A Steampunk List; or, Is There A Zeppelin?
What is steampunk? I don’t really know. Stuff powered by steam, I guess, particularly automata, and possibly also including secret societies or zombies or drug cultures. There always seems to be at least one zeppelin as well. Steampunk is what calls itself steampunk.
Here’s some steampunk I’ve recently read, ranked roughly in order of preference, though Millhauser is always a bit of a wild card.
- Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Zeppelin and zombies.
- The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer. Zeppelin and The Tempest.
- Aurorarama by Jean-Christophe Valtat. Zeppelin and the North Pole.
- The King in the Tree by Steven Millhauser. No zeppelin, but lots of creepy automata.
- The Bookman by Lavie Tidhar. Zeppelin and Victorian London.
The Thrilling Tales collection edited by Michael Chabon contains a mystery in an alternate WWII-era featuring travel by zeppelin, and Iron Council by China Mieville lacks a zeppelin but has lots of steam power. Science fiction also notable for its engineering includes Inverted World by Christopher Priest, and further short fiction by Steven Millhauser.
What other novels with zeppelins should I put on my list?
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