Steampunk Fiction

Jack Faust by Michael Swanwick (1997)

Despairing at his powerlessness over ignorance, Dr. Faust is promised absolute knowledge by Mephistopheles, and as Faust begins to mold the world toward the New Age of Mechanization, his love for a woman threatens all of his plans.

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville (2003)

In the squalid, gothic city of New Crobuzon, a mysterious half-human, half-bird stranger comes to Isaac, a gifted but eccentric scientist, with a request to help him fly, but Isaac's obsessive experiments and attempts to grant the request unleash a terrifying dark force on the entire city.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (2002)

Accompanied by her daemon, Lyra Belacqua sets out to prevent her best friend and other kidnapped children from becoming the subject of gruesome experiments in the Far North.

The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding (2004)

As Thaniel, a wych-hunter, and Cathaline, his friend and mentor, try to rid the alleys of London's Old Quarter of the terrible creatures that infest them, their lives become entwined with that of a woman who may be either mad or possessed.

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve (2003)

In the distant future, when cities move about and consume smaller towns, a fifteen-year-old apprentice is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answers in the perilous Out-Country, aided by one girl and the memory of another.

The Light Ages by Ian R. Macleod (2003)

Nearing the end of a Third Age of Industry fueled by a magical substance named aether, Robert Borrow, the son of a guildsman, becomes involved in a revolution to end a society based on inequality, greed, and corruption.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by K.J. Anderson (2003)

In 1899, with the British Empire in mortal peril, a top-secret group of extraordinary and sometimes infamous operatives--including explorer Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Dr. Henry Jekyll (and his alter ego Mr. Hyde), the Invisible Man, Dorian Gray, Mina Harker, and American secret agent Tom Sawyer--join forces to stop an insidious evil.

Pavane by Keith Roberts (2001)

A fantastical alternate history set in a twentieth-century England dominated by the Church of Rome and untouched by the Industrial Revolution chronicles the dramatic impact of a scientific and technological revolution that will transform the world and its peaceful agrarian society.

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (2009)

Unexpectedly promoted to detective when his predecessor goes missing and a supervisor is killed, agency clerk Charles Unwin struggles with inexperience, nerves, and a perpetually sleepy assistant during a case in which he encounters bizarre clues and is framed for murder.

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (1984)

The classic science-fiction thriller depicting the adventures of the Time Traveler as his fantastic invention carries him into the world of the future.

Soulless by Gail Carriger (2009)

When Alexia Tarbotti, a soulless spinster with the ability to negate supernatural powers, accidentally kills a vampire, her life goes from bad to worse when the appalling Lord Maccon, a gorgeous werewolf, is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist (2006)

Determined to find out why her engagement to Roger Bascombe was abruptly terminated, Celeste Temple disguises herself to follow her erstwhile fiancé to forbidding Harschmont Manor, which becomes a terrifying gate into a seductive and shocking world linked to a terrifying conspiracy.

Mainspring by Jay Lake (2007)

In a world in which the planets are run by a sophisticated clockwork solar system that connects everyday people to the Creator, a young clockmaker's apprentice is appointed by the Archangel Gabriel to rewind the Earth's Mainspring to prevent a disaster.

Larklight by Philip Reeve (2006)

In an alternate Victorian England, young Arthur and his sister Myrtle, residents of Larklight, a floating house in one of Her Majesty's outer space territories, uncover a spidery plot to destroy the solar system.

The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder (2010)

A historical figure already larger than life, Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton, pursues a legendary and violent Victorian creature, Spring Heeled Jack, at the behest of the prime minister.

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (2009)

In the early days of the Civil War, Inventor Leviticus Blue is commissioned to build a machine that can mine through Alaska’s ice and open up rumored gold fields in the Klondike; thus Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine is born. But on its first test run the Boneshaker goes terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turns anyone who breathes it into the living dead. A wall is built around Seattle to contain the gas and the zombies. Sixteen years later, Leviticus’ widow attempts to rescue their son, Ezekiel, who has braved the wall to vindicate his father.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (2009)

In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld (2010)

Continues the story of Austrian Prince Alek who, in an alternate 1914 Europe, eludes the Germans by traveling in the Leviathan to Constantinople, where he faces a whole new kind of genetically-engineered warship.

Steampunk'd, edited by Jean Rabe (2010)

Featuring 14 original stories from some of today's best science fiction writers, including Michael A. Stackpole, Jody Lynn Nye and William C. Dietz, this imaginative collection combines steampunk with the Victorian era and ponders how this fusion would impact our present and future.

The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul DiFilippo (1995)

Three stories are set in an offbeat and very alternative nineteenth century in which historical and fictional characters blend with hilarious results and include the titles, "Victoria," "Hottentots," and "Walt and Emily."

 

11/10

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