Steampunk Is The New Black
Right now we’re going to narrow the focus to discuss the steampunk stories that are currently branding their thermological mark on the world. As a literary genre, steampunk is poised to spill beyond its niche market gasbags to become a major trend.
Let us count the ways:
* It’s stylish, involving lots of shiny brass and oversized rivets.
* It offers stories for everyone, whether you prefer the dark and dangerous territory of steam-powered inventions, the heady inner workings of an analog computer, rousing airship battles, romance and witty banter, or insightful commentaries on human nature.
* Steampunk is like a sponge—it easily absorbs other genres such as mystery, romance, action/adventure, and horror—yet still retains its signature form.
* More people know about it thanks to this NY Times article.
* Lots of folks have been blogging about steampunk and spreading the buzz.
* Steampunk is showing up in more books and films, which are the subjects of my next two posts.
For the love of steampunk!
Let’s check out some recent developments in literary land:
Jennifer Jackson and Donald Maass of the Donald Maass Literary Agency have been busy with steampunk projects. Jackson represented Jay Lake for his debut novel MAINSPRING, and ESCAPEMENT hit bookstores earlier this year. Maass represented S.M. Peters for WHITECHAPEL GODS.
And Juno editor Paula Guran is obviously onto something because she recognized the wonderful story of Dru Pagliassotti’s CLOCKWORK HEART, which has garnered excellent reviews. These only scratch the surface of steampunk books on shelves right now, with more to come.
Earlier this year, two agent blogs—Colleen Lindsay’s The Swivet (“Steampunk is fashionable. Who knew? (We did.)” and Nathan Bransford in This Week In Publishing—picked up the NY Times article about the steampunk subculture. The increased exposure in newspapers, magazines, and blogs is making people sit up and take notice. All this week I’ll be embedding links to everything steampunk (er, almost everything. If I linked to every last Web site or article, we’d be here all year. Not that you’d mind, though, right?!
When I read Colleen Lindsay’s post, I decided I wanted to pick her brain about the steampunk genre. She graciously agreed to an interview. Colleen is an agent at FinePrint Literary Management, and you can read more about her extensive publishing background here. She also runs The Swivet, a blog you should bookmark This Minute if you consider yourself a serious SF/F fan. Or even if you’re not that serious. (The pictures of Stinkboy alone are worth the trip!)
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