The first steampunk books, published in the early-to-mid 1980s, were categorized as fantasy rather than science fiction: novels by James Blaylock, K. W. Jeter, and Tim Powers. In fact, it was K. W. Jeter who gave the movement its name, in a tongue-in-cheek letter in 1987.
Steampunk, however, straddles the already-indistinct line between fantasy and science fiction. Since steampunk stories are alternate-universe fiction, a case can be made for considering them to be SF unless they include overt magic or other supernatural elements (which some do). Perhaps the best answer is to categorize steampunk as science-fantasy. Or to simply say that if they read like science fiction, then they are science fiction.
The first steampunk novel acknowledged as SF was The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (1990), set in an alternate history in which Charles Babbage's steam-powered analytical engine brought about the computer revolution a hundred years early.
By now, as I said, steampunk has passed beyond the boundaries of SF, fantasy, and even literature itself. Steampunk has become an art form, a musical genre, even a distinct culture. There are steampunk conventions, steampunk dances, and steampunk stores selling all sorts of steampunk merchandise: costumes, goggles, clocks, and assorted objets d'art.
In reality, of course, the aesthetic that we call steampunk has been around since . . . well, since the Victorian Age itself. Verne and Wells were writing steampunk a century before steampunk existed. Harry Harrison, Keith Laumer, and Michael Moorcock all wrote stories that would definitely be considered steampunk if they were published today. (Analog did its part: Harrison's 1973 pre-steampunk novel A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! was serialized starting in the April 1972 issue.)
In media, George Pal's 1960 film The Time Machine had a definite steampunk look and feel. The TV show The Wild, Wild West had a steampunk aesthetic; even Doctor Who had its steampunk-ish moments.
So in one sense, steampunk is the newest fashion in SF; in another sense, it's been part of SF since the beginning.
This month I have an assortment of steampunk books to show you the current variety of the fashion.
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Wrath of the Lemming Men
Toby Frost
Myrmidon Books, 320 pages,
$12.95 (trade paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-905802-35-7
Series: Chronicles of Isambard Smith 3
Genre: Humorous SF, Steampunk
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Captain Isambard Smith, of the British Space Empire, is a steely-thewed hero in the model of Horatio Hornblower or Honor Harrington . . . at least, if you believe his press releases. He is the commander of the good ship HMSC John Pym, the fastest ship in the fleet. His retinue includes his best friend, alien warrior Suruk the Slayer; android Polly Carveth, a former pleasurebot and the only entity who can pilot the John Pym; Rhianna Mitchell, a hippie-like free spirit who is a constant thorn in Captain Smith's side (not least because of his mad, unrequited love for her); and Gerald the hamster.
In two previous books, Space Captain Smith and God Emperor of Didcot, Isambard defended the Empire against dire threats, but now he faces his biggest challenge: the lemming-men of Yull. On the orders of their insane war god, these ruthless warriors attack the Empire, meeting Imperial forces on the planet Varanor. The Imperial army, consisting of humans and Suruk the Slayer's fellow warriors, handily defeat the lemmings.
Into the breach come Captain Smith and his valiant crew. Their assignment: to civilize the brutal lemming people and end their assault on the Empire. Isambard has no doubt that he'll succeed, but he isn't counting on the defeated lemming commander, who has sworn vengeance against Suruk and all who travel with him.
Oh, and there are the Empire's primary foes, the merciless Ghasts, who are close on Isambard's trail. And Leighton-Wakazashi, an evil robotics company that just might be in league with the Ghasts. Yet Isambard has an ace up his sleeve: an age-old society of Morris dancers who hold the key to universal peace....
Wrath of the Lemming Men is a hilarious read, filled with references to science fiction and other pop culture. It more than lives up to the publisher's tag line: “An epic tale of war, honour, and suicidal rodents!"
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Pinion
Jay Lake
Tor, 448 pages, $26.99 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0-7653-2186-2
Series: Clockwork Earth 3
Genre: Steampunk
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On the definite science fantasy side of steampunk is Jay Lake's Clockwork Earth. In Lake's alternate nineteenth century, the universe is quite literally a clockwork construct: driven by an enormous mainspring at the Earth's center, huge gears turn the planet and the entirety of creation. The Northern Hemisphere is dominated by two empires, the British and the Chinese. Around the Equator is a gigantic wall, along which run the giant gears that rotate the world. The largely-unknown Southern Hemisphere, beyond the wall, is home to mysterious societies and horrifying creatures.
In the first book, Mainspring, clockmaker's apprentice Hethor Jacques went on a quest to find the key that would rewind the Earth's mainspring. He was assisted by librarian Emily Childress. In Escapement we met Paolina Barthes, a budding genius pursued by secret societies scheming to use her abilities for their own nefarious purposes. Paolina fled toward the equatorial wall and the safety of the South; Emily is taken onto a British ship that's attacked by a renegade Chinese submarine. She then works her way into a position of influence aboard the sub.
Now, in Pinion, we rejoin Paolina and Emily on their different journeys. The rival secret societies of the North—the Silent Order and the White Birds—are pursuing both women. Meanwhile, a mysterious power from the South has taken an interest in Paolina: they do not want to allow her to bring the North's turmoil into their realms.
