From the co-editor of Steampunk'd comes an all-new collection of adventure and romance amid Victorian steampunk settings. Sparks fly in these original stories of a steam-driven airship searching for a lost city, a crazy inventor in a powered wheelchair with a plot to take over the world, and a love story set in an alternate history version of America. Adventure abounds in these stories of love, loss, and danger- and there is plenty of steam!
Hot and Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance
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About the Author
In 1995 Martin H. Greenberg was honored by the Mystery Writers of America with the Ellery Queen Award for lifetime achievement in mystery editing. He is also the recipient of two Anthony awards. Mystery Scene magazine called him "the best mystery anthologist since Ellery Queen." He has compiled more than 1,000 anthologies and is the president of TEKNO books. He lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Wolfeyes
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Review of Hot and Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance
Publisher: Daw Publishing
Writer: various
Editors: Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenbert
Genre: Science Fiction / Steampunk
Format: paperback
Review Rating: 8/10
Although I would normally not pick up an anthology as I prefer stories that have more time to develop and the character's tales to be told, this time I decided to give one a chance on the recommendation of a friend.
I started with the story and author that the book had been recommended for "Cassandra's Kiss" by Mary Louise Eklund and then was unable to put the book down. The fact that I am now ordering Steampunk'd so that I can read the prequel to this story must be a sign that I enjoyed it. It was a gentle entry into this sub-genre of Science Fiction as it focused more on the characters and didn't beat the reader over the head with the science that makes Steampunk what it is. It also reminded me why I don't select anthologies, I want more. What was the history of the characters (which I will learn a bit more of in Steampunk'd) and what comes next? The story definitely leaves the door open for follow ups which I hope will be coming.
Then I decided to check out the other stories, thinking I probably just read the only good one in the anthology. Well I was wrong, there are quite a few good authors and their stories in this book. I am still trying to determine which ones would make the top of my list after "Cassandra's Kiss". Was it "For the Love of Byron" by Mickey Zucker Reichert? Or perhaps it was "For Queen and Country" by Elizabeth A Vaughan? And let's not forget "Absinthe-Minded Archeologist" by Vicki Johnson-Steger?
Review as originally published by metallife.com can be found at [...]
Publisher: Daw Publishing
Writer: various
Editors: Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenbert
Genre: Science Fiction / Steampunk
Format: paperback
Review Rating: 8/10
Although I would normally not pick up an anthology as I prefer stories that have more time to develop and the character's tales to be told, this time I decided to give one a chance on the recommendation of a friend.
I started with the story and author that the book had been recommended for "Cassandra's Kiss" by Mary Louise Eklund and then was unable to put the book down. The fact that I am now ordering Steampunk'd so that I can read the prequel to this story must be a sign that I enjoyed it. It was a gentle entry into this sub-genre of Science Fiction as it focused more on the characters and didn't beat the reader over the head with the science that makes Steampunk what it is. It also reminded me why I don't select anthologies, I want more. What was the history of the characters (which I will learn a bit more of in Steampunk'd) and what comes next? The story definitely leaves the door open for follow ups which I hope will be coming.
Then I decided to check out the other stories, thinking I probably just read the only good one in the anthology. Well I was wrong, there are quite a few good authors and their stories in this book. I am still trying to determine which ones would make the top of my list after "Cassandra's Kiss". Was it "For the Love of Byron" by Mickey Zucker Reichert? Or perhaps it was "For Queen and Country" by Elizabeth A Vaughan? And let's not forget "Absinthe-Minded Archeologist" by Vicki Johnson-Steger?
Review as originally published by metallife.com can be found at [...]
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Combine short stories with steampunk and you have two of my favorite pastimes. Add a dash of romance and even this cynical 40-something is along for the ride.
Editors Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg have assembled a satisfying tome worthy of any enthusiast of steampunk or romance. As with any anthology, there are winners and some not-so-winners, but none that I would call losers. That alone says a lot for this book.
Because Hot & Steamy touts itself as both 'steampunky' and 'romancy' I've given each story a letter grade for its success in either category.
A=Excellent
B=Good
C=Fair
D=Poor
F=Fails
"Chance Corrigan and the Queen of Hearts" by Michael A. Stackpole is an adventure-filled story that was fun to read. It was a great opener for this collection.
Romance: C
Steampunk: A
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Absinthe-Minded Archaeologist" by Vicki Johnson-Steger is hurt by the author's overuse of telling versus showing. Additionally, the entire premise of the story was too obvious.
Romance: D
Steampunk: C
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Problem of Trystan" by Maurice Broaddus was a confusing story with a high percentage of misplaced pronouns. I lost track of the number of times I had to stop to re-read a section so I could decipher which character was speaking.
Romance: D
Steampunk: F
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Clockworks" by Jody Lynn Nye is a well-paced love story populated with living characters about whom the reader truly cares. Also, it's not your average steampunk story where dirigibles and automations are throw in as an afterthought. In this one, the steampunk (an artificial heart) is integral to the plot and fascinating. This was my favorite story of the entire book, and I look forward to sampling other works by this author.
