(1) EXACTLY.
https://twitter.com/pnh/status/678309964369235968
(2) NO SERVICE. Geek Bar Chicago has posted an announcement that anyone discussing Star Wars spoilers before Christmas will be asked to leave.
The folks at Geek Bar have been extremely stoked about the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” even offering customers a discount if they show their ticket stubs. But that’s also forced the bar to instill a strict no-spoilers policy, so strict that they’ll boot fans out of the bar if they ruin the movie for other customers. They even posted a sign on the bar’s front door as a warning to guests who blab about important plot lines.
(3) TOLKIEN’S LANGUAGES. John Garth observed on Facebook:
Among this quarter’s crop of additions to the Oxford English Dictionary is “waybread” – a coinage by Tolkien, whose first civilian job was as an assistant lexicography at the Dictionary. Never mind inventing Elvish languages: he’s still helping to invent the English one.
Around 500 new words, phrases, and senses have entered the Oxford English Dictionary this quarter, including phablet, waybread, and bank of mom and dad. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Jonathan Dent, Senior Assistant Editor of the OED
(4) FREEDOM. David Brin does threat analysis in “Who Controls the Internet” at Contrarian Brin.
The End of the Internet Dream? Ever since Congress passed Al Gore’s bill, around 1990, setting the Internet free to pervade the world and empower billions, repressive governments have complained, seeing their despotic methods undermined. And yes, democratic governments have often muttered: “Why’d we go and do that?” as their citizens became increasingly rambunctious, knowing and independent-minded!
As we’ll see below, the ruling classes in undemocratic lands have been striving to adapt, and showing real signs of success. So frets Jennifer Granick who was keynote speaker at Black Hat 2015 – a hacker’s conference. “In 20 years, the Web might complete its shift from liberator to oppressor. It’s up to us to prevent that.”
(5) RECOMMENDATIONS. Rocket Stack Rank has published a consolidated list of short-fiction recommendations for the 2016 Hugo Awards.
These are divided by category (Novella, Novelette, and Short Story) and result from combining the recommendations of eight different reviewers.
In email, Gregory N. Hullender answered the obvious question head on:
So is it a slate? I don’t think so. The buckets are alphabetical by title, and none of the top few totals to exactly five. Also, we’ve gone out of our way to show people how to (legally) get copies of all these stories; no one can accuse us of urging anyone to vote without reading.
(6) AUTOMATED CODE WRITING. Platinum Rule, The Code of Conduct builder supplies appropriate language based on the user’s answers to basic questions.
However, I found it would quit working when I reached the question about sponsors, which means it’s more a curiosity than anything else.
(7) BEAR INTERVIEW. Suvudu interviews Elizabeth Bear, co-author of An Apprentice to Elves.
SUVUDU: Elizabeth, it’s a pleasure to have an opportunity to talk with you. You and Sarah Monette wrote one of my favorite short stories, “Boojum”, which I’ve raved about for years. Stumbling upon the Iskryne series was a real treat. How did the two of you meet, and what is it that first got you working together?
Elizabeth Bear: We were introduced by a mutual friend on livejournal because we were both interested in Elizabethan Theatre. I was working on the book that eventually came to be called Ink and Steel, and she was writing her dissertation. We kind of stuck, and we started writing some collaborations to blow off steam from our allegedly real work.
(8) THE BLUE MARBLE REDUX. NASA has released a new high-resolution Earthrise image.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recently captured a unique view of Earth from the spacecraft’s vantage point in orbit around the moon.
“The image is simply stunning,” said Noah Petro, Deputy Project Scientist for LRO at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The image of the Earth evokes the famous ‘Blue Marble’ image taken by Astronaut Harrison Schmitt during Apollo 17, 43 years ago, which also showed Africa prominently in the picture.”
(9) LOCAL STAR WARS. The BBC explores the question “Could a war in space really happen?”
In the past the nuclear balance between the US and the USSR helped to prevent war in space. The modern world is more complex and already some 60 countries are active in space. So is a war involving attacks on satellites now becoming more likely?
