; I suspect fans of one would enjoy the other. 5 stars
The Padishah Begum’s Reflections by Shweta Narayan*: Guuuuuuys. I want Shweta Narayan to publish a book already, this is the second short story I've read by her that stood out in an anthology I was already enjoying (ftr the other one was in the YA Beastly Bride anthology). The structure is complex, weaving together several temporally separated storylines, but it's not too difficult to follow if you pay attention to the time headings before each section. I wish I knew a little more about the history of the Mughal Empire, I think I would have appreciated the story's use of history and legend even more if I was familiar with its base. 4.5 stars
To Follow the Waves by Amal el-Mohtar*: You ever read one of those short stories that works perfectly as a story but could also potentially kick off a really great novel? This is one of those! I thought it was a good decision to place it at the end of the anthology, since I think it has the strongest ending of any in the collection. 4 stars
Looking back on this review I realize the ratings probably don't actually average out to four stars. I feel this is a case where the sum is greater than its parts though, I really enjoyed the experience of reading the collection as a whole. And if nothing else I'm glad to be reminded of author names I want to keep an eye out for: Shweta Narayan and Mike Allen are going to be on my auto-buy list if they ever put out books of their work. 4 stars
Happily this is not the case! The quality varies but there's definitely more good in this collection than bad. I'll give a few words on each story, my favourites are starred.
The Effluent Engine by N. K. Jemisin*: Okay so. Awesome Haitian spy seeks talented inventor for reasons of national revolutionary independence. This a great start to the anthology: it is all adventures and chase scenes and intense gun standoffs! I really love the setting too, it's basically a steampunk take off the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution which is such an excellent alt-history I'd happily read it as a novel. The romance progressed a mite quickly but that's cool, I just recently came off finishing a romance novel anyways. My tolerance for implausibly rushed romances grows ever stronger by the day! 4 stars
Brilliant by Georgina Bruce: Character growth and romance on a train! Short but very charming throughout. I really liked the characters voices. This is the point where I remember thinking if the quality stayed this high this was going to be one of those rare anthologies I can recommend as consistently excellent. 3.5 stars
Owl Song by D.L. MacInnes: So it's a bit of a shame this next story had to lower my expectations. I can see how the story was trying to be progressive and critical of colonialism but it very much fell short of its goal. 2.5 stars
Where the Ocean Meets the Sky by Sara M. Harvey: Alternate history where Emperor Norton became the Emperor of California. The airship captain protaganist reminded me of Yasmeen from Meljean Brook's Heart of Steel, I'd be pretty into reading a crossover where they met. Do feel free to provide fandom! 3 stars
Suffer Water by Beth Wodzinski: Cyborg bounty hunter tracks down mad scientist in the Wild West. I haven't much to say on it but I did like it. 3.5 stars
Steel Rider by Rachel Manija Brown: So this has been a favourite in every single review I read before deciding to buy this anthology and I can see why. It's a Gundam Western story! I could visualize how it would play out on a screen while I was reading it, it was very cool. 4 stars
Truth and Life by Shira Lipkin: I liked the prose and concept but it was too short for me to really get into. 3 stars
The Hands That Feed by Matthew Kressel: No thanks! I found neither the characters or their relationship engaging. Definitely one I'll skip on rereads. 1.5 stars
Love in the Time of Airships by Meredith Holmes: Flat characterizations all around marred what could have been a potentially interesting story. 2.5 stars
Under the Dome by Teresa Wymore: And now we reach my least favourite story of this entire collection. Dystopian city where all the citizens have been forced into hybridization with animals? Interesting sure, tell me more. Oh a thematic exploration of what humanity means done mostly through sex scenes? Maybe not my preference but as valid a choice as any I suppose. An explicit rape scene that leads to a conclusion that associates brutality with humanity? Nope, no thanks, not a worldview I support or find enjoyable to read. 1 star
Clockwork and Music by Tara Sommers*: You know this is probably the first story I've read with a protaganist in a Victorian asylum that was actually mentally ill? This did a good job filling a gap I hadn't previously noticed. I also thought the writing was lovely and the romance sweet. 4 stars
Copper for Trickster by Miki Kendall: Well that was cruel. I don't know that this story needed to be as dark as it was, I would have liked it better if some of the horror had been pared down. 3 stars
Sleepless, Burning Life by Mike Allen*: *______________________* I have got to remember to look up more of Mike Allen's work, this was one of my absolute favourites of the anthology. Gorgeous take on a clockwork mythology. It reminded me a little of N. K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy with its exploration of a human woman's relationship with her gods; I suspect fans of one would enjoy the other. 5 stars
The Padishah Begum’s Reflections by Shweta Narayan*: Guuuuuuys. I want Shweta Narayan to publish a book already, this is the second short story I've read by her that stood out in an anthology I was already enjoying (ftr the other one was in the YA Beastly Bride anthology). The structure is complex, weaving together several temporally separated storylines, but it's not too difficult to follow if you pay attention to the time headings before each section. I wish I knew a little more about the history of the Mughal Empire, I think I would have appreciated the story's use of history and legend even more if I was familiar with its base. 4.5 stars
To Follow the Waves by Amal el-Mohtar*: You ever read one of those short stories that works perfectly as a story but could also potentially kick off a really great novel? This is one of those! I thought it was a good decision to place it at the end of the anthology, since I think it has the strongest ending of any in the collection. 4 stars
Looking back on this review I realize the ratings probably don't actually average out to four stars. I feel this is a case where the sum is greater than its parts though, I really enjoyed the experience of reading the collection as a whole. And if nothing else I'm glad to be reminded of author names I want to keep an eye out for: Shweta Narayan and Mike Allen are going to be on my auto-buy list if they ever put out books of their work. 4 stars
March 13, 2012
There are a handful of stand-out stories that I think make this collection worth checking out from the library, but overall I was disappointed. Too many of the stories were just plain badly written--and badly edited. A firmer editorial hand could easily have bumped most of the stories up to at least tolerable, and I think the authors were poorly served by its lack. (A better proofreader would have been welcomed, too; the random line breaks, misspellings, and underlined punctuation are distracting.)
Story-by-story thoughts:
The Effluent Engine, by N.K. Jemisin. Starts the collection off with a bang! Really nice alt-history, here, marred only (as others have noted) by the final two paragraphs, which seem out of character for both protagonists. Four stars.
Brilliant, by Georgina Bruce. A nicely sketched vignette with intriguing characters but not a lot else going for it; the steampunk setting feels like a paper backdrop and there's less plot than I like in my fiction. Two stars.
