Having already a rather crazy week so this spawns . . .
LAZY BLOG POSTING *echo, echo echo*
But with the lazy can come something of use. I think. Or maybe it's just an excuse. I dunno.
At any rate, the other day a friend asked for some links etc to help her get a basic sense of what this whole Steampunk thing was and I sent her some. And then I realised . . . this might be a good list to compile officially here.
Now, to be fair, it's a bit of a biased list. Towards me. And previous Steampunk Tuesday posts I've made. But as I've already collected a lot of stuff to aid in the explanation of "What the heck is Steampunk", I feel like it's okay to be biased towards me. Especially as the content within said posts are courtesy of mostly . . . not . . . me.
Anyway, here's a nice list of links that I think will help any newcomer to Steampunk get a better sense of what it is:
So last week I featured a list of Steampunk books as recommended to us all by the Steampunk Scholar aka Mike Perschon. And today, I am posting an interview he was so kind to do with me. I met the fellow at the Canadian National Steampunk Exhibition and even sat on a panel with him. The man's knowledge of Steampunk is impressive. And it ought to be, considering he's doing his PhD on the subject.
But I digress. Here's the interview. Do check it out, I think his answers are just fantastic.
Here's his website: SteampunkScholar.blogspot.com
What got you interested in Steampunk?
I’d heard the term in a few different contexts, but my current interest resulted from choosing a topic for my doctoral dissertation. I was either going to do Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero as dystopic intertext, or steampunk. My Master’s advisor said, “Dystopia’s been done to death, and if you do steampunk, I’ll be your advisor again,” which really decided it, because we have a great working relationship.
You have a very specific definition of it, briefly what is it and how did you come up with it?
I speak about steampunk as an aesthetic that gets applied to other genres. The steampunk aesthetic combines a Industrial Era look or feel (neo-Victorianism) with a postmodern view of the past (retrofuturism) and technology that has the appearance of science, but none of the rigor we see in hard SF (technofantasy). Those three things, applied together, produce the look we call steampunk.
You are currently pursuing your PhD on the subject, what inspired you to do so and what is your end goal?
I was being pragmatic: I wanted to do something fresh, something that didn’t have a wealth of scholarship to compete with. Beyond that, it was a topic I could see myself being interested in for four to six years, which is the estimated length a literary doctoral degree takes to complete. My end goal is really just to get to get the PhD, settle into my work at Grant MacEwan University, and use the four months I get off every year to write fiction and spend the summer with my family.
What would you say is the most controversial topic within the Steampunk community?
The idea that the “punk” in steampunk constitutes a necessary political position, which I take umbrage with: there hasn’t been a hell of a lot of steam in steampunk, so why is it necessary to have punk? That’s not to say I’m opposed to oppositional politics in steampunk, but it’s exclusionary and somewhat pejorative to say that politically-themed writing is steampunk, and everything else is steampulp. Some of the best early steampunk, like Tim Powers’ Anubis Gates, would be steampulp by that rubric.
Does Steampunk hold any kind of "mirror up to nature" and if so, what does that mirror reflect do you think?
I think all texts are mirrors of the world, but steampunk’s mirror allows us to see the world with unexplored frontiers again, to respond to cynicism with romanticism, and engage in playful modes of writing, whether the writer’s agenda is serious or whimsical.
Where do you think Steampunk is heading? What is its future?
I really don’t know. I made some projections a year or so back, and they were largely correct, but I’m hesitant to prognosticate the future of a scene so big as steampunk. As far as the literature goes, my guess is that the future of steampunk is in space. And understand, I’m not saying I think that’s where it should go. It’s just that literary steampunk seems to be asking how to be the next big thing, and since zombies, vampires, fantasy, science fiction, superheroes, pirates, romance, and westerns have all been steampunked, it’s time to go into outer space. Or maybe inner space – given the roots in the nineteenth century, it’s interesting how few steampunk tales deal with Journeys to the Centre, outside Rudy Rucker’s Hollow Earth and a moment in Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day.
Does it have staying power or is it just a fad?
Both. The hype generated by media exposure will die down, but there’s a dedicated core of people who dig steampunk in various ways who will keep the gears turning long past any mainstream popularity.
If there was only one Steampunk book you would recommend, what would it be and why?
It would really depend on who was asking, since I’ve read enough now to be able to ask a person their tastes, and approximate the best steampunk book to introduce them to the aesthetic. For academic big-heads, I’d say Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day; for young adults, I’d say Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan; and for people just looking to enjoy themselves, I’d say Gail Carriger’s Soulless.
You've been to many Steampunk cons, what's one of your favourite moments from those events?
I can’t do one, but I’ll give you three: receiving my goggles from Legion Fantastique, a Verne-improv group from San Francisco at my first con, reading from Soulless with Gail Carriger at Steamcon II in Seattle, and having Gary Gianni tell me I look like a young Orson Welles at Steamcon III.
Carriger and the Scholar reading.
What is your favourite personal Steampunk accessory?
I have a gorgeous leather slipcase for a writing pad that was given to me by good friends who accompanied me to some cons. It even underscores the aesthetic: the exterior slipcase has the steampunk look, while the interior is a regular coil-bound notebook. The illusion of steampunk, tucked under my arm. It goes to every con now: it’s the perfect accessory for a guy who calls himself a steampunk scholar.
So I skipped a week of blogging due to being generally overwhelmed with work etc, but I'm back baby!
And what a perfect day to come back on, it's Steampunk Tuesday! Sweet!
In a previous Steampunk Tuesday we did movies, and I thought it only right to do books this time around. Because books are awesome. And they also help us define further what Steampunk is.
(Because I still maintain, though others disagree [which is cool, man, it's cool] that Steampunk has not exploded onto the scene quite yet. My proof: my need to constantly define what it is.)
At any rate.
I gots a couple lists for you. But I gots to be upfront about them. They aren't created by me. Instead they are by the amazing Steampunk Scholar (interview with him coming soon): Mike Perschon.
If you ever felt that my attempts to define and dig into Steampunk were ever so slightly superficial, please check out his blog of awesome. The guy's doing his PhD on the subject: Steampunk Scholar.
I have mad respect for this guy, and I very much approve of his lists, so it felt a little silly recreating them when I could just give him the credit for them in the first place.
Now he has a top ten list of his favourite Steampunk books (which I'll be posting at the bottom of this post), but I like it when he divides up the categories - simply for educational purposes. If you want something more contemporary, or if you are looking for a classic, they are easier to find in this set of lists.
We begin with his Top Ten New Steampunk (2000 - 2009 <------ yes, this means the list is due for an update, but it's still a pretty great list):
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist
Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson
Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
Boilerplate by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
Soulless by Gail Carriger
Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters
I feel a need to add the following mention as this book was listed 5th in our Scholar's Top Ten (as well as his Top Five for 2010) list but was published in 2010 - thus after the above list was created. And that would be Cherie Priest's DREADNOUGHT:
Now we move onto his Top Five Classic Steampunk (1971-1999):
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives by James Blaylock
The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul DiFilippo
The List of 7 by Mark Frost
And in case you are curious, here is the Scholar's Top Ten Steampunk Books:
Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist
The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson
Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel
Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives by James P. Blaylock