Romance: A++
Steampunk: A+
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"In the Belly of the Behemoth" by Matt Forbeck is another story that suffers from too much telling and not enough showing. The abuse of clichés also lessened my enjoyment; but it was the racial stereotypes - even for the time period - that left me with a sour aftertaste.
Romance: F
Steampunk: D
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Automata Futura" by Stephen D. Sullivan is a slow tale with no discernable story problem, too much filler dialogue and the pacing of a nap. Additionally, the 'surprise' ending was visible from the start.
Romance: F
Steampunk: D
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Love Comes to Abyssal City" by Tobias S. Buckell is the anthology's most unique story. I realize that steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction (some would say of fantasy), but this story takes steampunk to a new level by establishing a future society that moved back to steamy tech by choice. Fascinating.
Romance: B
Steampunk: A
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"For the Love of Byron" by Mickey Zucker Reichert is a sweet story, if a predictable one. However, if you removed the few hints of steampunk, you would be left with what this story really was: a historical love story. It feels as if the author added the steampunk elements later to make a sale.
Romance: A
Steampunk: D
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"For Queen and Country" by Elizabeth A. Vaughan reminds me of The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger, but without the humor. The story is fun, but again an overuse of telling versus showing hurts the tale.
Romance: C
Steampunk: C
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Grasping at Shadows" by C. J. Henderson was a difficult story to get into due to some poor word choices and awkward sentence structures, but once those smoothed out, the story flowed better. A good action piece, I felt the ending came out of nowhere.
Romance: D
Steampunk: A
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Go Forward with Courage" by Dean Leggett was full of short, choppy sentences that made it a difficult story to read. The dialogue was too contemporary for the time period, and the story was rife with historical inaccuracies, even for steampunk.
Romance: F
Steampunk: D
-
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Her Faith is Fixt" by Robert E. Vardeman. While the romance was too convenient to be believable, the steampunky action more than made up for the sloppy love story.
Romance: D
Steampunk: A+
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Kinetic Dreams" by C. A. Verstraete felt rushed and incomplete, almost as if the author was facing a deadline. Had there been more, I think this one could have been much better.
Romance: D
Steampunk: D
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"For the Love of Copper" by Marc Tassin almost lost me because the author does not seem to understand how to use pronouns. The repeated overuse of the character's proper names irritated me to the point that I almost stopped reading. Then, in the last two pages, the story became one of the most heartwarming tales I've read in a long time. Kudos for the twist that surprised this jaded reader, and I'm glad I didn't give up on the story.
Romance: A
Steampunk: A
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Cassandra's Kiss" by Mary Louise Eklund is a slow, boring story that feeds the reader important details at the wrong time. I found myself wondering if the editors put this one toward the end hoping to lull their readers to sleep.
Romance: D
Steampunk: F
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dashed Hopes" by Donald J. Bingle was a well-written and well-reasoned story, if a tad depressing. Again, I questioned the editors' intentions for slotting this one as the last story in the anthology.
Romance: B
Steampunk: A
In conclusion, this book is more steampunky than romantic. I wonder if that's because 10 of the 16 authors were male. While they handled the tech well, often times the male authors confused sexual intercourse for romance. I'm sure by some definitions, sex and romance are one in the same.
However, I prefer my romance to be the good, old-fashioned tug-at-the-heartstrings-type. Those stories are present in this anthology and for that reason, I recommend this book as money well spent.
Editors Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg have assembled a satisfying tome worthy of any enthusiast of steampunk or romance. As with any anthology, there are winners and some not-so-winners, but none that I would call losers. That alone says a lot for this book.
Because Hot & Steamy touts itself as both 'steampunky' and 'romancy' I've given each story a letter grade for its success in either category.
A=Excellent
B=Good
C=Fair
D=Poor
F=Fails
"Chance Corrigan and the Queen of Hearts" by Michael A. Stackpole is an adventure-filled story that was fun to read. It was a great opener for this collection.
Romance: C
Steampunk: A
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Absinthe-Minded Archaeologist" by Vicki Johnson-Steger is hurt by the author's overuse of telling versus showing. Additionally, the entire premise of the story was too obvious.
Romance: D
Steampunk: C
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Problem of Trystan" by Maurice Broaddus was a confusing story with a high percentage of misplaced pronouns. I lost track of the number of times I had to stop to re-read a section so I could decipher which character was speaking.
Romance: D
Steampunk: F
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Clockworks" by Jody Lynn Nye is a well-paced love story populated with living characters about whom the reader truly cares. Also, it's not your average steampunk story where dirigibles and automations are throw in as an afterthought. In this one, the steampunk (an artificial heart) is integral to the plot and fascinating. This was my favorite story of the entire book, and I look forward to sampling other works by this author.
Romance: A++
Steampunk: A+
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"In the Belly of the Behemoth" by Matt Forbeck is another story that suffers from too much telling and not enough showing. The abuse of clichés also lessened my enjoyment; but it was the racial stereotypes - even for the time period - that left me with a sour aftertaste.
Romance: F
Steampunk: D
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Automata Futura" by Stephen D. Sullivan is a slow tale with no discernable story problem, too much filler dialogue and the pacing of a nap. Additionally, the 'surprise' ending was visible from the start.