Millions have been enjoying the Hollywood version of conflict in distant parts of the universe as the new Star Wars film is released. It’s enjoyable escapism – space conflict is, after all, nothing to do with reality. Or is it? According to military analyst Peter Singer of the New America Foundation, “the idea of… fighting in space was once science fiction and now it’s real”.
Space wars may not involve intergalactic empires or spacecraft zapping each other. If they occur they are likely to be focused on things that matter hugely to all of us – satellites.
(10) LASERS AT WAR. “US Air Force planes armed with laser guns soon and maybe shields too” asserts Marie Singer at Market Business News.
US Air Force planes could be armed with Star Wars type laser guns by the end of this decade, and maybe shields that protect aircraft from incoming missiles and bullets, says the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), which is scheduled to demonstrate the technology by 2020.
Larger aircraft are already able to carry laser weapons fit for their size. However, developing effective and usable laser technology for the smaller warplanes is more challenging. Apart from being small enough not to undermine the fighter jet’s agility, they need to be accurate and effective when travelling at supersonic speeds.
(11) Today In History
- December 19, 1960 – NASA’s first successful launch of a Mercury Redstone rocket. (Via io9.)
- December 19, 1986 – The Little Shop of Horrors musical remake, was seen for the first time on this date. Both Martin Scorsese and John Landis were attached to direct before the job finally went to Frank Oz. The original had an unknown actor playing in the title role, Jack Nicholson.
(12) Today’s Birthday Boy
- Born December 19, 1975 – Brandon Sanderson
(13) FORWARDING ADDRESS. Jeffrey A. Carver has moved his blog Pushing a Snake Up a Hill. Click the link and you’ll discover where.
(14) BANDERSNATCH REVIEW. Sherwood Smith reviews Diana Pavlac Glyer’s new book in “Bandersnatch—writing and writers’ groups” at Book View Café.
In The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, (which I talked about here) Diana Pavlac Glyer established herself among the foremost Inklings scholars. It’s one of those rarities, a deeply academic book that is also immensely readable.
That book proved that the Inklings really were a collaborative group, and not a bunch of lone geniuses who got together regularly to read bits then retreated to their man caves for more solitary labor.
In Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings, she shows how they did it. I reviewed the book specifically over at Goodreads, but in this post I’d like to use the book as a springboard to write up some thoughts about writing groups and different meanings of collaboration, as this is a subject (or net of subjects) that I always like discussing.
(15) THE BOOK OF PUPPY. Matthew Foster’s Welcome to the Doomsphere: Sad Puppies, Hugos, and Politics was released in Kindle form on December 17.
After several years of unrest in science fiction fandom, a gang of authors under the banners Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies came to town to change the Hugo awards and perhaps publishing, and to turn over a few tables. Regular fandom responded, with many of the major names in F&SF literature being drawn into the brawl. What followed was cheating, lies, insults, rape and death threats, challenges to duel, letters to the police, harassment, boycotts, racial slurs, accusations of censorship, and according to one major Pup author, sodomy…so much sodomy.
For nearly six months, the best authors of our generation stopped writing books and started arguing. Was it the culture wars entering literary science fiction? Was it mainly White, mainly male fans trying to turn back the clock? Was it an attack on freedom of speech? Was it revenge for past slights or a cunning plan to sell a lot of books?
Foster told his Facebook followers the book has already received the first of what he predicts will be many one-star reviews.
(16) THE DOCTOR. I didn’t know any Antonelli apologists before Dr. Mauser raised his hand in “The Antonelli Affair” at Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas.
If one takes the position that Gerrold is merely an internet blowhard, and that he doesn’t actually mean any of it to take place outside of his fevered imagination, then contacting the police over an internet crank was probably taking things too far. And to Lou’s credit, he did what any proper gentleman should have done, he admitted his mistake (such as it was) and apologized.