Owl Song, by D.L. MacInnes. Marred more than most of the collection by the poor proofreading job, but not really my thing beyond that. Unpleasant things happen to an unpleasant person. Yay? Two stars.
Where the Ocean Meets the Sky, by Sara M. Harvey. Another one where I wanted more plot and less romance. The setting's not bad, but given the lack of anything happening it drags on too long. Why start your story right after the daring and dangerous mission? Two stars.
Suffer Water, by Beth Wodzinski. That's more like it. Short and to the point, with writing that really evokes a dusty, Western setting. The science is handwavy even for steampunk, and I think this story might have been even better if it hadn't had to fit within a themed collection and could have gone straight fantasy. Three stars.
Steel Rider, by Rachel Manija Brown. This story pretty much does abandon any pretense at steampunk, and I love the result. I would read a novel set in this world, or at least more short stories. Four stars.
Truth and Life, by Shira Lipkin. A graceful, lyrical take on a theme I'm unfortunately tired of reading about. Three stars.
The Hands That Feed, by Matthew Kressel. You know what my life needs? More tragic lesbians who lack agency and don't even seem to particularly know or care about each other. Oh, wait, no, it doesn't. Your life will be better for skipping this story. One star.
Love in the Time of Airships, by Meredith Holmes. There might be a good story in here, but it's buried under the worst writing I've seen in professionally published fiction in quite some time. And the worst sex scene. Dear lord. One star.
[If you surmised I almost gave up on the collection here, you're right.]
Under the Dome, by Teresa Wymore. This is basically erotica, and I wish it had embraced that aspect of itself and skipped some of the clunkier worldbuilding/exposition, because as erotica it's not bad. Two stars.
Clockwork and Music, by Tara Sommers. Someone else here noted that you get lots of stories about women wrongfully thrown into asylums to silence them, but not a lot of stories about institutionalized Victorian women who are actually mentally ill. They were right, and they were right that this story does a good job filling the gap. I like its many shades of gray, and the romance was one of the sweeter ones in the book. Three stars.
Copper for Trickster, by Mikki Kendall. Women oppressed by Evil men who have no goal or purpose other than oppressing women. You know they're Evil, because they torture and rape children for fun! The over-the-top descriptions of depravity made me roll my eyes at the beginning and robbed the end of any impact. One star.
Sleepless, Burning Life, by Mike Allen. I think this would have made a better short film than a short story, but I have to give it props for uniqueness. Three stars.
The Padishah Begum's Reflections, by Shweta Narayan. A well-written, sweet romance mixed with politics and interesting worldbuilding. I could have done with more of the politics, but I suppose it's already pretty long for a story. Three stars.
To Follow the Waves, by Amal El-Mohtar. This is another world where I'd be interested in a novel or other expansion; the characters' prickly relationship at the end intrigues me, and I'd love to see where it goes. A nice, solid end to the collection. Four stars.
That averages to 2.53, which I suppose means I should round the collection as a whole to 3, but the low points were so low that I'm loathe to do so. I may feel compelled to pick up the sequel, since it has a story by Zen Cho and I am always up for Zen Cho stories, but I'm giving myself permission in advance to skip any story that doesn't grab me by page two.
Story-by-story thoughts:
The Effluent Engine, by N.K. Jemisin. Starts the collection off with a bang! Really nice alt-history, here, marred only (as others have noted) by the final two paragraphs, which seem out of character for both protagonists. Four stars.
Brilliant, by Georgina Bruce. A nicely sketched vignette with intriguing characters but not a lot else going for it; the steampunk setting feels like a paper backdrop and there's less plot than I like in my fiction. Two stars.
Owl Song, by D.L. MacInnes. Marred more than most of the collection by the poor proofreading job, but not really my thing beyond that. Unpleasant things happen to an unpleasant person. Yay? Two stars.
Where the Ocean Meets the Sky, by Sara M. Harvey. Another one where I wanted more plot and less romance. The setting's not bad, but given the lack of anything happening it drags on too long. Why start your story right after the daring and dangerous mission? Two stars.
Suffer Water, by Beth Wodzinski. That's more like it. Short and to the point, with writing that really evokes a dusty, Western setting. The science is handwavy even for steampunk, and I think this story might have been even better if it hadn't had to fit within a themed collection and could have gone straight fantasy. Three stars.
Steel Rider, by Rachel Manija Brown. This story pretty much does abandon any pretense at steampunk, and I love the result. I would read a novel set in this world, or at least more short stories. Four stars.
Truth and Life, by Shira Lipkin. A graceful, lyrical take on a theme I'm unfortunately tired of reading about. Three stars.
The Hands That Feed, by Matthew Kressel. You know what my life needs? More tragic lesbians who lack agency and don't even seem to particularly know or care about each other. Oh, wait, no, it doesn't. Your life will be better for skipping this story. One star.
Love in the Time of Airships, by Meredith Holmes. There might be a good story in here, but it's buried under the worst writing I've seen in professionally published fiction in quite some time. And the worst sex scene. Dear lord. One star.
[If you surmised I almost gave up on the collection here, you're right.]
Under the Dome, by Teresa Wymore. This is basically erotica, and I wish it had embraced that aspect of itself and skipped some of the clunkier worldbuilding/exposition, because as erotica it's not bad. Two stars.
Clockwork and Music, by Tara Sommers. Someone else here noted that you get lots of stories about women wrongfully thrown into asylums to silence them, but not a lot of stories about institutionalized Victorian women who are actually mentally ill. They were right, and they were right that this story does a good job filling the gap. I like its many shades of gray, and the romance was one of the sweeter ones in the book. Three stars.
Copper for Trickster, by Mikki Kendall. Women oppressed by Evil men who have no goal or purpose other than oppressing women. You know they're Evil, because they torture and rape children for fun! The over-the-top descriptions of depravity made me roll my eyes at the beginning and robbed the end of any impact. One star.
Sleepless, Burning Life, by Mike Allen. I think this would have made a better short film than a short story, but I have to give it props for uniqueness. Three stars.
The Padishah Begum's Reflections, by Shweta Narayan. A well-written, sweet romance mixed with politics and interesting worldbuilding. I could have done with more of the politics, but I suppose it's already pretty long for a story. Three stars.
To Follow the Waves, by Amal El-Mohtar. This is another world where I'd be interested in a novel or other expansion; the characters' prickly relationship at the end intrigues me, and I'd love to see where it goes. A nice, solid end to the collection. Four stars.
