Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories [Hardcover]

Kelly Link (Editor), Gavin J. Grant (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: October 11, 2011

Imagine an altrnate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships. Here, fourteen masters of speculative fiction, including two graphic storytellers, embrace the genre's established themes and refashion them in surprising ways and settings as diverse as Appalachia, Ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California. Visionaries Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant have invited all-new explorations and expansions, taking a genre already rich, strange, and inventive in the extreme and challenging contributors to remake it from the ground up. The result is an anthology that defies the genre even as it defines it.

With fantastically strange stories by:

M. T. Anderson

Holly Black

Libba Bray

Shawn Cheng

Cassandra Clare

Cory Doctorow

Dylan Horrocks

Kathleen Jennings

Elizabeth Knox

Kelly Link

Garth Nix

Christopher Rowe

Delia Sherman

Ysabeau S. Wilce

Editorial Reviews

Review

Steampunk is hot at the moment in literature, art and fashion: This collection taps into the ethos without ever seeming topical or transient, thanks to contributions rich with much more than just steam and brass fittings. . . . An excellent collection, full of unexpected delights.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Veteran editors Link and Grant serve up a delicious mix of original stories from 14 skilled writers and artists...Chockful of gear-driven automatons, looming dirigibles, and wildly implausible time machines, these often baroque, intensely anachronistic tales should please steampunks of all ages.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Within these pages, there's a little something for everyone...This exceptional anthology does great service to the steampunk subgenre and will do much to further its audience.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Editors Link and Gavin treat fans, old and new, to an array of fantastically rich stories in this polished, outstanding collection...the result is an anthology that is almost impossible to put down... From rebellious motorists to girl bandits, the characters in this imaginative collection shine, and there isn't a weak story in the mix; each one offers depth and delight.
—Booklist (starred review)

It is about time that steampunk short stories really got a focused and creative exploration in YA lit, and this anthology of fourteen pieces is an excellent start.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)

About the Author

Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant started a zine, founded an independent publishing house, own two letterpresses, and edited the fantasy half of The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror for five years.

Kelly Link is the author of three acclaimed short story collections and a collection for young adults. Her stories have appeared in several anthologies, including The Restless Dead and have won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Tiptree, British Science Fiction, and World Fantasy Awards.

Born in Scotland, Gavin J. Grant moved to the U.S. in 1991. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, Bookslut, and Time Out New York , is still a zine reviewer for Xerography Debt, and has published stories in several literary magazines.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick Press (October 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780763648435
• ISBN-13: 978-0763648435
• ASIN: 0763648434
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Some good and some not-so-good tales, works for "young adult" or adult October 13, 2011

By Michael A. Duvernois TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Some quite good stories, and the rest at least typically had some redeeming features. The young adult angle does alter the stories some, younger protagonists, less violence or sex, but doesn't prevent older folks from appreciating it.

Cassandra Clare "Some Fortunate Future Day"
Time travel, robots, and the chances of love. Steampunk meets Groundhog Day. Beautifully written.

Libba Bray "The Last Ride of the Glory Girls"
A Burroughs-like Mars, a girl gang robbing the trains and blimps. Very wild west in feel.

Cory Doctorow "Clockwork Fagin"
Not what you'd expect for Doctorow. Elegant little story.

Shawn Cheng "Seven Days Beset by Demons"
Short graphic novel. Well done in writing and in drawing. Nice to have this here.

Ysabeau Wilce "Hand in Glove"
The beginnings of scientific forensics.

Delia Sherman "The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor"
Classic ghost story with feminist touches.

Elizabeth Knox "Gesthemane"
Love, green power, volcanic island, expedition...a muddle mostly.

Kelly Link "The Summer People"
I had forgotten this story, and had to go back to the book to remind myself of it.

Garth Nix "Peace in Our Time"
The last technocrat is judged.

Christopher Rowe "Nowhere Fast"
Homemade automobile in a non-technological future.

Kathleen Jennings "Finishing School"
Another graphical piece. Inspiring tale of an aeronautical pioneer.

Dylan Horrocks "Steam Girl"
Is the new student strange, or VERY strange?

Holly Black "Everything Amiable and Obliging"
Funny, steampunk romance. Not especially well written though.

Anderson "The Oracle Engine"
A Roman supercomputer leads to political upheaval.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for young adults September 21, 2011

By A. J Terry VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I was apprehensive about ordering Steampunk! I love steampunk fiction, but I think of young adult fiction as rather simplistic, consciously wholesome, and often having predictable plots where young people find themselves. I'm glad to report that, aside from most of the protagonists being teenagers, little is conspicuously YA about this anthology. There are twelve short stories, plus two little black-and-white "comic books." For what it's worth, I recognized only six of the authors from my readings of adult steampunk and fantasy--but I also found that I don't care. Most stories contain robots and/or clockwork devices, and many focus on some moral and/or social aspect of making and/or using them. However, there are a few stories I'd call fantasy rather than steampunk.

The opening story, Cassandra Clare's "Some Fortunate Future Day," is beautiful but very bleak. Kelly Link's "The Summer People" is a gorgeous work reminiscent of Elizabeth Hand's "Last Summer at Mars Hill." It's complex, while lacking the trying-too-hard-to-be-literary air of some of Link's other published stories. Delia Sherman's "The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor" is gently feminist. Ysabeau S. Wilce's "Hand in Glove" is a supernatural film noir romp set in her alternate world of Califa. Holly Black's "Everything Amiable and Obliging" is the one clunker. It imports clichéd Regency romance plot and slang into a standard Victorian steampunk setting, without renewing them by the combination.

I highly recommend this anthology to all steampunk fans. I hope that it is only the first in a series.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Anthology July 4, 2012

By Black Plum

Format:Hardcover

Steampunk is a really interesting genre, a mix of science fiction and fantasy. And it can be set in all sorts of places, as well illustrated in this great anthology. There are some pretty famous writers, including Cassandra Clare, Garth Nix, Kelly Link herself, Libba Bray, and Holly Black. There were also two comic stories, which I didn't like as much. I think my favorite story was Steam Girl, by Dylan Horrocks, but The Last Ride of the Glory Girls by Libba Bray was also. And The Summer Girl. So basically I liked all of them. Some were scary, some were funny, and some had both. I would really recommend these short stories. The cover was cool too.

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