His apology fit all of the criteria I’ve spelled out before for what makes up a proper apology. He laid out exactly what he had done, owned it, admitted that his actions were inappropriate, made it right by retracting his police complaint, and promised to not do it again. He did not try to justify it by saying anything about what Gerrold had said that concerned him enough to think a police report was necessary. That would be trying to shift blame, and not proper for a true apology.
Mr. Gerrold graciously accepted the apology, and in any civilized society, this would be the end of the issue.
Of course, this is not a civilized society we’re talking about, this is Fandom.
In any case, the SJW side of fandom rose in coordinated furor over this revelation, making all kinds of demands for Lou’s head, literally and figuratively.
Dr. Mauser finds fault with everyone else’s behavior but Antonelli’s, who immediately abandoned the self-imposed penance he announced at the time: “I need to ponder the hurt I have caused. To give me time to think, after Sasquan I am taking a half-year hiatus from attending any conventions and/or submitting any fiction.”
(17) THE LONGEST DAY. Robert Kerr shot this picture at the Hollywood and Highland Metro Red Line station on the way home from seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens yesterday.
Jedis on the subway. Photo by Robert Kerr.
John King Tarpinian’s caption: “After a hard day at Padawan school even Jedi need to take the subway back to Coruscant.”
(18) POINT AND SHOOT. Grim humor from Cheezburger – a comic “That Wouldn’t Be a Long Movie – Sean Bean as 007 in….“
[Thanks to Will R., Iphinome, Michael J. Walsh, Soon Lee, Steven H Silver, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Will R.]
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Soon it is time to start talking lutefisk again.
You talking to me?
(Never tried lutefisk before, and I’ve eaten some strange “foods” in my time.)
NOVELLA REVIEWS (I intend to make this a semi-regular feature)
Wings of Sorrow and Bone by Beth Cato. A steampunk/gaslight fantasy of manners. The setting is a country called Tamarania, where the population is dark-skinned, and its war-torn neighbor Caskentia. It’s too bad that the author chose to populate this potentially original setting with characters bearing English surnames like “Stout” and “Cody” and strictly following English Victorian social rituals down to details like tea. There seems to be no reason for it except that, well, that’s steampunk, right? (Ignoring various authors’ recent attempts to broaden the social world of steampunk.) The most interesting part of the setting is the intersection between tech and magic; there are healers called “medicians” who draw on the aid of a goddess, and they can integrate mechanism and flesh. The main conflict of the story concerns the magi-mechanical creation of intelligent beings called gremlins. A teenage would-be mechanist named Rivka, who is uneasy in Tamaranian social circles because of her harelip and her unrefined upbringing, befriends a much more privileged (and self-centered) girl named Tatiana, and together they go on a crusade to end the mistreatment of gremlins, with the help of Broderick, an apprentice medician who is mistreated by his master. It would hardly be a spoiler to reveal that triumphs are scored, growing up and gaining confidence happens, and everyone except the bad guys gets what they want. One unexpected and welcome deviation from the standard course of such stories is that nygubhtu Evixn orpbzrf tbbq sevraqf jvgu Oebqrevpx, fur qbrf abg snyy va ybir jvgu uvz be nalbar. Rating: middling.
