First, I’d like to announce the winners of George Mann’s Ghosts of Manhattan:
FredTownWard
Elijana Kindel
Barbara Elness
Congrats! Please email me at suzannelazear (@) hotmail to claim your prize.
Didn’t win? You can still win books by Mike Resnick, Tim Akers, or Ren Cummins, or a prize pack of goodies including a copy of Blameless and a fan autographed by Gail Carriger.
Today we welcome YA Sci-Fi author Beth Revis.
Beth Revis‘ debut novel, Across the Universe, is out now. A former high-school English teacher, Beth can’t help but blog about writing, grammar, and publishing at Writing it Out. She is the founder of the new popular dystopian blog, the League of Extraordinary Writers and blows off steam by trying to come up with something witty in 140 characters or less, lusting after books on GoodReads, or wasting time on Facebook. Beth Revis lives in rural North Carolina with her husband and dog, and believes space is nowhere near the final frontier.
The Top Five Things to Come from Steampunk and the Top Five Things I’d Like to See
by Beth Revis
I’ll admit: I’m a noob when it comes to steampunk. Sure, I’ve read (and loved) Gail Carringer’s work, flirted with Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, and I lust after the costumes, but as for seriously diving into the genre? I’ve worshipped from afar. That said, here’s the top five steampunk things that I adore…and the top five things that I want to see (so if all you steampunk-aphiles out there know of where I can find it, please let me know!).
First, in reverse order, the top five things I love from steampunk:
5. The “Punked” episode of Castle
I am a hardcore Fillionite, so, of course, I’m a fan of Nathan Fillion’s latest show, Castle. One of the very best episodes so far as been “Punked,” in which Beckett and Castle’s mystery takes them into the world of Steampunk NYC.
4. Steampunk Cakes
Cake Wrecks has a whole page dedicated to the awesome steampunk cakes that have been made over the years. But I have to admit—my very favorite one is this little beauty:
I mean, come on! A cake that looks like a steampunk squid? Win.
3. Treasure Planet
I admit: I love me some Disney. And one of my all-time faves has to be the wonderful and under-appreciated movie Treasure Planet. A futuristic/steampunk/sci fi/awesome retelling of Treasure Island, this movie features not only a cool storyline, but an amazing soundtrack (don’t worry; it’s not a musical) and a great bad guy.
2. The Steampunk Mac
Let’s see how much of a nerd I can prove I am with this post. I love Nathan Fillion, Disney, and…I’m also a Mac FanGirl. But what would make me even more of a Mac FanGirl? If I could have this Mac:
Image credit: http://steampunkworkshop.com/daveveloz.shtml
1. The Costumes and Gadgets
Come on. Come on. The gadgets. The gadgets. And the costumes.
Image credit: http://steampunkcostume.com/
Now, the top five things I’d like to see:
5. Steampunk Star Wars
Why can’t I have this? Holy wow, think of how cool it could be. Steam blasters instead of lightsabers. And dude! Think of it: Darth Vader Steampunk. Amazing. This has so much potential.
Image credit: http://www.oddee.com/item_96830.aspx
4. Roman Steampunk
There’s a lot of steampunk centered in Victorian times, but I think it would be cool to explore the Romans. In all honesty, it seems as if the Romans came pretty darn close to steampunk on their own. Push them a bit more in that direction—we could have a whole steampunk alternative history…
3. Steampunk not based in Europe/England
This is going to be my most serious request—does anyone know of some cool steampunk that’s not based in Europe, especially not based in England? I would sincerely love to read that…
2. Steampunk Fairytales or Superheroes
There’s a wide field of possibilities in this one. What if Tinkerbell tinkered with steampunk? Hansel and Gretl’s witch could be an automaton. Cinderella’s clockwork winds down at midnight.
Or take it another direction—what about superheroes? Gail Carringer blended paranormal with steampunk—let’s see superheroes blended with steampunk. Superman’s strong as steel because that’s what he’s made of. Or the X-Men—a wind-up Wolverine? Maybe even this…
Image credit: http://steampunkcostume.com/
1. More Steampunk YA
The number one thing I most want to see more of is steampunk for teens and kids. Scott Westerfeld is doing great work with Leviathan, but I’d love to see more of this. Does anyone else have any steampunk YA or MG suggestions?
