Ann and Jeff VanderMeer viennent de faire une anthologie Steampunk aux Etats Unis. C'est l'occasion de reparler de ce genre si particulier. Petit extrait d'une interview :

BOOKGASM: While “steampunk” certainly is an easier genre to describe than “the new weird,” it seems like there are so many subgenres and splinters from it that it’s not as simple as a sentence would allow. But assuming you were limited to one sentence …

JEFF VANDERMEER: Yeah, that is tough because there have been many different “waves” of steampunk, and it seems to me now to be more of a subculture – take a look at things like the Steampunk Workshop, Brass Goggles, SteamPunk Magazine and a ton more – than an actual literary movement. I’d say steampunk has a more idealistic view of science, too.

ANN VANDERMEER: On the other hand, you could just call it fun fiction with airships and clockwork pseudo-Victorian devices in it.


BOOKGASM: Steampunk has been around for a while now, so what made the time ripe for an anthology? Is this the first anthology of its kind?

ANN VANDERMEER: Given the popularity of the steampunk culture, it’s the perfect time for an anthology like this. The fiction is just one aspect of the culture, and one some “steampunks” are only discovering now.

JEFF VANDERMEER: It is the first anthology collecting the classic stories of the steampunk genre, I believe. Honestly, most of the anthology could’ve been put together a few years ago, but what would’ve always been an interesting project from a creative standpoint also now has a commercial viability to publishers.

http://www.bookgasm.com/reviews/sci-fi/qa-ann-jeff-vandermeer/#more-2856