The Breaker Queen and The Two Paupers by C.S.E. Cooney, together composing the “Dark Breakers” series (a further installment may be intended, centering on Qrfqrzban naq gur ceboyrz bs ure snzvyl’f gvgurf gb gur tboyva xvat). Paranormal romance. First the positive: the fantasy aspects of these novellas are pretty good. Breaker House is rooted in three worlds, Athe (the domain of humans), Valwode (the domain of Gentry, or fairies), and Bana (the domain of goblins); at midnight, passage between worlds can happen. The Gentry are appropriately beautiful, shifty, and careless of the well-being of humans who cross their path; an impressively vicious struggle for the throne of Valwode is going on. But these stories are more dominated by romance than fantasy, and that’s where I had a serious problem with them. Cooney says she was inspired to write them by the works of Sharon Shinn; I have read two books by Shinn, and in both, a woman falls in love with a man and proceeds to stick with him even though he gives her little in return and her life is very negatively impacted, just because she can’t stop loving. That’s definitely the model of romance followed in Cooney’s series. In The Breaker Queen, the title character (Nyx, the Queen of Valwode) falls in love at first sight with a mortal painter and abdicates her throne to marry him and have babies, although she regrets what she’s given up. The Two Paupers is worse: it uses one of my least favorite romance tropes, where a guy (Gideon, a sculptor) is in severe supernatural danger, so he decides to keep the woman he loves (Analise, a writer) “safe” by preventing her from loving him. Naturally he can’t just tell her the truth about the danger and let her make up her own mind what to do! No, he lies, and goes on a campaign of insulting, humiliating, and tormenting her, even once throwing something at her. And all in vain, since she can’t stop loving him no matter how utterly miserable he makes her. It would be horrible even if he didn’t indirectly threaten her with violence at least three times, one of those times after he’s supposedly “reformed”. No, I can’t regard them ending up together as any kind of triumph. Series rating: not recommended.
The Cato inherits the world set up in her two novels The Clockwork Dagger and The Clockwork Crown (where the central character is a medician; some characters are clearly shared between the two.
@Hampus Eckerman & @Soon Lee: Lutefisk? Is that a filk version of fisking, set to lute music? 😉
Kendall:
http://johnfisenberg.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-3/p273230957-3.jpg
(2) Tolkien’s coinage of “waybread” may have been influenced not only by viaticum but by the phrase “esca viatorum” (“food of travellers”) , also used in regard to the eucharist, with which he would have been familiar.
There are no less than TWO totally evil pairings (possibly more or less for people who aren’t me) in the first heat of the second round of the Science Fiction Movie Bracket and I don’t want to suffer alone, so you should all go and vote while I hide in this couchfort cushioned with forehead cloths until you’re done. There’s room for everyone in the fort. o/
@Hampus
That’s a glorious instrument.
@Hampus Eckerman: Hahahahaha, touché! Nicely done. 😀 (bowing)
And BTW, that’s a wicked cool instrument, wow.
@Hampus: Thoroughly wow.
Right, fan writer and related works can be similar stuff, but I see it now.
@Kendall: Now that I’d be interested in trying once. The fish thing, not even once.
@Hampus: hee! Also, loving your bracket titles even while cursing dice. To the couch fort!
[ticky]
Oh, and in keeping with our Christmas theme re: possible Scroll titles
Grandma Got Run Over By a Filer
The Little Pixel Boy
Pixel Bell Rock
All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Pixel Scrolls
PIxel Scroll is Coming To Town
Kissin’ By the Pixel Scroll
Let It Scroll, Let It Scroll, Let It Scroll
Rudolph the Scroll Nosed Reindeer
Snoopy’s Scrollmas
Original list here.
So I haven’t posted any current-readings lists recently because I’ve been on a binge of re-reading Marcus Didius Falco novels, which aren’t exactly SFF (though they’re vaguely related, I can’t help but feel). However, I did manage to slip in a couple of genre works:
Symbiont by Mira Grant (book 2 of the Parasitology trilogy). I had mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, it’s starting to be much more of a standard Zombie Apocalypse story. One of the things I really like about the first book was how much unlike the typical ZA story it was (starting with the use of tapeworms). On the other hand, I do like me some well-done ZA stories, so I can’t complain too hard. And Ms. McGuire certainly knows how to write some exciting scenes, so I definitely had fun with the book. I do find that it’s reminding me more and more of Rachel Caine’s Revivalist series, though, for some reason. To the point where I’m starting to get a bit confused about which bits come from which series.
