The steampunk anthology Gears, Ghouls, and Gauges (and its companion Cogs, Crowns, and Carriages) is now available for purchase. Distribution was exclusive to Kickstarter backers and authors for the first four months of publication. If you weren’t able to get a copy from us directly, you can now order it on Amazon by following the link: https://www.amazon.com/Gears-Ghouls-Gauges-Steampunk-Anthology-ebook/dp/B085MN5KJK/
Posts Tagged ‘steampunk’
Mandy is pleased to announce that her short story, “The Lady Defiance,” will be published in the steampunk anthology Gears, Ghouls, and Gauges. This anthology is part of a set; its companion is Cogs, Crowns, and Carriages. This publication is pending successful achievement of the funding goals on Kickstarter. More information on how you can support the anthology coming soon.
Avast, Ye Airships! is a wonderful little gem of steampunk airship fantasy. All of the stories in it are well-written and intriguing. While they all have the same premise, a steampunk story set on an airship, each author contributes a story that is completely original and different from the others. While some are more “traditional” steampunk (Victorian England), there are others that are romance, adventure, scifi, horror, and even Southern steampunk. The stories are varied in length and style.
My personal top five were “Maiden Voyage,” in which a lesbian couple must outwit the pirates seizing their ship, “Captain Wexford’s Dilemma,” in which a captain suddenly finds her airship has been possessed by ghosts after mooring near a cemetery, “Hooked,” in which a young lady, on her first airship adventure, finds the ship under attack by a dashing rogue, “A Steampunk Garden,” in which a clever mechanic must outwit her captors, and “Lotus of Albion,” in which an airship captain falls for a beautiful woman whom he believes to be a damsel in distress.
What I really appreciated was the careful attention to diversity. The stories in this book included people of color, queer characters, those with disabilities, and strong female characters. This one is well-worth the read.
Out of the Shadows by Dana Fraedrich really scratched the steampunk itch I’ve been having lately. I especially enjoyed that the book was set in a unique steampunk world, rather than Victorian England. In fact, the unique world that it is set in means that one could also classify it as magicpunk.
The book takes place in Springhaven, a London-esque city in the small country of Invarnis. While Springhaven appears idyllic and tranquil on the surface, in reality, it is a dystopian society run by Enforcers who take a zero-tolerance policy to what they deem criminal activity. Criminal activity includes your usual—theft, rape, murder—but also means any sort of resistance against the established order. This includes befriending or assisting anyone deemed a criminal.
The main character, Lenore Crowley, has been an orphan for around a year at the start of the book because her parents were taken away for defying those in charge. She believes them to be dead, but learns later on that their fate was much worse—they are in a prison where they are tortured daily for information and the sheer sadistic pleasure of the Enforcers.
What I found especially interesting about the world building in Out of the Shadows is that Lenore’s society is built upon the remains of the Old World. Nobody is entirely certain what the Old World was or what happened to it, but they do know that in the Old World, magic, supernatural creatures, and fantastical events occurred which no longer exist (or so everyone believes). As readers, we are not even entirely sure how long ago the Old World ended. Thousands of years, hundreds, or just decades? It is my guess that the end of the Old World may have been brought about by the same iron hand that now rules Lenore’s society.
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Mandy Burkhead
G.D. Burkhead
