Steampunk Fiction and the Women Who Write It

Lately, I’ve been exploring my predilection for all things “steampunk.” What is it about books like Perdido Street Station, shows like Battlestar Gallactica and Revolution, and sculptures made out of recycled metal and archaic technology, that excite and inspire me? Why do I swoon every time I watch the “Time’s Arrow” ST:TNG episode in which Data, in his 19th-century getup, builds a 24th-century machine out of the materials at hand? I just LOVE that stuff, like I love those computers that look so very “Victorian” but happen to have a screen and an internet connection.

So I started reading around about the beginnings of literary steampunk and came across a whole bunch of guys but not very many women. So of course I asked my Riot colleagues and bookish twitter people who their favorite steampunk-writin’ women were, and they came back at me with a TON of names. So here are ten women whose steampunk fiction is burning up the book world. Enjoy, and prepare to see your TBR list grow by miles.

In Translation: September Fiction

 Guess what, I looked at your TBR pile/list/etc. and determined that it NEEDS. MORE. TRANSLATED. FICTION.

And so, because I like you, and I know that you’re always looking for interesting fiction, voila! some newly-translated novels coming out in September. Enjoy!

Random Recommendation Guest Post: Shade's Children by Garth Nix

This recommendation comes from Kristian Wilson. Check out her website and follow her on facebook and on twitter @kristianwriting.

Shade's Children (1997) by Garth Nix
 

Nix's novel is "a dark SF story, in the same vein as Ender's Game, but set in a world where no one is interested in---or capable of---preserving the juvenile characters' innocent delusions." An Australian writer, Nix specializes in children's and young adult fantasy novels, which include the Old Kingdom series, The Seventh Tower series, and The Keys to the Kingdom series.

Recent World War II Literary Nonfiction

From the TBR Shelf #30: Normal People Don't Live Like This by Dylan Landis

Normal People Don't Live Like This (2009) by Dylan Landis

If I had known that Landis's recently-released novel Rainey Royal developed out of her earlier story collection, Normal People, I would have read them in chronological order. Reading Rainey first, though, worked just fine.

WELL. I fell in love by page 2 of Rainey with Landis's style- understated but strong, jaded but hopeful, controlled and confident. The stories in Normal People are written with that same wonderful voice, which draws you in to each of the main characters until you feel like you're a part of their lives. While Landis focuses mostly on the angsty teenage years of Leah Levinson, who grows up in 1970s New York, she occasionally veers off into other characters' minds, such as Leah's mother, her friend Oly's older sister Pansy, and Rainey herself.

Random Recommendation Guest Post: The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison

This recommendation comes from Josh Plattner. Check out his website and follow him on twitter @JoshPlattner.



The Empathy Exams (2014) by Leslie Jamison

Here Jamison offers us the chance to think more deeply about what it means to empathize with other people. Drawing on her work as a medical actor and personal experience of illness and injury, Jamison considers profound questions like "How should we care about one another?" and "How can we feel another’s pain, especially when pain can be assumed, distorted, or performed?" Her essays have appeared in Believer, Harper’s, Oxford American, A Public Space, and Tin House. The Gin Closet, Jamison's novel, came out in 2010.

Must-Read Novels in Translation

A Western Civilization History Course In 40 Audiobooks

Several years ago, my husband convinced me that audiobooks were not just for little old ladies who sat in their rocking chairs knitting afghans (though I love knitting). I just never really understood what audiobooks could do for me. Then one day, I listened to Proust’s biography while I did my usual Sunday afternoon house-scouring and EUREKA, the audiobook made my chores so much more bearable!

And then I started thinking. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to minor in history during college (sigh) but I luuurrrved reading about it. Why not design my own history course? I’d go through my library’s catalog and write a list of all the histories and biographies that piqued my interest (my tastes are pretty eclectic). Then, like all people obsessed with chronological order, I arranged them according to time period.

Books to Look For (September): Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Humor

Science Fiction

The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato (Harper Voyager, 368 pages, September 16)

I've been teaching myself about steampunk these past couple of months, and am quite excited for this debut novel by Beth Cato. A story about a healer and the intrigue and murder aboard the airship that's taking her to a war-torn region, The Clockwork Dagger brings together elements of fantasy, steampunk, and mystery in fascinating ways.

From the TBR Shelf #29: Virginia Woolf by Nigel Nicolson

Virginia Woolf (2000) by Nigel Nicolson

Except for Jacob's Room, my only experiences with the novels of Virginia Woolf ocurred in college. We read Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and several of her essays/talks, including "A Room of One's Own" and "Modern Fiction."

Except for "A Room," I found myself underwhelmed by what I read. Most likely, it was because I didn't approach her unique and experimental style with an open mind. I knew what I liked, and I found her works too bewildering to enjoy. Perhaps now, when I'm more seasoned, I'll be able to appreciate them more.

Random Recommendation Guest Post: Visible City by Tova Mirvis

This recommendation comes from Geoff. Lamb. You can follow him on twitter @Onceatenor.


Visible City (2014) by Tova Mirvis

Mirvis has written "an intimate and provocative novel about three couples whose paths intersect in their New York City neighborhood, forcing them all to weigh the comfort of stability against the costs of change." Her other novels include The Ladies Auxiliary (1999) and The Outside World (2004).

Review: Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood

Stone Mattress: Nine Tales (2014) by Margaret Atwood

To give you some context, the only other Atwood book I've read so far is The Handmaid's Tale, which was very smart and very creepy. I plan to read her Maddaddam trilogy soon.

As in The Handmaid's Tale, the narrative voice in Stone Mattress is, at times, confident, witty, and cutting.

Which I loved.

Of the nine tales, several stood out because of their unusual subject matter, by which I mean, issues that I personally haven't come across often in works of literary fiction: the problems and complications associated with aging, writers' relationships with zealous fans, and the conflict between a novel/poem and academic interpretations.