“Steampunk
is what happens when goths discover brown.”
by K. Z. Snow
That was the first
succinct definition I came upon for a category of speculative fiction that
began to intrigue me some years ago. I didn’t know much about steampunk then,
despite the fact it was spawned (I’ve since learned) in the 1980s, but it
sounded wonderfully quirky. I wanted to learn more about it.
At first, the definition I
quoted above made me think steampunk only appealed to people in their late
teens and early twenties who liked grunge and hardware in their cosplay. Not a
lot of potential there for a writer. Then I heard the term linked to the movie The League
of Extraordinary Gentlemen and the TV show Wild, Wild West. Okay, so that meant steampunk integrated
futuristic gadgetry into 19th-century life. It was sci fi in
retrograde, neither too light nor too dark, definitely fanciful and kind of fun.
But how did the book world
interpret steampunk beyond citing the work of H. G. Wells? My search for an
answer wasn’t easy. Too many readers/reviewers/literary pundits randomly
blurred the boundaries between fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk.
Then, of course, there were classic steampunk stories and contemporary
steampunk stories and, to muddy the waters even more, YA steampunk stories.
I narrowed my search to romances
and checked out offerings that were more or less current. The first examples I
found were The Parasol Protectorate
series and another one with “clockwork” in the title.
Oh boy. After I read the
blurbs and excerpts, my fascination all but evaporated. Seemed I’d stumbled
into a parade of standard Mary Sue UF heroines plunked down in Victorian
England. I pressed on but wasn’t encouraged. The vast majority of steampunk romances
seemed to feature standard Mary Sue UF heroines in Victorian England. Or the
American West. With endless descriptions of clothing. And repeated interjections
of keywords like steam. And countless
references to mandatory accessories.
Um…no. As much popularity as they enjoyed, they weren’t for
me.
Before I fully conceived Mongrel, I knew my approach would be
dictated by things I wanted to avoid—even if that approach kicked my book out
of the steampunk subgenre. Little did I realize my past reading had already given me a sense of what I was after. I
needn’t have looked through all those lists at all. (More about that in a bit.)
I didn’t want my characters to be gorgeous, self-possessed,
endlessly capable, and relentlessly clever. No Special Snowflakes allowed. Instead
I wanted mutts and misfits whose strength lay in their altruism and fundamental
decency. Those were the qualities that would help them do whatever needed to be
done to make their world a safer, saner place.
I also didn’t want
to hammer readers with overused steampunk words, objects, locations, and historical
figures. No plethora of parasols. No gaggle of goggles. No effin’ Queen
Victoria or Buffalo Bill. I wanted a setting untethered. Although I decided to
keep planet Earth and many aspects of its 19th century, I scrambled
and renamed continents and oceans, nations and cities. As a result, the country
in which Purin Province is located is a differently-imagined USA, and Purinton
is a squalid mash-up of a half dozen American and British urban areas. In the
end, though, it’s none of them. It’s purely Purinton.
My love of steampunk (and here’s where my previous
reading comes into play) ended up having little to do with costumes and gizmos
and extraordinary gentlemen or ladies. To put it bluntly, I was drawn to this world’s
potential for fucking people up through its grit and grime, crowding and crime,
social injustices and government corruption. Progress and change often took
grotesque turns in the late 1800s. Oddball inventions warred with science
warred with religion, spiritualism, and occult sects. Industrialism refashioned
physical as well as moral landscapes. Greed, ambition, and small-mindedness
often trumped the Golden Rule.
The steampunk universe I envisioned was more threatening, or at least confusing, than it
was awe-inspiring. How did people survive there, locked as they were into such a
confounding time full of such ugly places? In what did they find hope,
redemption?
Well…thank you, Charles Dickens, for planting a blueprint
in the back of my mind. All I had to do was dig it out.
Dickens’s work (and
maybe that of the “muckrakers,” like Upton Sinclair) was the filter through
which I finally interpreted steampunk to my satisfaction. I’d found the
direction I wanted/needed to take. And Mongrel
was born.
So for me, steampunk is what happens when Dickens
discovers the gay and the paranormal. Too late to turn back now. :-)
K. Z. Snow’s first steampunk
novel, Mongrel, is
widely available.
She’s currently working on
the third and final story in the trilogy.
Website: http://www.kzsnow.com
Delightful! I call myself a steampunk fan, and this will help me separate the wheat from the parasol, corset, and high button shoe chaff. If that makes any sense. The main reason I started reading MM romance is because I have zero tolerance for Mary Sues. I could care less if her gloves and hat match. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI too found the Mary Sue version of steampunk very off-putting and had given up on the genre (subgenre?). I can't wait to read Mongrel (thanks to Dreamspinner for making it available for free download) and look forward to Merman!
ReplyDeleteMongrel was the most original Steampunk I have ever read. Have you read Perdito Street Station? Mongrel has some of that feel to it, but not quite as harsh.
ReplyDeleteHi, Urb and Susan! Thanks for stopping by and assuring me I'm not alone in my vision. ;-)
ReplyDelete(And thank YOU, Kim, for letting me spend a day in your house.)
Hey, Susinok! Thank you. <3
ReplyDeleteYup, Perdido Street Station made me realize how far the boundaries of steampunk could be pushed. I'll never be able to stretch them as far as Mieville, though. His imagination is so rich and layered, I sometimes think he's half mad! What a brilliant writer.
Thanks for visiting, K.Z.! I just bought Mongrel and can't wait to read it and the sequel.
ReplyDeleteSo for me, steampunk is what happens when Dickens discovers the gay and the paranormal.
ReplyDeleteAs a Dickens lover, that sounds like a winning combination! I just downloaded Mongrel and am looking forward to reading it.
Thanks for the interesting post, K.Z. And thanks, Kim, for hosting!