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. I know, I know, I should have read this years ago, but for some reason, I had Banks mixed up with some other author I didn’t much care for, and I only discovered my mistake fairly recently. So I’ve been making up for lost time. This is probably my favorite style of SF. For those of you who are already Banks fans, I don’t have to say anything. For those who aren’t, this is a great place to start. In fact, I sort of wish I had started with it. It’s a great introduction to the world of the The Culture. Being the first novel and all. 🙂
The Japanese Devil Fish Girl by Robert Rankin. I generally enjoy Rankin, though he’s very odd, and this was on sale at my local bookstore, so I decided to give it a shot. Very happy purchase. I think this may be the best Rankin book I’ve read. (I haven’t read its sequels yet, but I will.) I would loosely describe it as steampunk-on-LSD. Rankin’s earlier works generally have a contemporary setting (you could call them urban fantasy if you really wanted to mislead people). It turns out his bizarre style of humor works really well for semi-historical works. This is an over-the-top humorous homage to the action-adventure stories of the late Victorian and post-Victorian era. The War of the Worlds actually happened, but that’s just the start of the craziness….
Baby it scolls outside.
Come all ye pixels.
How the Grinch stole Hugos.
Yes Virginia there is a pixel scroll.
Pixel scrolls. Pixel Scrolls, it’s scrolling time for the filers.
Puppies got run over by the voters.
In re: Alexandra Erin — Yes, she’s certain to appear on many ballots as Best Fan Writer. And as Johan P. pointed out, she could also fit in BRW since the Reviews (“Two stars.”) fit under one URL as a collection. And collections are always eligible under BRW. However, I think “Scalzi is not popular, etc.” is probably a “better” nomination for her in the BRW. It certainly has more Chapter 5’s! The audiobook even qualifies as Dramatic/Short (tho Scalzi sez he’d decline his half, leaving it all to her). I think the sum total of all those gets her a Fan Writer nod.
There are too many good TV episodes for Dramatic Short, IMO, so it won’t be going there on my ballot. Person of Interest, SHIELD, Agent Carter, Supergirl… and that’s just on the major networks! It was a good year.
@Xtifr: The Falco books are fannish, even if not SF. I’m reading the 3rd Flavia Albia right now.
@ Hampus
That’s the coolest, uhm, whateveritis instrument I’ve ever seen!
Fantastic! That will be a wonderful addition.
Hampus, that is far, far cooler than actual lutefisk ever could be!
A few quick drive by notes:
Lurve this scroll title–it’s just too hilariously perfect.
Mad passionate gratitude to the Filer (sorry, cannot remember which one or ones) who talked about Letters to Tiptree–how did I miss this?
It’s incredible.
And going on my list.
THANK YOU!
I saw mommy reading pixel scroll.
Scroll the Ancient Yuletide Carol
[Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell,] Jingle Bell Rocket
Following Yonder Star Wars
@Iphinome: LOL, that’s just wrong. I hope Mike uses it. 🙂
So last night we went to the local annual Solstice party. On the door, instead of “Blessed be!” or “Merry Meet!” the sign said “NO SPOILERS”.
We all agreed it was fair.
@robinareid – any time!
@Vasha, Xtifr, et. al.: I haven’t read, but am interested in steampunk. What would you recommend and why? Particularly shorter works since I’m busy at the moment, but all suggestions are welcome and will (hopefully) be filed away for when I have more time.
Shao Ping: You could just go read the Girl Genius comics or maybe pick up Soulless by Gail Carriger
Karen Memory, by Elizabeth Bear, is a delightful steampunk/alt-history tale, with a shoutout to Jules Verne.
Personally, I didn’t particularly care for The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, by Natasha Pulley, but many Filers love it.
Steampunk Soldiers is a rather lovely illustrated alt-history book written from the point of view of a cybernetic present. Also, on sale as an ebook at the moment on Amazon UK – not sure if it will be anywhere else.
Shao Ping: I haven’t read, but am interested in steampunk. What would you recommend and why?
Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century books are really good. There are 6 novels and 1 novella in the same universe — but for the most part, they all stand alone fairly well. The novella is Jacaranda; you might start with that one to see if Priest is to your taste.
