Title: Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
Editors: Kelly Link and Gavin J Grant
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Buy Link: Buy Steampunk! Here!
Rating: 
You Need To Read
Reviewed By: Lupa
Blurb:
Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships. Here, fourteen masters of speculative fiction, including two graphic storytellers, embrace the genre’s established themes and refashion them in surprising ways and settings as diverse as Appalachia, Ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California. Visionaries Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant have invited all-new explorations and expansions, taking a genre already rich, strange, and inventive in the extreme and challenging contributors to remake it from the ground up. The result is an anthology that defies the genre even as it defines it.
With fantastically strange stories by: M. T. Anderson, Holly Black, Libba Bray, Shawn Cheng, Cassandra Clare, Cory Doctorow, Dylan Horrocks, Kathleen Jennings, Elizabeth Knox, Kelly Link, Garth Nix, Christopher Rowe, Delia Sherman, Ysabeau S. Wilce
Review:
I have always been a huge fan of the steampunk genre – so when I saw this anthology I jumped at the chance to read it.
There are 14 contributions to this delightful anthology.
Some Fortunate Future Day By Cassandre Clarke is the story of a young woman named Rose who finds a soldier in her back garden one day. This is a great short story. I loved the animatronic dolls that keep Rose company.
The Last Ride Of The Glory Girls By Libby Bray is the story of a all girl group of thieves and their undying friendship. This is a great story. I love the ending.
Clockwork Fagin By Cory Doctow is the sweet story of a group of children who have been injured by machinery at the St. Agatha’s Home for the Rehabilitation of Crippled Children. This is one of my favorite stories in the anthology.
Seven Days Beset By Demons By Shawn Cheng is a very well done steampunk genre comic.
Hand In Glove By Ysabeau S. Wilce is the story of Detective Anibal Williams and Constable Etreyo and the wild discovery they make and have to deal with.
The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor By Delia Sherman is a great story about a ghost an lord and a kitchen maid. This story is very well written and fun to read.
Gethsmane By Elizabeth Knox is the story of a group of people who are on a volcanic island. “Theres no reason to suppose a volcano isn’t like a boiler.” Famous last words I think. This is a great short story.
The Summer Double By Kelly Link is the story of a young woman who discovers great mysteries in an old house. This was an interesting story, not as heavily steampunk as the rest in the anthology.
Peace In Our Time By Garth Nix is the story of a young woman’s visit to see the former Grand Technomancer. This is a very interesting story.
Nowhere Fast By Christoper Rowe is the story of a young woman and her friends in a alternate world where personal vehicles are almost unheard of.
Finishing School By Kathleen Jennings is a comic book style steampunk story. Very well done.
Steam Girl By Dylan Horrocks is a good story about two misfits and the hard facts of reality.
Everything Admirable and Obliging By Holly Black is the story of an orphan heiress who dislikes machines and her cousin. This one has a real classic steampunk feel.
The Oracle Engine By M.T. Anderson is the story of a young Roman man and his quest for revenge. This was a slightly odd steampunk story but it was good.
I really enjoyed all of the stories in this anthology. I loved the diversity of the stories as well and the fact that they spanned some of the huge genre that is steampunk. This is one You Need To Read.
