The steampunk genre has been captured via the written word for decades.  Here, you may discuss all steampunk-related fiction.

More than ten decades.  Surely we would include Saki's "When William Came", which tells the story of the fall of the British Empire from the point of view of an ethnologist who missed the fall because he was busy investigating the lives of a remote tribe in Siberia.

There are others of the era from 1890 to 1910, many of which were collected together by Michael Moorcock in the anthology "Before Armageddon", which he edited back in the 1970s.  They include several tales of different World War ones, written before it happened, ranging from G T Chesney's "The Battle of Dorking", which tells of the conquest of England by a joint French-Russian force to a thing called "When the New Zealander Comes" (by some obvious pseudonym that I shall treat as 'anonymous' published in Strand Magazine in 1911) which tells of an archeologist visiting the ruins of Europe.

And of course, then there are some of Moorcock's own stories, Particularly "The Warlord of the Air", "The Land Leviathan" and "The Steel Tsar" - which are the most obviously steampunk novels, although things like "The Ice Schooner", the 'Captain Bastable' stories and even 'Count Brass' probably fit into the genre if we push hard enough.

This Wiki contains a Literature list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_steampunk_works

More Books: http://etheremporium.pbworks.c...Steampunk-Essentials
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:41, Sun 20 Feb 2011.

I was wondering if anyone hear would be interested in editing/proofing/beta reading my novel once I get it cleaned up and the way I like it? I'm in a critique group but they obviously don't grasp the concept of steampunk because they keep pointing out historical inaccuracies, even after I've told them steampunk makes it basically an alternate history.

edited to add: It starts out briefly in England and then comes to America and is a romance. So steampunk Western romance.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:43, Sun 04 Dec 2011.

Sounds interesting though i myself am new to the whole steampunk stuff.

Well I'm in a critique group but I don't think the people doing them truly understand that steampunk is an alternate history, and thus they keep telling me my history is off and that nothing I have laid out will work. Even when I pointed out that it's an alternate history.

Well i suck at history so you're safe from me on that front ;-)

Heh. Except for things that really stand out, I do too.

It has to be really standing out if you want me to notice. I managed to ditch history clas real soon as F was my favorite grade.

I only took American history...I would have enjoyed some other history but I feared getting the god awful teacher again that I couldn't hear sitting in the back of the class. But somehow, even if I had, I don't think I would ever have learned that at no time before the 20th century that a single woman in England would wear nothing but pastels. And that lace wasn't abundant. I always thought lace making was an ancient art.

Teachers are such good motivators ;-)

*laugh* How very very true.

so i believe we havent established if you actually want me to attempt to read your writing from a non scholar point of view ;-)

I do, I just need to clean it up and polish it, which I'll do after Christmas :D

If you still want another pov tell me. i would love to read a good story from time to time. I'm not an expert, just a consumer. I do not know anything about literature or sytnax or any other idiot. But I can tell a good story from a bad one. Tell me if you interested.

A few sentences to myself. I am studiing engineering (precisely microtechnic and mechatronic) in germany at the time being. I would love to be your beta reader, also I will not be alble to help you with correct grammar But at least I'm an Steampunk fan.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:56, Sat 17 Dec 2011.

That sounds good. Aside from the grammar, etc. I'd like to know if the story flows, if it's believable (well, as believable as it can be, being steampunk and having dinosaurs in the West, LOL)

Well, I'm reading DrMcNinja, so I'm prepared for the worst :D

Looks like it has been awhile, since fiction was mentioned.  First post here, working on an impressive introduction, but I really am not that interesting;)  Have to say not Victorian, but part of a the broadening genre of "Post Apocalyptic Steam-punk," but "The Wind-Up Girl" deserved both the HUGO and Nebula in my humble opinion.  Scariest concept I have come across since reading Gibson in 1984.

I don't know how many here are familiar with PJ Farmer's Wold Newton Universe, which puts many of the Victorian and later fictional characters into a single universe, spawned by a meteorite strike near the community of Wold Newton in Yorkshire.

Black Coat Press has also extended this concept into French sci-fi and pulp literature, through their translations of lesser known French works of the 19th and early 20th century.  Their Shadowmen books give a nice resource for someone wanting to create a LXG sort of world in France with characters like Arsene Lupin, Fantomas, and Dr. Omega.  Many of these extend into the 1910-1920 era, but can be pushed back into an earlier era, as the DM chooses.

Just e-published "Sky Pirates Over London", the first in the "Chronicles of a Gentlewoman" series of steampunk adventure thrillers. So if you're into that sort of thing, check it out:

http://www.pomoconsumption.com...pirates-over-london/
This message was last edited by the player at 17:35, Fri 05 July 2013.