I wouldn’t really consider myself a fan of steampunk (i.e. it’s okay, but I’m not ga-ga about it, and I don’t rush out to buy and/or read it), but Boneshaker was part of the Hugo packet the year it was nominated, and I was blown away by how much I enjoyed it.
I appreciate the visual aesthetic of steampunk but for whatever reason most steampunk stories just don’t do it for me. I’m currently reading a collection of steampunk short stories called Steampunk World edited by Sarah Hans and there’s been some decent stories in there. I’m reading it very, very slowly though.
It’s a bit older, but I’m very fond of Steven Baxter’s Anti-Ice. It’s an alternate history, where a revolutionary power source comes along in the mid-19th century, making escalating changes from the Crimean War forward. It’s pleasing in that the narrative starts off very gung-ho for empire, and then puts the protagonist through some changes to realize just how very, very wrong he’d been. It’s a neat mix of dramatic depth and exuberant speculation.
Backing up a bit more, there’s Bryan Talbot’s graphic novel The Adventures of Luther Arkwright. It’s a very Moorcockian tale of epic conflict and evolution across parallel histories, with the anchor point a steampunk alternate where Britain remains under Puritan rule and revolution and war are about to break out. It is staggeringly beautiful (exhibit A, exhibit B) and densely written, with cross-cutting narratives laying out the mosaic of the hero’s life. Darned good stuff, despite some (also fairly Moorcockian) sexist blind spots.
Love it.
Shao Ping –
While I don’t dig steampunk as a genre all that much I second the Boneshaker recommendation. The start of the term was for authors using 19th century/Victorian settings. So check out The Anubis Gates, which is one of the books that inspired the term and is better than most of the genre after it. Also the Matthew Corbett series by Robert McCammon (I’d think that would count). The Mechanical is more clockworkpunk that came out recently and I really enjoyed.
Wait no I’m an idiot. Steampunk thing YOU SHOULD ALL READ* so I have more people to squee with about it and also because it is awesome and have I mentioned
probably more times than I should have done over the last few monthseligible for the Graphic Story Hugo:The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, an alt-history steampunk story of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace if they’d built a truly massive Difference Engine/first computer and then decided to fight crime/street musicians/poetry. It is a wonderful, wonderful thing and if you want a taster (although the book is even better) you can read some of the early stories in original form here. Read the footnotes, too! Oh, and it was a Goodreads Choice Nominee, too. (And there’s a quite nice interactive app-story-thingy.)
*Unless you don’t want to. That’s okay too. Inexplicable to me, but okay, you do you.
RECOMMENDATIONS – This was a lot of work and I’m happy to have the resource. I had to think a bit about whether this is a slate or not. Strictly speaking, I’d say no. The ranking bothers me a little, like the rec numbers on the sfwa lists, because it could be seen as an indication of the most likely vote-getters. I don’t believe that’s the intention in either case and I hope that isn’t how anyone uses it. This is more like a ‘Best of’ anthology. Some people’s opinions about what was the best stories they read durung the year.
Thank you, Greg, for putting this together. I don’t agree with all the assessments, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
BLUE MARBLE REDUX – Gorgeous picture. I need to download that for my wallpaper!
LASERS AT WAR – Wow, I didn’t know there were already lasers on some planes! Now I’m curious about range and strength and all the other questions that’ll occur to me. But I am not going to get lost in a google expedition right now…after Christmas! :^}
Puppy Stuff – The Foster book didn’t seem to do any analysis or give any new information (from the sample and description), so I think I’ll pass. There will probably be more than enough new puppy related madness after the first of the year.
– The doctor doesn’t seem to have a good grasp of the facts. How surprising?…Not! As already pointed out by others, he’s rehistoring for Uncle Lou and should be ignored, after thorough scoffing.
@ Paul Weimer – Sorry for your loss. It’s especially poignant when you want to share something with them and you realize you can’t any more. Someone else mentioned that imagining you actually do share and visualizing their response can bring them closer in memory, that works for me too.