That averages to 2.53, which I suppose means I should round the collection as a whole to 3, but the low points were so low that I'm loathe to do so. I may feel compelled to pick up the sequel, since it has a story by Zen Cho and I am always up for Zen Cho stories, but I'm giving myself permission in advance to skip any story that doesn't grab me by page two.
July 13, 2011
Steam-Powered is a collection of steampunk stories, all to some degree or another involving lesbian characters. As the introduction points out, it's a very diverse collection, with characters from all sorts of different cultures, and very few if any being purely about white Americans. That's one of the aims of the anthology, and it fulfils that very well.
I didn't love all the stories, and one or two of them bothered me by being a bit 'ooohh, exoticisation!"-y. Also, as someone who has sat through quite a few creative writing classes, and whose own writing is primarily short fiction, I'm extremely picky about short stories. I want hooks and twists and stings in the tails. It doesn't have to be a complex story, but it has to be told with very great care. Some of these just didn't work for me on that level.
Some of them I loved: N.K. Jemisin's "The Effluent Engine" was predictably good (predictably in the sense that I love Jemisin's work, anyway); I wanted a lot more of "Steel Rider" because I got sucked into that world and those characters; "Sleepless, Burning Life" was full of amazing imagery which I think is going to stick with me.
Worth a read? I definitely think so.
Just, don't get the Kindle version. It's not properly laid out in chapters so you can skip back to the beginning of a tale without remembering the location, there's no table of contents, each story is smushed into the last because there's no spacing between them... It's seriously detrimental in one of the stories because it has different time periods separated by titles, and the Kindle edition runs them all together.
I didn't love all the stories, and one or two of them bothered me by being a bit 'ooohh, exoticisation!"-y. Also, as someone who has sat through quite a few creative writing classes, and whose own writing is primarily short fiction, I'm extremely picky about short stories. I want hooks and twists and stings in the tails. It doesn't have to be a complex story, but it has to be told with very great care. Some of these just didn't work for me on that level.
Some of them I loved: N.K. Jemisin's "The Effluent Engine" was predictably good (predictably in the sense that I love Jemisin's work, anyway); I wanted a lot more of "Steel Rider" because I got sucked into that world and those characters; "Sleepless, Burning Life" was full of amazing imagery which I think is going to stick with me.
Worth a read? I definitely think so.
Just, don't get the Kindle version. It's not properly laid out in chapters so you can skip back to the beginning of a tale without remembering the location, there's no table of contents, each story is smushed into the last because there's no spacing between them... It's seriously detrimental in one of the stories because it has different time periods separated by titles, and the Kindle edition runs them all together.
May 1, 2012
N. K. Jemisin's story "The Effluent Engines" is everything this collection says it wants to be: lesbian and steampunk and a pushback against the Victorian kyriarchy and a really good story. It was also posted on the author's website as part of A Story for Haiti and is well worth reading.
None of the other stories in this collection really stood out to me. (Well, "Copper for Trickster" drove me up the wall because Mikki Kendall does not understand how trickster figures work; does that count?) But then, I'm not a natural reader of short stories, so we'll call it a wash.
None of the other stories in this collection really stood out to me. (Well, "Copper for Trickster" drove me up the wall because Mikki Kendall does not understand how trickster figures work; does that count?) But then, I'm not a natural reader of short stories, so we'll call it a wash.
April 5, 2011
As an anthology, it's a pretty good one. I love steampunk, and I really appreciated that the stories here were not all about privileged white men.
November 12, 2011
I've tried to avoid spoilers. If you find any text that you can't read, it can be translated by copying and pasting it into the rot13 deciphering box, but only do so if you don't mind the extra information about the story.
While writing these reviews, I realized I find it much easier and more interesting to write criticism than praise! I'm not sure what to make of that. Overall, I am very, very pleased by this anthology. I've heard there will be another one, and I'm looking forward to it a lot! [Edited later: Steam-Powered 2 is now out!]
1. “The Effluent Engine” by N.K. Jemisin – awesome concepts, particularly the alternate-history Haiti. I liked the espionage plot, but wanted it to be a lot more developed. The romance didn’t work for me at all; they only met three times, with very little personal interaction, before the scientist/love interest znqr zneelvat gur cebgntbavfg bar bs ure cbvagf va snibe bs rfpncvat gb Unvgv! I think this needed to be a longer story, perhaps with some sections from the perspective of the scientist/love interest. And I definitely wanted a scene in Haiti.
2. “Brilliant” by Georgina Bruce – wonderful! One of my favorites. I love how spoiled Brilliant is and how Hamida lies. I want to read an entire novel about their adventures. I’ll also be looking for other stories by Bruce. Bah, I want to go on about how good this was, but I don’t know what to say. It was super! I smiled so much while reading it!
3. “Owl Song” by D.L. MacInnes – this one is about a white woman who’s disappointed in love and too nonconformist for “civilization” (a word that gets used way too often in this story), so she goes to South America. Rejected by white colonist society, she is invited to set up her laboratory in a Native Village (identity of natives not specified; they worship gods I had thought were Colombian, although the colony is British Guiana), where she is fascinated by native women’s “exotic” facial features and skin. The author had the sense to avoid What These People Need Is A Honky, but did so in a way that suggests that the natives and the protagonist were fundamentally incapable of coexistence, while keeping the white protagonists’s perspective and interests topmost as the natives remained “mysterious.” I kept waiting for this story to display more self-awareness and critical examination of the protagonist’s racism, but was disappointed. I am surprised this was included in an anthology that was influenced by RaceFail 2009; the editor’s introduction says that this story “critique[s] the imperial mindset,” but a story written in our post-imperial present can do that without unpacking anything important at all.
4. “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky” by Sara M. Harvey – taught me something about San Francisco! I found the love interest endearing and I enjoyed how the Emperor fit into it.
5. “Suffer Water” by Beth Wodzinski – fun concepts. I wanted to see this story illustrated. I also wanted to know what happened after the story ended; it was too short for me. How did the tiny machines affect things?
6. “Steel Rider” by Rachel Manija Brown – oh my god, mecha in the Old West. I love the steel riders and the steel steeds and what they have to do with trauma and mental illness. This worked perfectly as a short story but I would read a novel set in this world. I’m not sure how it’s steampunk unless there’s a backstory I don’t understand, but I did not care about that.