Romance: F
Steampunk: D
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Love Comes to Abyssal City" by Tobias S. Buckell is the anthology's most unique story. I realize that steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction (some would say of fantasy), but this story takes steampunk to a new level by establishing a future society that moved back to steamy tech by choice. Fascinating.
Romance: B
Steampunk: A
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"For the Love of Byron" by Mickey Zucker Reichert is a sweet story, if a predictable one. However, if you removed the few hints of steampunk, you would be left with what this story really was: a historical love story. It feels as if the author added the steampunk elements later to make a sale.
Romance: A
Steampunk: D
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"For Queen and Country" by Elizabeth A. Vaughan reminds me of The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger, but without the humor. The story is fun, but again an overuse of telling versus showing hurts the tale.
Romance: C
Steampunk: C
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Grasping at Shadows" by C. J. Henderson was a difficult story to get into due to some poor word choices and awkward sentence structures, but once those smoothed out, the story flowed better. A good action piece, I felt the ending came out of nowhere.
Romance: D
Steampunk: A
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Go Forward with Courage" by Dean Leggett was full of short, choppy sentences that made it a difficult story to read. The dialogue was too contemporary for the time period, and the story was rife with historical inaccuracies, even for steampunk.
Romance: F
Steampunk: D
-
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Her Faith is Fixt" by Robert E. Vardeman. While the romance was too convenient to be believable, the steampunky action more than made up for the sloppy love story.
Romance: D
Steampunk: A+
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Kinetic Dreams" by C. A. Verstraete felt rushed and incomplete, almost as if the author was facing a deadline. Had there been more, I think this one could have been much better.
Romance: D
Steampunk: D
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"For the Love of Copper" by Marc Tassin almost lost me because the author does not seem to understand how to use pronouns. The repeated overuse of the character's proper names irritated me to the point that I almost stopped reading. Then, in the last two pages, the story became one of the most heartwarming tales I've read in a long time. Kudos for the twist that surprised this jaded reader, and I'm glad I didn't give up on the story.
Romance: A
Steampunk: A
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Cassandra's Kiss" by Mary Louise Eklund is a slow, boring story that feeds the reader important details at the wrong time. I found myself wondering if the editors put this one toward the end hoping to lull their readers to sleep.
Romance: D
Steampunk: F
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Dashed Hopes" by Donald J. Bingle was a well-written and well-reasoned story, if a tad depressing. Again, I questioned the editors' intentions for slotting this one as the last story in the anthology.
Romance: B
Steampunk: A
In conclusion, this book is more steampunky than romantic. I wonder if that's because 10 of the 16 authors were male. While they handled the tech well, often times the male authors confused sexual intercourse for romance. I'm sure by some definitions, sex and romance are one in the same.
However, I prefer my romance to be the good, old-fashioned tug-at-the-heartstrings-type. Those stories are present in this anthology and for that reason, I recommend this book as money well spent.
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Right up front, let me say that I'm quite pleased with this collection.
I've picked up many of the Greenberg collections over the years and I'm almost always quite pleased with them--a solid collection of ten or more stories (this book has 16) stories by writers famous and new focused on a particular topic. In this particular case the focus is on "love stories" set in a steampunk universe.
As one might expect there are hits and misses, but the good thing about a book like this is that if a story isn't working for you it's easy to skip to the next one. Overall I liked 13 of these stories quite a bit and found a couple of them very innovative (there's one about an adventurer in a dirigible looking for a magical city that's quite well done).
Some of the stories are "barely" steampunk and there seems to be a heavy emphasis on either airships or geared automatons rather like the one in the movie Hugo, but leaving that aside this is a great collection.
Highly recommended for any lover of good steampunk stories.
Steve
I've picked up many of the Greenberg collections over the years and I'm almost always quite pleased with them--a solid collection of ten or more stories (this book has 16) stories by writers famous and new focused on a particular topic. In this particular case the focus is on "love stories" set in a steampunk universe.
As one might expect there are hits and misses, but the good thing about a book like this is that if a story isn't working for you it's easy to skip to the next one. Overall I liked 13 of these stories quite a bit and found a couple of them very innovative (there's one about an adventurer in a dirigible looking for a magical city that's quite well done).
Some of the stories are "barely" steampunk and there seems to be a heavy emphasis on either airships or geared automatons rather like the one in the movie Hugo, but leaving that aside this is a great collection.
Highly recommended for any lover of good steampunk stories.
Steve
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even better than Steampunk'd!
(This review, by me, appeared on Doctor Fantastique's Show of Wonders.)
Hot and Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance is edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Read more
Hot and Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance is edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Sarah Panda
4.0 out of 5 stars
still reading - will miss it when Im done
i call myself a fan of sci-fi/fantasy and I didn't think i liked steampunk - but i guess i didn't really know what it was until now - I never knew, "wild wild west" a show from my... Read more
Published 16 months ago by S. Vasquez
1.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't really work as steampunk or romance
I had high hopes for this anthology, because the same editorial team and several of the same writers were responsible for "Steampunk'd," which I greatly enjoyed. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Raven's Writing Desk
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