@Shao Ping: I second-hand second Iphinome’s rec for Soulless (and sequels) by Gail Carriger. My other half liked that series a lot, though at five books, it’s not a “shorter work.” I can’t say anything else, since it’s a second-hand rec and he hasn’t e-mailed me a sentence about why he likes it, yet.
A good sense of humor can carry a book a long way. Soulless had me giggling by page 3.
@Iphinome: “Soulless had me giggling by page 3.”
Me too, and I’ll triple down on that recommendation. In fact, I usually recommend Soulless with the same technique I use for Tom Holt’s work. I show the
hapless victimlucky soul the first couple of pages of the book and let them know that if they like that, they’ll probably enjoy the rest. Hasn’t let me down yet…Clearly not enough chapter 5s for some tastes
Ther Is No Scroll of Swych Pixel
Lo, How A Scroll E’er Blooming
Pixell Syng We Both Al and Som
In Pixel Jubilo
Pixel Lieber Pixel Mein
Scroll Out Ye Wild and Merry Pixels
And some unchanged Christmas song titles of interest:
A Bone, God Wot!
A Dossen of Points
All Mydle Erthe It Shall Fulfyll
Seynt Nicholas Was of Gret Poste
And yet another vote for Soulless; it’s a great series, and it’s always a pleasure to addict other people to it as well.
Yeah, I haven’t actually read much steampunk myself. Though I do like the multiple-Hugo-winning webcomic Girl Genius, which technically predates steampunk, I believe, but offers an aesthetic that has heavily influenced steampunk. Plus it’s all on-line and free, so who can complain about that? 🙂 http://www.girlgeniusonline.com
Other than that, and the Rankin, which I definitely liked, I haven’t read much steampunk that I’d go out of my way to recommend. Although I did like an anthology called Steampunk Cthulhu. A really weird blend, but reasonably entertaining, if you like Mythos stories. Published by Chaosium, who are mainly known for their games (e.g. The Call of Cthulhu RPG), but also have an extensive line of Mythos-related fiction. (Disclaimer: I used to work for Chaosium, so I may be a bit biased.)
I suppose you might consider Gibson and Sterling’s classic The Difference Engine to be proto-steampunk, and if so I’d recommend it as well, but I don’t think it’s particularly typical of the genre.
Not even close. “Girl Genius” launched in 1999 or so. The term “steampunk” was coined by author K. W. Jeter in 1987 in “Locus” magazine to describe his novel “Infernal Devices” and was a cultural thing soon after.
Meredith, thanks for the rec on “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.” I’m usually way behind the curve on graphic stories, but this looks like My Kind Of Thing.
(Of course, I’m supposed to be ignoring everything except writing until I get today’s chapter finished. Not reading File770 and buying iBooks.)
@Meredith _The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage_ is on my Christmas wish list, so there’s a reasonable chance it lies in my reading future. Looking forward to it!
Not really steampunk – or, given its age, proto-steampunk – but Christopher Priest’s The Space Machine is worth a read. Lighter than his usual work, it’s a Wellsian pastiche which ties together The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. I enjoyed it a lot, re-read it three or four times.
The term “steampunk” was coined by author K. W. Jeter in 1987 in “Locus” magazine to describe his novel “Infernal Devices” and was a cultural thing soon after.
I think this is actually rather complex. My sense is that when the term was coined it described something rather looser, a trend rather than a self-conscious movement. (One of the writers to whom Jeter applied the term was Tim Powers, who isn’t the first person we’d think of as steampunk today.) In the 80’s and 90’s there were quite a lot of science-fictional or fantastic works which – from various different points of view – presented the 19th century, or secondary worlds which resemble the 19th century, or 19th century ideas of the future. These give rise to an aesthetic movement, and that in turn gives rise to more self-consciously steampunky fiction, which does seem to have exploded in the 00’s.
I first saw the term in relation to Gibson/Sterling’s The Difference Engine but I see it had prior use. In terms of Gibson/Sterling it was a natural usage given the extent to which they were associated with Cyberpunk and with how The Difference Engine covered similar themes but with a nineteenth century setting.