7. “Truth and Life” by Shira Lipkin – a very short, emo dark story about genius and disappointment in love, that I would have loved to have written at age 20, but that didn’t do much for me now. I did love the opening paragraph, starting “When Rivka was eight, she built her first automaton…”
8. “The Hands That Feed” by Matthew Kressel – maybe romance novels have spoiled me for this kind of story, but all I wanted was for the protagonist and the love interest to work out their power imbalance problems and live happily ever after, undermining corrupt politicians and supporting themselves by diamond theft, but instead gur ybir vagrerfg sryy bss n ebbs naq qvrq. A romance novel would not have let that happen and while romance novels are not known for their gritty engagement with reality, I think the romance novel version could have been a lot less anticlimactic.
9. “Love in the Time of Airships” by Meredith Holmes – there’s a good story hidden somewhere in here. I definitely like the idea of reading about how the unhappy ex-working-class wife of a noveau riche political schemer falls in love with a butch technician as they uncover a military plot, but the writing doesn’t do it justice. I’m trying to figure out what didn’t work for me. I think it was the dialogue, which is trying to convey too much information, both narrative and emotional. I also regret that all of the female characters apart from the protagonist and the love interest are catty and shallow. However, I was amused that the communication device central to the story is actually a Series of Tubes.
10. “Under the Dome” by Teresa Wymore – the protagonist gives us the Dubiously Consensual Sex Tour of a dystopian city. The most interesting part of the worldbuilding here depends on … steampunk biology? which as a former student of biology I find more difficult to suspend disbelief about than the clockwork engines in other stories. I have to think of it as magic, and then it’s somehow more difficult for me to take seriously the conclusions about human nature reached at the end of the story.
11. “Clockwork and Music” by Tara Sommers – gave me something I should have already realized I wanted, which is a non-ableist story about an actually mentally ill woman in a Victorian insane asylum. I’ve read so many stories about sane women who’ve been trapped in such places for unconventional behavior or other plot-related reasons. I’ve liked some of those stories, but they leave out a lot. Now I want “Clockwork and Music” to have a sequel, and I want Tara Sommers or someone else to write another story, just straight-up historical fiction, about the same sort of thing. (Recommendations solicited!)
12. “Copper for Trickster” by Mikki Kendall – extravagantly gruesome. I had to skim a lot of this story in order to get through it without thinking too hard about the goriest bits, but I liked the less-gory imagery. I think the final twist of the knife would have been more effective if the story had given more to the love relationship, but possibly I missed some of that.
13. “Sleepless, Burning Life” by Mike Allen – amazing, gorgeous premise. The universe is a clockwork mechanism, powered by a goddess cursed to dance eternally. It starts there and gets better until the end, which jnf gbb nzovthbhf gb cyrnfr zr, ohg zvtug jryy cyrnfr lbh! I do want to know if this is based on any real-world religion. Google couldn’t tell me anything about Amritu and Kitsartu so I think Allen made them up, but if they have counterparts anywhere I would like to read all about them.
14. “The Padishah Begum’s Reflections” by Shweta Narayan – okay, this is the best story in the book. It is set in the steampunk Mughal Empire. The protagonist is the Empress, who is also n ebobg znqr bs cerpvbhf fgbarf naq zrgnyf. This story is perfect in structure, in style, in content. I never know what to say about writing I love. This one is worth buying the book for even if you never read anything else.
15. “To Follow the Waves” by Amal El-Mohtar – about sexual fascination and the ethics of using someone in your fantasies. Beautifully written.
While writing these reviews, I realized I find it much easier and more interesting to write criticism than praise! I'm not sure what to make of that. Overall, I am very, very pleased by this anthology. I've heard there will be another one, and I'm looking forward to it a lot! [Edited later: Steam-Powered 2 is now out!]
1. “The Effluent Engine” by N.K. Jemisin – awesome concepts, particularly the alternate-history Haiti. I liked the espionage plot, but wanted it to be a lot more developed. The romance didn’t work for me at all; they only met three times, with very little personal interaction, before the scientist/love interest znqr zneelvat gur cebgntbavfg bar bs ure cbvagf va snibe bs rfpncvat gb Unvgv! I think this needed to be a longer story, perhaps with some sections from the perspective of the scientist/love interest. And I definitely wanted a scene in Haiti.
2. “Brilliant” by Georgina Bruce – wonderful! One of my favorites. I love how spoiled Brilliant is and how Hamida lies. I want to read an entire novel about their adventures. I’ll also be looking for other stories by Bruce. Bah, I want to go on about how good this was, but I don’t know what to say. It was super! I smiled so much while reading it!
3. “Owl Song” by D.L. MacInnes – this one is about a white woman who’s disappointed in love and too nonconformist for “civilization” (a word that gets used way too often in this story), so she goes to South America. Rejected by white colonist society, she is invited to set up her laboratory in a Native Village (identity of natives not specified; they worship gods I had thought were Colombian, although the colony is British Guiana), where she is fascinated by native women’s “exotic” facial features and skin. The author had the sense to avoid What These People Need Is A Honky, but did so in a way that suggests that the natives and the protagonist were fundamentally incapable of coexistence, while keeping the white protagonists’s perspective and interests topmost as the natives remained “mysterious.” I kept waiting for this story to display more self-awareness and critical examination of the protagonist’s racism, but was disappointed. I am surprised this was included in an anthology that was influenced by RaceFail 2009; the editor’s introduction says that this story “critique[s] the imperial mindset,” but a story written in our post-imperial present can do that without unpacking anything important at all.
4. “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky” by Sara M. Harvey – taught me something about San Francisco! I found the love interest endearing and I enjoyed how the Emperor fit into it.
5. “Suffer Water” by Beth Wodzinski – fun concepts. I wanted to see this story illustrated. I also wanted to know what happened after the story ended; it was too short for me. How did the tiny machines affect things?
6. “Steel Rider” by Rachel Manija Brown – oh my god, mecha in the Old West. I love the steel riders and the steel steeds and what they have to do with trauma and mental illness. This worked perfectly as a short story but I would read a novel set in this world. I’m not sure how it’s steampunk unless there’s a backstory I don’t understand, but I did not care about that.
7. “Truth and Life” by Shira Lipkin – a very short, emo dark story about genius and disappointment in love, that I would have loved to have written at age 20, but that didn’t do much for me now. I did love the opening paragraph, starting “When Rivka was eight, she built her first automaton…”
8. “The Hands That Feed” by Matthew Kressel – maybe romance novels have spoiled me for this kind of story, but all I wanted was for the protagonist and the love interest to work out their power imbalance problems and live happily ever after, undermining corrupt politicians and supporting themselves by diamond theft, but instead gur ybir vagrerfg sryy bss n ebbs naq qvrq. A romance novel would not have let that happen and while romance novels are not known for their gritty engagement with reality, I think the romance novel version could have been a lot less anticlimactic.