   Thanks Tortuga, definitely will, glad to see the genre is getting some much deserved attention.

This message was deleted by the player at 16:54, Tue 28 Aug 2012.

The aforementioned book, "Sky Pirates Over London", is free today through Amazon.com. Check it out if you're a fan of airships, explosions, and Tesla.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008SKX74K/?tag=mcoorlim-20

Can anyone point me in the direction of some quality steampunk writing online that can be accessed for free?

I need a Kindle :(

Kindle now has a free download that runs on PCs. I got that to read Tortuga's work above.

For free books try Google Books at

http://books.google.com/books

And in searches go for "full preview" or something like that. Those have PDF etc downloads.

Books that are no longer copyrighted, ie over 100 years, aka Victoria are often free PDFs.

Project Gutenberg has tons of free texts from the era.

http://www.gutenberg.org/

Kewl if people find specific books on those you are encouraged to post links here.

I know I found stuff on boilers on Google Books but that was months ago. Used it to help gauge stuff for an airship design.

Ya'll is pimps, keeps me inspired :)

If you missed this the first time around, I'm giving it away again free today.

And remember there is free kindle software for the PC. The buy link can take you there.

 Thats true, went on a bit of a downloading frenzy there. Theres books all about fighting on the North West frontier, the Sudan, the Boer War and even some First World War texts which are really excellent period pieces. A few cool ones on airships as well. This site is a goldmine!

I encourage you to post any direct links to books on gutenburg. (it is a legal site)

Helping each other find information is a part of our mission here.

I'll stick up some of the ones I've found pretty cool. I'm generally more interested in military fiction so this will reflect that!:L Quite good if you're trying to evoke a Victorian/Edwardian feel for your military though as these books give you a handle on the structure and ranks.


Gallipoli Diary by Sir Ian Hamilton. Interesting to read how forces were deployed and arranged in an era when wireless was still quite unreliable. If you're doing any large scale steampunk campaigns, it might be worth it!
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19317

An account of the War in the Air in the Great War, mentions dirigibles and airships a lot, quite interesting.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/793

Story of the Malakand Field Force-Winston Churchill as a war correspondent on the North-West frontier, really great reading if you're trying to imagine the border wars at that stage. Its like something out of a Kipling text.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9404

An account of a Highland regiment operating in Mesopotamia during the First World War. Far more steampunky then the Western Front, you have mobility, two Empires clashing and adventures in a far off locale.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files.../22103-h/22103-h.htm

Another account of Mesopotamia with a Machine gun squadron this time.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17109

A good account by a war correspondent who attached himself to Boer and British forces in the Boer War.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16462

Can't recommend trawling through this site enough. It really helps you get a clearer picture of these times!

Thanks for posting!

I've got a new release, if anyone reads Steampunk thriller ebooks: http://www.mcoorlim.com
This message was last edited by the player at 13:37, Wed 10 Oct 2012.

After reading through most of the Jules Verne collection (great stuff, written in the latter part of the nineteenth century) which I highly recommend to gain a flavor of the Victorian time period. The language and verbage is quite different from modern writing. (i.e., One doesn't 'leave' a place; one 'quits' the place.) It's all cowboy science, filled with concepts and understandings of the world at the time.

Another good book for recommended reading is 'The Good Soldier Svejk' which is WWI era writings (Czechoslovakian author).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...d_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk

Found a link of Victorian and Edwardian books

http://www.goodreads.com/shelf.../victorian-edwardian

http://openlibrary.org/books/O...ing_and_manly_sports.


Boxing, use of pins (think bowling pin) and other forms of exercise.

I didn't see these on the book lists earlier in this thread, but here's some more reading:

Steampunk'd, edited by Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg; 14 original stories.

Captain Nemo, by K. J. Anderson.

The Doomsday Vault (2011)
The Impossible Cube (2012)
The Dragon Men (2012)
The Havoc Machine (2013)
...all 'tales of the Clockwork Empire' by Steven Harper
I've only the first one so far. It was pretty good. Good Victoriana and Steampunk flavor.

I've also read Camera Obscura by Lavie Tidmar. I didn't like the setting that much, but there was some great scenes in it.

Not entirely sure this is the right place for it, but the thread title said 'reference' so here is will I'll put it.

http://outofthiscentury.wordpr...self-defense-toolkit
"The Victorian Gentleman's Self-Defense Toolkit"
a post on a website called Out of this Century. It seems to be inactive now, but it has a lot of interesting history articles like this one, not just limited to the Victorian era.

