Anyone else into steampunk novels? I'm reading Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld right now, and I have Boneshaker by Cherie Priest to get to, but after that my steampunk cache of unread books has dried up.

I love the concept of Steampunk but I there has yet to be a truly great Steampunk novel. I have Cherie Priest's Boneshaker but only read about 40 pages of it. It seemed fun but not what I wanted to read at that time, I should go back to it when I'm in the mood.

I know there are some new ones out that are defining themselves as Steampunk like Stephen Hunt's The Court of the Air which seems to lie on the fantasy tip of Steampunk.

The classic was The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Jeff Vandermeer editted a steampunk anthology which I always meant to read.

Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day is sort of Steampunky but not much on the fantasy/speculative side it is more like gaslight fiction (with some Pynchon twists but I havent finished this one either).

There is Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia which I want to read as well. This seems a very thoughtful Steampunk novel.

The one I really want to read next though is The Dream of Perpetual Motion . I read something about this last month; it just came out. It was compared to Joyce and Pynchon and the author has a PhD in literature so the writing is probably of high quality. The blurb I read seemed very interesting as well.

Unfortunately I haven't finished most of these so I really can't recommend which one to read next since some of these are on my to-finish reading list of the summer myself.

Yeah, I haven't really gotten into steampunk lit. I'm more of a steampunk gamer. Love anything steampunk, like an rpg, or boardgame, or pc. I think that cyberpunk is actually really well done in lit. Don't know if you are interested in that kind of book, but if you are, I'd try Tad Williams' Otherland series. That is possible one of the best series I've ever read, right up there with AGoT.

If you can find them, Morlock Night and Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter. These are perhaps the earliest occurances of what is considered Steampunk (and I believe at least one site credits Jeter for the name Steampunk). They are around 20 years old, and out of print, so look hard at used book stores or stores that specialize in obscure paperbacks (I had to pay $8 for my first copy of Infernal Devices at a con about 8 or 9 years ago).

Perdido Street Station and that whole series is sorta fantasy steampunk, just not historical. And China Mieville is an amazing writer.

And let's not forget the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volumes 1 and 2. These graphic novels are some of the best examples of the genre, and the artwork really captures the feel. they are much better than the movie (which really isn't that hard to do), and more faithful to the source characters. The third and fourth parts are still enjoyable, but less steampunk as they take place in the 20th century.

JerusalemJones said:

I am almost done with his new one Kraken and I like that book a lot

Back in the very early days of my experience with the Deadlands RPG and Doomtown CCG, I had my hopes high for a resurgence in Steampunk literature. The Mage Knight CMG had a "steampunk-ish" Atlantean Guild, and I was kinda excited about that as well.

Unfortunately, Deadlands/Doomtown veered off into a rather unique mix of steampunk/cthulu/spaghetti-western. And Mage Knight took a more magic/vampire-war fantasy.

Strangely enough, the closest I've gotten to steampunk in my recent readings is in the Mechwarrior (Dark Age) series. Yes, it's based on Battletech ... but after centuries (?) of peace, the nuclear/fusion-powered mechs are extremely rare; and most of the remaining mechs are powered by gas (and I can easily imagine steam) engines. Of course, the entire illusion of a low-tech steampunk era is quickly dissolved by the end of every novel ... because you'll eventually have a nuclear/fusion-powered mech showing up to wipe out everything else.

Anime: Nadia Secret of the Blue Water, Laputua

I've always thought His Dark Materials to be sort of steampunk-ish.

Could also read 2000 leagues under the sea.