On this blog, I have endeavored to review books by as many different authors as possible, mostly avoiding doing more than one by the same person. Now, however, I’m discovering favorite writers which I feel deserve additional attention. One of these is KW Jeter, the actual inventor of the word “steampunk.” His first novel in […]
Adventures in Alternate History When I saw this book on a list of best steampunk novels, I remembered that I’d seen its author, Naomi Novik, on a panel at Phoenix Comicon a few years back. She’d talked about her book series which featured “the Napoleonic Wars with dragons.” What a great idea! It may be […]
Studio Gonzo’s 2003 anime series Last Exile (written and directed by Koichi Chigira) is one of the few examples of Dieselpunk in popular culture. Dieselpunk is Steampunk’s lesser-known cousin, a genre that embraces the technologies and styles of the 1920’s through 1940’s. It’s also one of those rare instances of an anime which serves as […]
I have a confession to make: Steampunk has been my gateway drug to a wider world of literature. It has gotten me interested in the classics, starting with sci-fi pioneers like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. Recently as I was browsing in Bookmans (an Arizona retail chain specializing in used books) I came across […]
When I bought my Kindle nearly 10 years ago (I much prefer the old school version) the very first e-book I downloaded was Herman Melville’s celebrated novel, Moby-Dick. Why? I remembered a character in a Kurt Vonnegut story remarking that his life’s regret was never having read that book. Discovering the legendary tome to be […]
Author Jon del Arroz is a newcomer to the steampunk scene. On 11/28/2017 I reviewed his first novel in the genre, “For Steam and Country”, which was published that same year. The sequel, “Blood of Giants” features the further adventures of teenage adventurer Zaira von Monocole. Whereas the first book was an enjoyable YA adventure, […]
The great Philip José Farmer was the master of grand concepts – story ideas based with unique original settings, such as Riverworld, which features a strange physical afterlife into which all the humans who ever lived are reincarnated. One of his lesser-known works is a blending of historical and far future concepts: his 1971 novel […]