~Beth Revis
http://acrosstheuniversebook.com/
So, who’s got some suggestions for Beth? I know you all do…
If you’re interested in non-Eurocentric steampunk, the blog Beyond Victoriana is a good place to start: http://beyondvictoriana.com/
Also Jaymee Goh’s post here yesterday should be useful.
Finally, there are some good non-Eurocentric stories in Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories ed. Joelle Vanderhooft, and a nice one by Shweta Narayan in the Vandermeers’ Steampunk Reloaded anthology.
If your looking for weird west based in the America, there is Mike Resnick’s The Buntline Special. Not YA, sorry.
fun post! love the visuals. and yes, the steampunked Castle ep was entertaining.
You haven’t read Cherie Priest’s BONESHAKER? You MUST start there. It’s steampunk set in the American West. I adore Western steampunk, because you add the awesomeness of the Wild West to the cool gadgets and gorgeous costumes. (And I’m not talking about the Will Smith movie, either.)
If you want to see some of the cool stuff in that sub-sub-genre, take a look at this recent con: http://www.wildwildwestcon.com/index.php I wanted to go, but being in France at the time hindered that a bit. Even the music is pretty dang cool.
Two YA Steampunks you need to check out
THE IRON THORN by Caitlin Kittredge has a ton of steampunk elements (with witchy worlds and fairy lands… and NOT Victorian)
THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET by Kady Cross (which comes out May 24th) was FANTASTIC-FABULOUS and had superhero-type elements to it.
That, along with LEVIATHAN and Gail Carriger, totally hooked me on the Steampunk genre. (Plus Castle. I love Castle.)
What a fabulous post! Thanks, Beth! I enjoyed the suggestions on different/new areas of Steampunk to explore. I agree there are many time periods/settings that can work for Steampunk in addition to the traditional ones.
I second The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge. It is so GOOD. And so very different.
And for multicultural steampunk costuming, check out this blog:
http://thesteamerstrunk.blogspot.com/
I’m big into the whole multicultural steampunk idea right now for my own costuming. I’ve done a Japanese Geisha-inspired steampunk, and I’m currently sewing an Ottoman Steampunk. Next up is Egyptian and Chinese!
http://www.freewebs.com/dragonflydesignsbyalisa
I’m reading a steampunk novel right now called The Iron Thorn. It’s a modern day steampunk, strangely enough (with fey- how much better can it get?!) It’s really good so far, so give that a chance. There are a few other steampunk stories that center around fey, but the titles simply don’t come to mind at the moment.
As for steampunk Star Wars, I’m all for it!! Steam-powered lightsabers all the way, baby!
I can help with points 3 and 1 for what you’d like to see Beth.
For #3 there is an author called Cherie Priest who writes mostly American West steampunk novels.
For #1 see my book! Heh, just kidding, it’s not published yet, but some day soon. Seriously though, it is a complete steampunk YA novel. If you are interested, (and I understand if you’re not, with time constraints and all) I would absolutely welcome a viewing by a successful author (with the complete understanding that you could quit reading at any time of course). There are some snippets on my blog, but I’m reluctant to put too much of it online because I understand agents and publishers are not too keen on that.
I LOVE Treasure Planet! It is one of my fav animated movies of all time.
Thank you for taking the time to share with us.
There is a steampunk fairy tale in an anthology I contributed to, and best of all it’s free. It’s on my webpage,
http://www.debschneider.com
Suzanne Lazear, (the Lolita who runs this blog) will have a YA fairytale coming out soon.
One of my favorite YA steampunk books is by Cassandra Clare, “Clockwork Angel”.
I agree about setting steampunk in the West, and I have friends who will be releasing books this year with that setting.
Just keep watching, they are on the way.
At the Romantic Times convention, there was a lot of talk and interest in SP!