Today Mrs. Desperado and I review the delightful 2015 steampunk animation “April and the Extraordinary World.” Watch it here.
April and the Extraordinary World
Welcome To Steampunk Desperado
Who is that handsome stranger?
Category: Steampunk
Thomas Pynchon’s “Against the Day”
Thomas Pynchon’s writing career has spanned half a century, earning him much critical acclaim. Believe it or not, Pynchon has written a novel in a steampunk vein, a weighty 2006 tome called Against the Day. Happily, it was available in audiobook, which these days is the only way I can find time for such a […]
Dead Iron: The Age of Steam
Devon Monk’s Dead Iron, published in 2011, is yet another interesting example of the steampunk genre. Like most novels from the Era of Peak Steampunk, it’s of the historical kind, something we don’t see nearly enough of lately. It takes place in the 19th Century American West, featuring elements of the supernatural: witchcraft, spirits, and […]
Queen Victoria’s Bomb
The longer I explore steampunk, the more I discover new and interesting examples of the genre. I am always encountering new titles, some of which were written before the genre got its name. The late Ronald Clark’s novel Queen Victoria’s Bomb, published in 1969, is one of these. Though it lacks the stereotypical steampunk elements […]
Unique Y.A. Steampunk: Tara Sim’s “Timekeeper”
Imagine if you will that clock towers were built not to tell time but to control it? That a stopped clock could render a city frozen in time and forever inaccessible? That the clock mechanic was the world’s most important occupation? These are the intriguing premises behind Tara Sim’s 2016 young adult fantasy steampunk novel […]
Mistborn’s Wild West: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Here’s an interesting variation on an epic fantasy series: a world that transitions from primitive to steampunk as it progresses. Brandon Sanderson’s “Mistborn” novels take place on Scadrial, a world settled by humans with strange powers. Centuries after some cataclysm, people are rediscovering steam power and electricity. This is the setting of The Alloy of […]
Steampunk with Sarcasm: Webley And the World Machine
Much recently-published steampunk fiction could be described period romance with airships. I was seeking something different, which is why the blurb for this novel caught my eye: “A steampunk adventure with snark and sass.” It had a great title as well. I expected something unique, and it most certainly was. First of all, the story […]