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. "From colonial India to New Orleans in slavery times, from a rogue San Francisco to the Lower East Side of old New York, these stories are thoughtful, wide-ranging, exciting, and often very, very sexy. Anybody who thinks that "steampunk" and "lesbian" are niche interests should read Steam-Powered and get their horizons seriously expanded." -Delia Sherman, Mythopoeic Fantasy Award winner and author of Through a Brazen Mirror.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Cissa
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am of mixed minds about this anthology.
I really liked most of the early stories; they had a great steampunk base. I was less keen on many of the later stories; mostly the "steampunk" seemed irrelevant to the main focus of the plots; it would be straightforward to rewrite them with no steampunk whatsoever.
That in itself is OK; but I did not care for the narrative structures of several of the later stories.
Still, it's a good anthology, with several excellent stories. I definitely liked the fact that it was not all set in the British Empire! and that it did not focus on privileged white men (unlike a lot of steampunk).
I really liked most of the early stories; they had a great steampunk base. I was less keen on many of the later stories; mostly the "steampunk" seemed irrelevant to the main focus of the plots; it would be straightforward to rewrite them with no steampunk whatsoever.
That in itself is OK; but I did not care for the narrative structures of several of the later stories.
Still, it's a good anthology, with several excellent stories. I definitely liked the fact that it was not all set in the British Empire! and that it did not focus on privileged white men (unlike a lot of steampunk).
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Sean Holland
Format:Paperback
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.... Read more ›
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.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Ms Green
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The stories are great: engaging, well-written, and various levels of riveting depending on the story. It's well worth reading. My issue is with the formatting: it's absolutely sub-par. There's no clear division between one story and the next. This is all you get:
This is the last sentence of story A.
Story B.
Author name.
This is the first sentence of story B.
When the stories themselves sometimes contain short lines for emphasis, it makes it difficult to realize you've finished a story until you're staring the next one. It would take all of five minutes to insert page breaks and bolding, so this formatting glitch is sheer laziness. I'd suggest buying a physical copy instead of the kindle edition.
This is the last sentence of story A.
Story B.
Author name.
This is the first sentence of story B.
When the stories themselves sometimes contain short lines for emphasis, it makes it difficult to realize you've finished a story until you're staring the next one. It would take all of five minutes to insert page breaks and bolding, so this formatting glitch is sheer laziness. I'd suggest buying a physical copy instead of the kindle edition.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By branewurms
Format:Paperback
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.)
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