Airships, submarines, mechanical men, planet-girdling gears—Lake presents all of these magnificently. Along with generous helpings of adventure comes some truly stunning world building. If you haven't had the pleasure of visiting Lake's Clockwork Earth, you owe it to yourself to redress that omission.
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Ghosts of Manhattan
George Mann
Pyr, 240 pages, $16 (trade paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-61614-194-3
Genre: Steampunk, Superhero
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In George Mann's steampunk world of 1926, prohibition-era New York teems with coal-powered cars and swooping biplanes. The United States and the British Empire are locked in cold war. Queen Victoria, her life extended by artificial means, has just died at the age of 107. Times are dark and dangerous.
A serial killer is loose in the city, one who leaves ancient Roman coins on the eyes of his victims. The police are baffled.
Enter the Ghost, a Batman-like hero who moves like a shadow through the dark night of the city. Following obscure leads and shady informants, he begins to pick up the trail of the killer, known as the Roman. Yet the Ghost discovers that there's more to the Roman than a mere serial killer—indeed, the man is part of a plot to unleash powers that could destroy the city.
Meanwhile, there's another story here: the story of what makes a man become the Ghost, and how both man and Ghost can come to terms with the double life they lead.
The superhero genre always provides a quandary for SF readers. Many of the conventions of the genre seem more fantasy than SF, and The Ghosts of Manhattan is no exception. Steampunk muddles the picture even more.
Still, George Mann does a great job of presenting his story in such a serious, compelling way that he makes suspension of disbelief easy. It reads like SF. If your tastes run toward superhero fiction or steampunk, you'll have no problem with the book. If not, you'll definitely want to approach it with an open mind. And if you're violently allergic to any fantasy elements in your SF, you might want to give this one a miss.
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Ares Express
Ian McDonald
Pyr, 388 pages, $16 (trade paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-61614-197-4
Series: Desolation Road 2
Genre: Mars, Steampunk
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Nothing says steampunk quite as much as a train pulled by a steam engine. And nothing says science fiction quite as much as a story set on Mars. Mix the two together, and you have Ares Express.
This is the same Mars as in McDonald's 1988 novel Desolation Road, which Pyr brought back into print last year. It's a Mars that's partially terraformed; artificial intelligences called Angels are in charge of the terraforming, and in the meantime they are messing around with time and space and alternate realities. Meanwhile, railroads carry passengers and freight across the planet, and hardy settlers carve out marvelously eccentric settlements in odd corners of the rust-red deserts.
It's a Mars composed of equal parts of Ray Bradbury and Kim Stanley Robinson, with a generous helping of a wonderful insanity that's uniquely McDonald.
Ares Express, first published in the U.K. in 2001, is finally available in this U.S. edition. The wait has been too long.
The book tells the story of a young woman named Sweetness Octave Glorious-Honeybun Asiim Engineer 12th. She is the daughter of the Engineer of the great train Catherine of Tharsis, and her desire is to become an Engineer like her father. But on the great trains, women are not allowed to be Engineers. Instead, Sweetness faces an arranged marriage into a clan from another train.
What sort of an SF heroine would Sweetness be if she didn't run away from this awful fate? With her friend Serpio Waymember (a totally unsuitable boy from a low-class family of trackbuilders), she flees into the desert in search of the ghost of her twin sister. It turns out that the ghost is in the possession of a con man named Devastation Harx, who wants to use it to gain power over the Angels.
What follows is a fascinating journey across this wonderful Mars and various alternate realities, as Sweetness and Serpio, eventually aided by Sweetness's family, try to foil Harx's scheme and save the world.
McDonald's visions are grand and his prose is lyrical enough to depict them the way they deserve. Ares Express takes the reader to a new and delightfully wonderful world; you'll decidedly want to go along for this ride.
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The Science of Doctor Who
Paul Parsons
Johns Hopkins University Press, 320 pages,
$24.95 (hardcover)
ISBN: 978-0-8018-9560-9
Genre: Popular Nonfiction
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Doctor Who is the best science fiction on television today. Don't believe me: just look at the Hugo Awards, where the show has garnered ten separate nominations and three wins in four years.
It had to happen that someone would write The Science of Doctor Who, and we're all very fortunate that Paul Parsons was the one who did it.
First, his qualifications. Parsons is not only a science journalist, he also describes himself as a “lifelong Doctor Who fan.” It shows. Although he certainly has a light tone with a fair amount of humor, he never falls into the trap of disrespecting or ridiculing the source material. And believe me, with some of the early Doctor Who episodes, disrespect and ridicule would be completely understandable.
Instead, Parsons gives us an entertaining and educational look at both 45 years of Doctor Who and cutting-edge science. After a brief introduction to the Doctor Who phenomenon, he uses various elements of the show as jumping-off points to discuss scientific research that's somehow related. For example, he considers the evolutionary biology behind the title character's altruism, uses the Doctor's sonic screwdriver to speculate on the use of sound in materials science, and considers what sort of genetic engineering could bring about an emotionless cyborg species like the Daleks. And he does all this on a level a little above the usual Discovery Channel or PBS documentary. The average Analog reader won't feel talked-down-to.