9. “Love in the Time of Airships” by Meredith Holmes – there’s a good story hidden somewhere in here. I definitely like the idea of reading about how the unhappy ex-working-class wife of a noveau riche political schemer falls in love with a butch technician as they uncover a military plot, but the writing doesn’t do it justice. I’m trying to figure out what didn’t work for me. I think it was the dialogue, which is trying to convey too much information, both narrative and emotional. I also regret that all of the female characters apart from the protagonist and the love interest are catty and shallow. However, I was amused that the communication device central to the story is actually a Series of Tubes.
10. “Under the Dome” by Teresa Wymore – the protagonist gives us the Dubiously Consensual Sex Tour of a dystopian city. The most interesting part of the worldbuilding here depends on … steampunk biology? which as a former student of biology I find more difficult to suspend disbelief about than the clockwork engines in other stories. I have to think of it as magic, and then it’s somehow more difficult for me to take seriously the conclusions about human nature reached at the end of the story.
11. “Clockwork and Music” by Tara Sommers – gave me something I should have already realized I wanted, which is a non-ableist story about an actually mentally ill woman in a Victorian insane asylum. I’ve read so many stories about sane women who’ve been trapped in such places for unconventional behavior or other plot-related reasons. I’ve liked some of those stories, but they leave out a lot. Now I want “Clockwork and Music” to have a sequel, and I want Tara Sommers or someone else to write another story, just straight-up historical fiction, about the same sort of thing. (Recommendations solicited!)
12. “Copper for Trickster” by Mikki Kendall – extravagantly gruesome. I had to skim a lot of this story in order to get through it without thinking too hard about the goriest bits, but I liked the less-gory imagery. I think the final twist of the knife would have been more effective if the story had given more to the love relationship, but possibly I missed some of that.
13. “Sleepless, Burning Life” by Mike Allen – amazing, gorgeous premise. The universe is a clockwork mechanism, powered by a goddess cursed to dance eternally. It starts there and gets better until the end, which jnf gbb nzovthbhf gb cyrnfr zr, ohg zvtug jryy cyrnfr lbh! I do want to know if this is based on any real-world religion. Google couldn’t tell me anything about Amritu and Kitsartu so I think Allen made them up, but if they have counterparts anywhere I would like to read all about them.
14. “The Padishah Begum’s Reflections” by Shweta Narayan – okay, this is the best story in the book. It is set in the steampunk Mughal Empire. The protagonist is the Empress, who is also n ebobg znqr bs cerpvbhf fgbarf naq zrgnyf. This story is perfect in structure, in style, in content. I never know what to say about writing I love. This one is worth buying the book for even if you never read anything else.
15. “To Follow the Waves” by Amal El-Mohtar – about sexual fascination and the ethics of using someone in your fantasies. Beautifully written.
June 1, 2012
Steam-powered v.1 is a compelling and thought-provoking anthology of Steampunk short stories with lesbian and otherwise female narrators. The writing styles and themes vary greatly, but the stories were all intentionally hand-picked and share some very refreshing overarching themes: non-Western, non-White, non-Christian, non-hetero, feminist and heroine-replete fantasy (one or two are rooted in actual historical events). Although I didn’t immediately pick up on it, Vanderhooft has intentionally placed similar narratives together. To label these arcs in the order in which they appear they would go something like… stories about air travel; slipstream; erotica; industrial workers; gothic/dystopia; clockwork ; and fantasy-setting. Of these arcs, air travel was probably the most fun, while clockwork was the most disturbing. I distain dystopia as a setting or story type, but these ones weren’t the worst I’ve ever read. I was a little disappointed with the slipstream showing but it was a nice touch at any rate. All-in-all, Steampowered was a wonderful piece of post-modern, post-colonial literature.
I don’t intent to spoil these awesome stories, just offer some vague highlights.
N.K. Jemisin’s “The Effluent Engine” : an enticing corporate espionage thriller about rum, set in New Orleans and the Caribbean
Georgina Bruce’s “Brilliant” : the absolute cutest story in the book. Two young women and one clueless mother travel in the same car on a train in Egypt
D.L. MacInnes’ “Owl Song” : a young British heiress tosses away her court life in exchange for a mining camp and the valuable assistance of a local businesswoman in Guyana
Sara M. Harvey’s “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky” : decidedly manga-like story about airship smuggling, with a swoon-worthy romance between a captain and an dock traffic controller
Beth Wodzinski’s “Suffer Water” : doubtless the best written story in the collection, set in Wild West Nevada, a dying cyborg bounty hunter must hunt down her ex-girlfriend creator
Rachel Manija Brown’s “Steel Rider” : slipstream adventure mashup between Haibane Renmei and Stephen King’s Dark Tower? Girls fight for survival with their horse mecha for companionship in the Sierra Nevadas
Shira Lipkin’s “Truth and Life” : Fascinating but very short clockwork impressionism set in Prague
Matthew Kressel’s “The Hands That Feed” : Cross caste Indian romance with Judaism *yawn*
Meredith Holmes’ “Love in the Time of Airships” : settled, uncompliated married woman falls for young bluestocking-esque “aether tube” installer. The tech reminds me of the tubes from The Shadow. A nice piece with lovely Edwardian diction. It could be expanded into a novella.
Teresa Wymore’s “Under the Dome” : human/animal gene splicing, nymphomania and rape. Utterly unpalatable. I recommend you skip it.
Tara Sommers’ “Clockwork and Music” : two girls struggling with identity effect a lugubrious escape from a Waters-esque insane asylum. It was amusing but somewhat dense.
Mikki Kendall’s “Copper for a Trickster” : a Loki-esque rabbit god helps women and children escape from their ogre-like captors. I guess in the end it was a cute Fantasy with some dark imagery.
Mike Allen’s “Sleepless, Burning Life” : Buddhist afterlife as a hapless marionette living outside of time. No dialogue but it was kind of interesting.
Shweta Narayan’s “The Padishah Begum’s Reflections” : I’m not even going to make a guess at what this is about. Suffice it to say, it’s an example of world literature. Every other paragraph time shifts to a different era with an inscrutable dating system, all dealing with automatons and France.
