Last Tuesday, I posted a review of Mark Hodder’s award-winning book, “The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack,” which was my first true exposure to the steampunk genre of fiction. For those of you unfamiliar with steampunk, it’s a genre of fiction that combines alternate history, science fiction and speculative fiction. Think “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” meets “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” with healthy doses of Sherlock Holmes and Van Helsing tossed in.
Almost immediately, I began searching for steampunk recommended reading lists, and I wasn’t disappointed by what I found. Tonight, I present you with two of the best.
The best list I found, by far, was on the Steampunk Scholar blog (http://steampunkscholar.blogspot.com), which is written by the highly talented Mike Perschon, a doctoral student at the University of Alberta and a member of the English faculty at Grant MacEwan University.
Back in July 2009, Perschon told readers that when he decided to study steampunk for his PhD research, he began putting together “A Steampunk Scholar’s Reading List: Primary Sources.” This list includes steampunk books that he found on Wikipedia, steampunkopedia, darkfantasy.org and librarything.com.
What follows is Perschon’s list, and I encourage your to visit his site to read his remarks about the list as well as his other posts about steampunk. Here’s the list:
- The 6 Messiahs by Mark Frost (1995)
- The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives by James P. Blaylock (2008)
- The Affinity Bridge by George Mann (2009)
- Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon (2007)
- Airborn by Kenneth Oppel (2004)
- The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia (2008)
- The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (2000)
- Anno Dracula by Kim Newman (1993)
- The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (1983)
- The Apparition Trail by Lisa Smedman (2007)
- Batman: Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn and Mike Mignola (1989)
- Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett (2009)
- Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (2009)
- The Cabinet of Wonders: The Kronos Chronicles Book 1 by Marie Rutoski (2008)
- Castle Falkenstein: Adventures in the Age of Steam by Michael Alvin Pondsmith (1994)
- Cathedral Child by Lea Hernandez (1998)
- Changeless: The Parasol Protectorate: Book the Second by Gail Carriger (2010)
- Chenda and the Airship Brofman by Emilie P. Bush (2009)
- Clockwork Angels by Lea Hernandez (1999)
- Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliosotti (2010)
- The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt (2007)
- The Dark Volume by Gordon Dahlquist (2009)
- The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson (1996)
- The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (1992)
- The Digging Leviathan by James P. Blaylock (1984)
- The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer (2010)
- El Sombre: Pax Britannia Series by Al Ewing (2007)
- Escapement by Jay Lake (2008)
- Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology by Nick Gevers (2008)
- Fitzpatrick’s War by Theodore Judson (2004)
- Flaming London by Joe R. Lansdale (2006)
- Full Steam Ahead by Nathalie Gray (2010)
- The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee (2010)
- Ghosts of Manhattan by George Mann (2010)
- Girl Genius: Omnibus Edition No. 1 by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio (2006)
- The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Vol. One by Gordon Dahlquist (2008)
- The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Vol. Two by Gordon Dahlquist (2009)
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (1995)
- The Hollow Earth by Rudy Rucker (2006)
- The House of Storms by Ian R. MacLeod (2005)
- Human Nature: Pax Britannia Series by Jonathan Green (2009)
- Infernal Devices by Phillip Reeve (2007)
- Infernal Devices: A Mad Victorian Fantasy by K.W. Jeter (1987)
- Into the Aether by Richard Lupoff (1974)
- Iron Council by China Mieville (2005)
- The Kingdom Beyond the Waves by Stephen Hunt (2008)
- The Kingdom of Ohio by Matthew Flaming (2009)
- Larklight: A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space by Phillip Reeve (2006)
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. One by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (2000)
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. Two by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (2003)
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Kevin J. Anderson (2003)
- The League of Heroes by Xavier Maumejean (2005)
- Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld (2009)
- Leviathan Rising: Pax Britannia Series by Jonathan Green (2008)
- The Light Ages by Ian R. MacLeod (1997)
- The List of 7 by Mark Frost (1993)
- Mainspring by Jay Lake (2007)
- The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne: Return to the Center of the Earth and Other Extraordinary Voyages, New Tales by the Heirs of Jules Verne, edited by Mike Ashley and Eric Brown (2005)
- Morlock Knight by K.W. Jeter (1979)
- Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve (2005)
- Napoleon Concerto: A Novel in Three Movements (2009)
- New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear (2007)
- A Nomad of the Time Streams: A Scientific Romance by Michael Moorcock, 1995
- Not Less Than Gods by Kage Baker (2010)
- Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (2000)
- The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling (2003)
- Predator’s Gold by Phillip Reeve (2006)
- Retribution Falls: Tales of the Ketty Jay 1 by Chris Wooding (2010)
- The Scar by China Mieville (2002)
- Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel (2005)
- Soulless: The Parasol Protectorate: Book the First by Gail Carriger (2009)
- Starclimber by Kenneth Oppel (2008)
- Steampunk, edited by Jeff Vandermeer and Ann Vandermeer (2008)
- Steampunk: Drama Obscura by Joe Kelly (2003)
- Steampunk: Manimatron by Joe Kelly (2001)
- The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo (1995)
- Steamed: A Steampunk Romance by Katie MacAlister (2010)
- The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers (2008)
- The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (1997)
- Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede (2009)
- Unnatural History: Pax Britannia Series by Jonathan Green (2007)
- The Year the Cloud Fell by Kurt A. Giambastiani (2001)
- War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, edited by Kevin J. Anderson (1997)
- Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters (2008)
- The Women of Nell Gwynne’s by Kage Baker (2009)
- Wonderdark: The Awakening of Zuza by Dazjae Zoem (2009)
- Zeppelins West by Joe R. Lansdale (2001)
Also on Perschon’s site, you’ll find links to several other interesting steampunk reading lists, including “A Steampunk Scholar’s Secondary Sources,” “Top 10 Steampunk Books,” “Top Five Classic Steampunk (1971-1999),” “Top 10 New Steampunk (2000-2009),” “Top Five Steampunk Comics/Graphic Novels,” and “Top Five Steampunk of 2010.” If you go to his home page, you’ll find links at the top of the page that will take you to these lists.
Before I close this thing out for today, here’s one more list. It’s from a March 4, 2010 article by John Klima on libraryjournal.com called “Steampunk: 20 Core Titles.” This list includes 10 classic steampunk works and 10 recent titles. Here they are:
The Classics:
1. The Prophecy Machine by Neal Barrett Jr. (2000)
2. Homunculus by James P. Blaylock (2000)
3. The Steampunk Trilogy by Paul Di Filippo (1997)
4. The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (1992)
5. Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter (1987)
6. The Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock (1971)
7. The Anubus Gates by Tim Powers (1997)
8. Steampunk, edited by Jeff Vandermeer and Ann Vandermeer (2008)
9. Jack Faust by Michael Swanwick (1998)
10. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (2005)
Recent Works of Note:
1. Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers (2009)
2. The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes (2009)
3. The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (2009)
4. Soulless by Gail Carriger (2009)
5. The Glass Books of the Dream by Gordon Dahlquist (2006)
6. Extraordinary Engines, edited by Nick Gevers (2008)
7. Mainspring by Jay Lake (2008)
8. Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (2003)
9. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (2002)
10. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (2009)
In the end, how many of these books have you had a chance to read? Which did you like or dislike? Which was you favorite and why? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.
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