For my 100th online review as the Steampunk Desperado, I consider Philip Ligon’s young-adult steampunk novel “The King’s Regret,” published in 2019. It’s a “fantasy world” type steampunk which follows a pair of teenage siblings from the aristocratic Falconbone family. Once leaders of the mining city of Airendale, their family was betrayed by their country’s […]
For the last two years, I’ve made it my personal quest to discover and promote the most interesting specimens of steampunk fiction. Though there have been fewer published since the peak of the movement’s popularity around 2010, the demise of steampunk has been greatly exaggerated. One of the more interesting works I’ve encountered is Eric […]
The “fascinator”, a.k.a. “that little hat worn at an angle” is a staple of steampunk fashion. Typically worn by women, you may recall Damon Wayans really rocking the look in the “Men on Film” sketch in the classic TV show “In Living Color.” I was going through our steampunk props the other day when I […]
I discovered Neal Stephenson’s novel The Diamond Age, or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer shortly after it was published in 1995. I’d read his preceding book Snow Crash and loved its anarchic spirit. By contrast, Diamond Age seemed stodgy at first as it centered on the prim and proper Neo-Victorians. As I read on, however, […]
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 […]
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, […]