Amal El-Mohtar’s “To Follow the Waves” : Deals with dreamcrafting as a profession and becoming a djinn somewhere on the Mediterranean. Highly unique and well-composed.
By far, my favorite line from the book (as it speaks to me personally) appears on page 48: “You have chosen, in your mode of dress and demeanor, to stride through this world in a manner that ensures your way will be the most difficult possible, rather than least.”
I don’t intent to spoil these awesome stories, just offer some vague highlights.
N.K. Jemisin’s “The Effluent Engine” : an enticing corporate espionage thriller about rum, set in New Orleans and the Caribbean
Georgina Bruce’s “Brilliant” : the absolute cutest story in the book. Two young women and one clueless mother travel in the same car on a train in Egypt
D.L. MacInnes’ “Owl Song” : a young British heiress tosses away her court life in exchange for a mining camp and the valuable assistance of a local businesswoman in Guyana
Sara M. Harvey’s “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky” : decidedly manga-like story about airship smuggling, with a swoon-worthy romance between a captain and an dock traffic controller
Beth Wodzinski’s “Suffer Water” : doubtless the best written story in the collection, set in Wild West Nevada, a dying cyborg bounty hunter must hunt down her ex-girlfriend creator
Rachel Manija Brown’s “Steel Rider” : slipstream adventure mashup between Haibane Renmei and Stephen King’s Dark Tower? Girls fight for survival with their horse mecha for companionship in the Sierra Nevadas
Shira Lipkin’s “Truth and Life” : Fascinating but very short clockwork impressionism set in Prague
Matthew Kressel’s “The Hands That Feed” : Cross caste Indian romance with Judaism *yawn*
Meredith Holmes’ “Love in the Time of Airships” : settled, uncompliated married woman falls for young bluestocking-esque “aether tube” installer. The tech reminds me of the tubes from The Shadow. A nice piece with lovely Edwardian diction. It could be expanded into a novella.
Teresa Wymore’s “Under the Dome” : human/animal gene splicing, nymphomania and rape. Utterly unpalatable. I recommend you skip it.
Tara Sommers’ “Clockwork and Music” : two girls struggling with identity effect a lugubrious escape from a Waters-esque insane asylum. It was amusing but somewhat dense.
Mikki Kendall’s “Copper for a Trickster” : a Loki-esque rabbit god helps women and children escape from their ogre-like captors. I guess in the end it was a cute Fantasy with some dark imagery.
Mike Allen’s “Sleepless, Burning Life” : Buddhist afterlife as a hapless marionette living outside of time. No dialogue but it was kind of interesting.
Shweta Narayan’s “The Padishah Begum’s Reflections” : I’m not even going to make a guess at what this is about. Suffice it to say, it’s an example of world literature. Every other paragraph time shifts to a different era with an inscrutable dating system, all dealing with automatons and France.
Amal El-Mohtar’s “To Follow the Waves” : Deals with dreamcrafting as a profession and becoming a djinn somewhere on the Mediterranean. Highly unique and well-composed.
By far, my favorite line from the book (as it speaks to me personally) appears on page 48: “You have chosen, in your mode of dress and demeanor, to stride through this world in a manner that ensures your way will be the most difficult possible, rather than least.”
May 19, 2011
Steam*Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, an anthology edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft and published by Top Shelf, an imprint of Torquere Press Publishers.
This anthology consists of fifteen stories mixing lesbians and steampunk in various concentrations. For me, steampunk is mixing the untapped potential of the new sciences and technologies of the industrial age through the 1920s to the punk ethos from cyberpunk, in other words how the new technology changes and oppresses the world. By my definition, three of the stories do not fit into the steampunk genre but they are still quite interesting all the same.
Now, the lesbianism ranges from chaste romances to some quite explicit encounters, so if such is not your cup of tea be warned. The characters and setting range across the United (and disunited) States, to Haiti and South America, Africa, the Middle East and India, across much of the globe and even to other worlds which have parallels to our own. The first thing that struck me was how much of this anthology is an example of Hite's Law: "All alternate histories produce zeppelins." Almost all of the stories feature zeppelins and, as steampunk is almost by definition alternate history it conforms nicely to that Law. Though Sara M. Harvey's "Where the Ocean Meets the Sky" gets bonus points for incorporating both Emperor Norton and airship privateers in her story.
The stories are all well-written, though some I found more engaging than other which is always the case in an anthology. In general, the further they drifted from the roots of steampunk, the less enjoyable I found them but that may partly an expectation clash and not be a fair reflection on those stories.
Looking at it from the point of view of a roleplaying gamer, the question of how inspirational is it always comes to mind. The answer: Yes, it is very inspirational. Especially for a steampunk or alternate history campaign there are many ideas here to spark games or pieces of games. There are a wide variety of characters, ideas and places that can be easily be lifted and re-imagined as needed to fit into a game world.
While it might seem that this anthology is aimed at a rather niche market, however if you have interest in steampunk short fiction and do not mind a bit of romance on the side, it may be well worth a read as it provides a new perspective.
Notes: This reviews is based on an advanced readers copy of the anthology given to me for the purpose of the review but I have also bought a copy for myself.
This anthology consists of fifteen stories mixing lesbians and steampunk in various concentrations. For me, steampunk is mixing the untapped potential of the new sciences and technologies of the industrial age through the 1920s to the punk ethos from cyberpunk, in other words how the new technology changes and oppresses the world. By my definition, three of the stories do not fit into the steampunk genre but they are still quite interesting all the same.
Now, the lesbianism ranges from chaste romances to some quite explicit encounters, so if such is not your cup of tea be warned. The characters and setting range across the United (and disunited) States, to Haiti and South America, Africa, the Middle East and India, across much of the globe and even to other worlds which have parallels to our own. The first thing that struck me was how much of this anthology is an example of Hite's Law: "All alternate histories produce zeppelins." Almost all of the stories feature zeppelins and, as steampunk is almost by definition alternate history it conforms nicely to that Law. Though Sara M. Harvey's "Where the Ocean Meets the Sky" gets bonus points for incorporating both Emperor Norton and airship privateers in her story.
The stories are all well-written, though some I found more engaging than other which is always the case in an anthology. In general, the further they drifted from the roots of steampunk, the less enjoyable I found them but that may partly an expectation clash and not be a fair reflection on those stories.