GM edit: http code attempt missed something, tried to fix, didn't work so just put it into a simple display. tested link okay
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:36, Tue 15 Oct 2013.

I agree with the sentiment that sword canes are a bad choice. During a time of significant leg pains I took to using a cane for recreational walks. Happened across a sword cane at a flea market and picked it up. At first it was a fun show off. I soon realized that the thin and short blade was pretty useless. I would be so much better fighting and defending with the 3' steel rod that was the cane. Heavy, long and durable. I removed the blade from the top part, it was just shoved in a rubber stopper. This also avoided the potential legal issues of a 'concealed weapon'.

I feel the same way. I usually carry a folding pocket knife with me and I've run into trouble at some places for a 'concealed weapon.' I can only imagine the trouble a sword cane would cause.

That said, it's a pretty cool idea. In the right type of setting, one where realism isn't a hard and fast rule, I could see it being an applicable choice.

You would want one of the 2' - 2 1/2' blades inside. Mine was one of the shorter 8 - 12" which gave up a lot of the length over 3' of blunt metal cane.

I just wouldn't want to be in some minor issue like a push and move at a market and a smarter cop check the handle escalating/giving a crime to me.

As they say... 'don't kill them, its too much paperwork'

I've got a mystery coming out at the end of the month, taking place in an overrun mental hospital.

Overrun with what?

And please, share the title. I'll have to look for it. :)

Overrun with inmates.

It's called "Dreams of the Damned", and you can see the cover at http://www.galvaniccentury.com - It's the ninth in the series, so it'll be all the way at the bottom of the page.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:08, Thu 17 Oct 2013.

Sounds good, I'll take the plunge.

I just released Dreams of the Damned onto Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GCI72T6/?tag=mcoorlim-20
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/?ean=2940148890072
This message was last edited by the player at 13:26, Fri 01 Nov 2013.

Thanks for the link! Bought it :) Looking forward to reading it this weekend!

Came across a book in a Used Book Store called "The Iron Ship". It is about the "Great Britain" the first iron hull, steam powered liner. Interesting bits in it though not sure Ill read it cover to cover.

Ok, this may seem like a stupid question but it seems a number of you are more well read than myself. There is only so much time I get to read anymore sadly and not enough steampunk books on audio I find.

Anyway I was wondering if anyone can recommend any streaming books that deal with automatons where they are almost like robots? Also, any books that deal with mechanical prosthetics? I want to see how some authors have used and described them as I've seen some of the stuff in RPG books but want to see how it is employed in writing. The few times I've seen the robot equivalent the have only been superficial.

Hmmm outside of Steampunk the Cyberpunk genre, especially in the 90s, really played up on those themes. At least thats what I believe. May help with your search.

Well, I know a few cyberpunk fiction with all of that in there.  I wanted to see the steampunk take on it as I know a few that have featured it but not really in depth.  But I know there are a lot of books and story collections out there that I've not gotten to yet in the steampunk genre.

I've dealt with clockwork automatons a few times, though in my fiction they've had biological components.

The first was a human brain and spinal column set into a clockwork framework, a living doll, sort of, that powered itself through the accumulation of galvanic energy generated through its movements. Sort of a perpetual-motion machine.

The second were the cogsmen, corpses fitted with mechanical control mechanisms slaved to the same signal, acting almost as a single organism.

Actually at least one of us here has published books. I consider it okay if they answer that question with a link to a book that has this sort of material in it. Same as if someone where to link to outside author's Amazon page.

I recorded a short "what is steampunk" podcast. Professor Elemental, steampunk hip-hop artist, was kind enough to let me use his music.

http://www.mcoorlim.com/2015/01/twik002-steampunk/

Well there is a Doctor Snuggles youtube channel

https://www.youtube.com/channe...xxWdEFmMffXkUpFHuUog

He uses alot of wood, diesel and inventor contraptions that would any steampunker inspired!

Not a paid advert but I just finished reading 'Bartlebly and James' whose author Michael Coorlim I believe is on this forum.  I enjoyed the book a great deal.  I think that the depth of characterization could be increased but overall I recommend it.  I've bought the rest of the books in the series actually...

Two Months Later...

Glad you liked it, Helvorn. I hope you find that the characters' depth improves in the sequels.

We just finished producing the 6th book, Iron Horses Can't Be Broken, as a full-cast 11-episode audio play, which we'll be releasing through a podcast in early 2016.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Tue 15 Dec 2015.

By all means let us know of interesting things on the net. Not that much different from suggesting a Blockbuster Movie to a new era Small firm youtube.

Just try and put it in the right thread
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:20, Wed 16 Dec 2015.