Don't worry if you've never seen Doctor Who (but why not?): Parsons explains the relevant parts of the show and its back-story in easy, entertaining prose. But if you are familiar with the Doctor from the planet Gallifrey, you'll find many delightful touches and in-jokes that will make the book even more fun.
If you only read one Science of XYZ book this year, make it this one.
Copyright © 2010 Don Sakers
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Don Sakers is the author of A Rose From Old Terra and Dance for the Ivory Madonna. For more information, visit www.scatteredworlds.com.
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Reader's Department: BRASS TACKS
Dear Stan,
I'm a long time reader and occasional responder. In reading your June 2010 edition, I had two things that invoked a response in this letter.
The first response is to the editorial entitled “Primer.” It seems to have started with the end in mind, taking these words from yours: “creationists” need to mature and stop clinging to first-grade readers as ultimate truth. If the point of the editorial was to ridicule those with whom you disagree, you succeeded, in my opinion. However, this doesn't seem consistent with your prior writing, so I'm responding to raise a couple of points you can consider.
One of your critical and almost submerged points is that saying that when simplifying an explanation for a small child, one needs to have an explanation that is “not strictly accurate,” “reasonably accurate,” or “blatant lies.” I have five children and while I've simplified explanations for them, particularly when they were very young, I've never found the need to be inaccurate. So while the child may not be ready to understand the details, I've never had to provide an explanation that when they understand more, they would say was inaccurate. Incomplete certainly, but inaccurate, no. I think one can express complex things in simple, but accurate ways.
A second and totally submerged point is that we truly know what is going on today. This is highly unlikely. It would simply be amazing that we were living during the one time in history when all that we know to be true really is. Unlike previous science that often was “corrected,” our knowledge will only be refined, never thought to be completely wrong by subsequent science. Again this doesn't seem likely. Some of these “corrections” may eliminate some of the current conflicts between observation and religion.
One example of this developing science knowledge relating to Christian and Jewish Scripture deals with Gen 17, where the angel of God tells Abraham that God swears by himself that he will bless Abraham and make his descendants as “numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” Now readers up until the development and use of the telescope “knew” that these two numbers were completely unbalanced, with the stars in the sky vastly outnumbered by the sand on the seashore. We now “know” something different. This is not a simple “refinement” of the number of stars; this is a fundamental change in understanding, with galaxies and the like. I suggest that we don't eliminate the potential that future science will have additional non-refinement developments.
To be logically consistent with your editorial, one would have to allow that sometimes a teacher might allow a classroom of students to take measurements and develop their theories based on their observations, then come in and provide the lesson and allow the students to refine their measurements if they like, to try to match the “real relationships.” These teachers might tell the students as their skills develop they need to give up their own observation-based theories as the ultimate truth, because their observations are perhaps all based on observations where there is a fairly consistent force of gravity or they are in a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere.
I know this is going a bit long, but allow me to propose a different analogy from the schoolteacher analogy you suggested, staying in the Christian arena. We go to a magic show, where a magician is in control of the props and tells us he is intending to mislead the audience as to what is happening. In fact, most wouldn't attend if they weren't expecting to be misled as to what occurred. Later we have people in the audience, perhaps trained observers, arguing with the magician as to what occu
rred. I would rely on the magician's tale over the audience, even if they had many different observations.
I don't think anyone would suggest that God couldn't create the Earth in seven days several thousand years ago and create things so that they look very old. The real question seems to be does it appear that he did so? Thus, could this magic show be a reasonable analogy to what is going on in the earth?
I'm not trying to convert or “save” anyone, only to present perhaps another way of looking at the differences creationism and religion seem to generate, particularly among those versed in science.
The second response is to the cover story, “The Anunnaki Legacy” by Bond Elam. Another good story, which I greatly enjoyed. However, I expected the worms to be a natural state of the Anunnaki. Nothing says that they can't metamorphosis for more than growing up. Crustaceans with exoskeletons might well periodically metamorphosis through this type of worm state to repair their exoskeletons and internal organs. This could be an extension of our sleep. It could take place periodically or when the need arose. I imagine that there would be social constraints if the metamorphosis sleep required a substantial minimum time. If the Anunnaki lived for a long time, their legal system might require the shedding of wealth at each metamorphosis sleep, similar to what England did with the requirement that trusts have a finite lifetime. Perhaps a follow-up story . . . However, it seemed to me to be a lesser step to have this built into the Anunnaki physiology than to have the elaborate scheme created (and working without a failure) at the spur of the moment after their ship was disabled.
Paul Bork
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No, the point was not to ridicule, but to suggest a possible scenario for consideration. Nor did I say or imply that one ever needs to tell “blatant lies” to children, but rather to point out that, whether it's necessary or not, adults often do it—and many sincerely believe they have good reasons. Even when they're not trying to do that, greatly simplified explanations are seldom fully accurate; if the whole truth could be put so simply, there'd be no excuse to do otherwise.
Analog SFF, October 2010 Page 22