Looking at it from the point of view of a roleplaying gamer, the question of how inspirational is it always comes to mind. The answer: Yes, it is very inspirational. Especially for a steampunk or alternate history campaign there are many ideas here to spark games or pieces of games. There are a wide variety of characters, ideas and places that can be easily be lifted and re-imagined as needed to fit into a game world.
While it might seem that this anthology is aimed at a rather niche market, however if you have interest in steampunk short fiction and do not mind a bit of romance on the side, it may be well worth a read as it provides a new perspective.
Notes: This reviews is based on an advanced readers copy of the anthology given to me for the purpose of the review but I have also bought a copy for myself.
July 13, 2012
For the most part, this collection is pretty good. The stories are interesting, although, oddly enough, they often feel the same. Many of them have very similar elements: feminist, trouser-wearing woman engineer (or assassin, or fighter) meets girl is really the hallmark of this collection. I don't think there were any stories about lesbians in established relationships, which was oddly disappointing. So much of the GLBTQ media out there focuses on young love and first experiences--a narrative that gets tired if it's the only one out there. And a couple of the stories seemed unfinished or incomplete, ending abruptly as if they were excerpts from earlier works or the authors were unsure how to conclude.
That said, I still really, really enjoyed Steam-Powered. Having an entire book of woman-centered stories is one thing; an entire book of woman-centered stories full of badass, intelligent lady-loving ladies is another ball of awesome! And this book avoids the trap that a lot of steampunk falls into: it may love that Victorian era, but it doesn't shy away from the ugly side of Imperialism. A lot of the characters are women of color, and quite a few stories are set in locations outside of the USA and Great Britain. Nearly all of the stories had intriguing world-building and interesting characters. And the pleasure of reading about lesbian leading ladies in one of my favorite genres really makes this book worth picking up.
That said, I still really, really enjoyed Steam-Powered. Having an entire book of woman-centered stories is one thing; an entire book of woman-centered stories full of badass, intelligent lady-loving ladies is another ball of awesome! And this book avoids the trap that a lot of steampunk falls into: it may love that Victorian era, but it doesn't shy away from the ugly side of Imperialism. A lot of the characters are women of color, and quite a few stories are set in locations outside of the USA and Great Britain. Nearly all of the stories had intriguing world-building and interesting characters. And the pleasure of reading about lesbian leading ladies in one of my favorite genres really makes this book worth picking up.
April 3, 2012
As a writer of short stories, often erotic lesbian short stories, I end up with a lot of anthologies to read. So it's not often I hunt down and purchase an anthology of lesbian short stories. But I read a review of this somewhere, was instantly intrigued, and purchased it.
While I love fantastical fiction, spec fic, sci fi and all things magical and marvelous, the only steam punk I'd read had been somewhat disappointing: all jolly boys together sort of thing, and women flitting through in the background as objects.
Steam Powered changes all of that. Quite simply, I loved the book, from cover to cover and was left wanting more. The stories were classy, well-written and engrossing. I'd expected some degree of similarity to run through the anthology, but there was a wide amount of variation: women as chemists, captains, dreamspinners, pawnbrokers.
My favorites were Steel Rider, Where the Ocean Meets the Sky, Suffer Water, and Copper for Trickster. A couple of the more fantastical, dreamy stories didn't grab me as much, but overall the anthology rates very high with me.
I see there's a second volume. It's on my 'To Read' list. Can't wait!
While I love fantastical fiction, spec fic, sci fi and all things magical and marvelous, the only steam punk I'd read had been somewhat disappointing: all jolly boys together sort of thing, and women flitting through in the background as objects.
Steam Powered changes all of that. Quite simply, I loved the book, from cover to cover and was left wanting more. The stories were classy, well-written and engrossing. I'd expected some degree of similarity to run through the anthology, but there was a wide amount of variation: women as chemists, captains, dreamspinners, pawnbrokers.
My favorites were Steel Rider, Where the Ocean Meets the Sky, Suffer Water, and Copper for Trickster. A couple of the more fantastical, dreamy stories didn't grab me as much, but overall the anthology rates very high with me.
I see there's a second volume. It's on my 'To Read' list. Can't wait!
February 13, 2012
There are some excellent stories in this anthology. My favorites were probably Beth Wodzinski's "Suffer Water" ("Not everything needs to be fixed.") and Sara M. Harvey's "Where the Ocean Meets the Sky." (It's got Emperor Norton!) But when I got about 2/3 of the way through the anthology, I sort of, er, ran out of steam. The stories started to blur together a little, with the exception of Shweta Narayan's "The Padishah Begum's Reflections." And that one was a little more non-linear than I was in the mood for.
This was an interesting anthology because the editor argued, and the stories reflect, the idea that steampunk doesn't have to be all gung-ho white male imperialism. (I was slightly surprised to see someone not afraid to talk about RaceFail 2009 in an anthology introduction. Possibly the only such anthology introduction in existence?)
This was an interesting anthology because the editor argued, and the stories reflect, the idea that steampunk doesn't have to be all gung-ho white male imperialism. (I was slightly surprised to see someone not afraid to talk about RaceFail 2009 in an anthology introduction. Possibly the only such anthology introduction in existence?)
March 15, 2013
There are some very interesting and original Steampunk ideas raised in these stories. They are generally based outside the British Empire, which is refreshing. A couple are actually good stories whose heroines happen to be lesbians and there is romance, but that is not the focus of the stories. The rest are, basically, Steampunk soft-core lesbian porn and only touch lightly on the complex worlds they have created.
December 20, 2014
SO GOOD! I would give it 4.5 stars if I could. Maybe even 5 if I hadn't felt like the last three stories dragged a bit. Queer ladies doin' steampunk-y things (and each other)! The only improvement I thought could happen while reading it was if there have been a butch-on-butch story. I was very happy with the variety of stories, and the mostly women of color characters!
February 6, 2016
"The Effluent Engine" by N. K. Jemisin
As always Jemisin's characters tackle privilege had on. It's refreshing. Now I want to know more of Haiti history and of the revolution.
Merged review:
I really liked how mysterious the protagonist is about herself. The play between the unnamed protagonist and Brilliant was wonderful and so was the slow way we got a hint of what she was running from.
As always Jemisin's characters tackle privilege had on. It's refreshing. Now I want to know more of Haiti history and of the revolution.
Merged review:
I really liked how mysterious the protagonist is about herself. The play between the unnamed protagonist and Brilliant was wonderful and so was the slow way we got a hint of what she was running from.
Read
January 17, 2012A great collection of erotically charged Steampunk stories. Some very graphic others with more emotional content, all well written and vividly realised.
Well done Torquere Press and Ms Vanderhooft!
Well done Torquere Press and Ms Vanderhooft!
April 29, 2011
First half better than the second.
September 25, 2020
OMG I LIVE THIS SKEEEE
January 4, 2013
I can't remember the last time I read an SF anthology of such high and consistent quality. The stories are dazzlingly imaginative, compelling, engrossing. The multicultural breadth of the works is one of the anthology's strongest points: we meet spies from a free, high-tech Haiti operating in the Confederacy, clockwork empresses of India, mecha-riding bounty hunters in the Wild West. Particularly for steampunk, which tends so strongly to the upper-class Victorian, this diversity is a huge treat.
The stories vary greatly in their romantic and sexual content: some are heart-shattering, some happy-ever-after, some smoking hot. They're all strong science fiction/fantasy first, though, rather than erotic romance with SF/F elements.
This is an absolutely wonderful anthology, and I'm looking forward to tracking down more work by the editors and authors.
The stories vary greatly in their romantic and sexual content: some are heart-shattering, some happy-ever-after, some smoking hot. They're all strong science fiction/fantasy first, though, rather than erotic romance with SF/F elements.
This is an absolutely wonderful anthology, and I'm looking forward to tracking down more work by the editors and authors.
February 10, 2021
1. “The Effluent Engine” by N.K. Jemisin
2. “Brilliant” by Georgina Bruce
3. “Owl Song” by D.L. MacInnes
4. “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky” by Sara M. Harvey
5. “Suffer Water” by Beth Wodzinski
6. “Steel Rider” by Rachel Manija Brown
7. “Truth and Life” by Shira Lipkin
8. “The Hands That Feed” by Matthew Kressel
9. “Love in the Time of Airships” by Meredith Holmes
10. “Under the Dome” by Teresa Wymore
11. “Clockwork and Music” by Tara Sommers
12. “Copper for Trickster” by Mikki Kendall
13. “Sleepless, Burning Life” by Mike Allen -
14. “The Padishah Begum’s Reflections” by Shweta Narayan
15. “To Follow the Waves” by Amal El-Mohtar - I purchased Steam-Powered to read this story.
2. “Brilliant” by Georgina Bruce
3. “Owl Song” by D.L. MacInnes
4. “Where the Ocean Meets the Sky” by Sara M. Harvey
5. “Suffer Water” by Beth Wodzinski
6. “Steel Rider” by Rachel Manija Brown
7. “Truth and Life” by Shira Lipkin
8. “The Hands That Feed” by Matthew Kressel
9. “Love in the Time of Airships” by Meredith Holmes
10. “Under the Dome” by Teresa Wymore
11. “Clockwork and Music” by Tara Sommers
12. “Copper for Trickster” by Mikki Kendall
13. “Sleepless, Burning Life” by Mike Allen -
14. “The Padishah Begum’s Reflections” by Shweta Narayan
15. “To Follow the Waves” by Amal El-Mohtar - I purchased Steam-Powered to read this story.
December 6, 2012
This anthology was recommended to me by friends and I found it an amazing read. The stories span the globe from India to New Orleans to South America and deal with complex issues of race, love and binding all of them women creating their own lives in steampunk worlds. In terms of how the romances are written, the writers go from small intimacies to gorgeous erotica that at times made me rather conscious of where I was reading. For any lovers of the steampunk genre, this anthology is a must read as it delves into stories that aren't always being told in the more mainstream steampunk anthologies. I hope that in time, there won't be a need for such a specific series of anthologies but in the meantime, I'm going to read the second Steam-Powered which came out this year.
March 23, 2015
Two things I loved about these stories:
1. Female protagonists doing weird/cool/unusual/unstereotypical things. Mathematicians and gearheads! But even the women who were princesses/goddesses were written interestingly. None of this was terribly deep, they are short stories after all, it was just fun to read about female characters doing neat things.
2. Zero of these stories are set in Victorian Era London. India, North Africa, New Orleans, a mental institution - these are great steampunk settings. It's nice to get out of the same old same old. Some good creativity here.
That said, this book was 100% fluff and I don't necessarily recommend it to anyone.
1. Female protagonists doing weird/cool/unusual/unstereotypical things. Mathematicians and gearheads! But even the women who were princesses/goddesses were written interestingly. None of this was terribly deep, they are short stories after all, it was just fun to read about female characters doing neat things.
2. Zero of these stories are set in Victorian Era London. India, North Africa, New Orleans, a mental institution - these are great steampunk settings. It's nice to get out of the same old same old. Some good creativity here.
That said, this book was 100% fluff and I don't necessarily recommend it to anyone.
November 7, 2015
A well-written, entertaining read with a new spin on a popular genre. I particularly liked the alternative perspectives of using settings and characters from North Africa, India, the American Southwest and elsewhere in contrast to the usual European settings for steampunk. Some particular standout stories for me included N.K. Jemison's "The Effluent Engine,"Tara Summer's "Clockwork and Music"and Shira Lipkin's "Truth and Life."
A few stories didn't work as well for me but overall I think this is a very strong anthology and well worth checking out.
A few stories didn't work as well for me but overall I think this is a very strong anthology and well worth checking out.
January 9, 2014
I still have very mixed feelings about this anthology. Some of it's more romance, some is more steampunk. And some of the romance veers toward erotic. It's interesting, though and the stories are fascinating because there are a lot of chromatic characters and the one about the characters with mental health challenges was surprising in that while it used a lot of fitting clinical/time-bound sensibilities, still came out as a recovery story of sorts.
November 25, 2015
This book was excellent.
Anthologies can really be hit or miss, but pretty much every story here was a hit. Creative, original, and action-packed, these authors delivered a smorgasbord of delectable stories.
In short, this is truly the perfect example of how literature representing a range of genders/ethnicities/worldviews can strengthen the collective imagination in rich and wonderful ways.
Awesome work!
Anthologies can really be hit or miss, but pretty much every story here was a hit. Creative, original, and action-packed, these authors delivered a smorgasbord of delectable stories.
In short, this is truly the perfect example of how literature representing a range of genders/ethnicities/worldviews can strengthen the collective imagination in rich and wonderful ways.
Awesome work!
April 17, 2011
A Recommended Read. ...if you think you might enjoy a collection of short stories containing romance, suspense, danger, science fiction, humor, all featuring strong and powerful women as the main characters, this is definitely the book for you. To read the rest of this review, please visit http://www.blackravensreviews.com/?p=...
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