Haiti

This isn't steampunk, but it's important. Surely everyone knows about the earthquakes in Haiti. Brass Goggles had a great idea and put a link to Doctors Without Borders on their site. Another place to donate is the Red Cross. I only have three or four readers, but if everyone donates just a little bit, it will help.

There is some good news. Our armed forces have gotten there and are coordinating the release of supplies, shoring up the efforts of the religious institutions who were the first to help, but are stretched thin. The 82nd Airborne got there a couple days ago with cargo planes, and the Coast Guard is there, along with a hospital ship from the Red Cross. The generous aid from around the world is able to start finding its way to people, but the news is still devastating to watch on TV, and there are people in need on the outskirts of the cities too. Please keep praying for Haiti and ask your friends to try and give something too.

Baby's First Steampunk, Revisited

Today, I had the pleasure of working in the children's section at Barnes and Noble. It's my favorite part of my job, actually, because the kids are so into all these stories, and most of them are really cute. Plus, a lot of kids' books now have a little steampunk flavor. I also like that we can wear interesting clothes and visible tattoos at work, like this steampunkish ensemble I had on today:

Anyway, I suddenly realized, in my previous discussion of what might be a child's first introduction to steampunk-type notions, assuming he didn't have steampunk parents, I only thought of Talespin, which I still think is Baby's First Steampunk, and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. But I left out something huge! Thomas the Tank Engine! I didn't think of it because it wasn't on when I was a kid, but there were several kids in the the store today who knew all kinds of stuff about steam engines! We have a big train set in the children's section, with the little wooden Thomas trains on it. One of the kids, who was probably about three, was telling his mom all about how the engine was thirsty, and he was getting a drink under the water tower, and what a roundhouse was, and what the caboose did. There was also a girl who made all the engines drive around and get water, and use their brakes down the hill, and wait for the signals to get into the roundhouse. A couple of other kids played games that were similarly detailed about how trains worked. I just think it's cool how kids are still learning about a lifestyle and technology from a bygone age.

So Thomas the Tank Engine gets points for the coveted title, Baby's First Steampunk.

Steampunk is pretty famous...

... or at least famous enough to rate its own endcap at Barnes and Noble, where I work as a purveyor of fine reading material. Imagine my surprise, upon clocking in, to turn around and discover a display called Steampunk Fiction! There were a handful of the latest offerings in the genre, and I thought it was a little odd. My colleagues had, with the exception of one or two people, not heard of steampunk, except from me, but I guess someone in the company back east had.

What I found odd specifically, aside from the very existence of such an endcap, was the selection of titles. There is actually some entertaining steampunk out there right now, but they missed some of the good ones, like Affinity Bridge, and included, of all things, Golden Compass. I think there is a fine line. Golden Compass looks steampunk, which, really, I suppose, is enough, since steampunk is a visual style. But the story had nothing to do with steam machines or Victorian science, and really only touches on any kind of science tangentially. I know this seems awfully stubborn, but the mere presence of airships doesn't make something steampunk. Is the alternative universe in Doctor Who where Rose gets stuck, and Mickey turns into a badass, steampunk? No.

I just don't think Golden Compass is steampunk, but if you watch the movie and fast-forward through the boring parts, it sure is pretty. Stardust is more steampunk, with the coolest airship in any movie, probably.

Another couple of books that looked good, but which I haven't read are Boneshaker (it's not about a bicycle, but that was why it caught my eye, along with the shiny goggles on the cover), and Grand Tour, which looks adorable and fun. They also had Leviathan, by Scott Westerfield, which is a totally epic steampunk version of World War I, for teeneagers! It has great illustrations and good characters, and better still, a journal that matches it. I saw the cover, and totally wanted one, but not enough to spend money on it. But then I looked inside, and discovered.... the pages aren't lined!!! What they called a journal was, in fact, a sketchbook, the holy grail of little books that fit in your purse! It has lovely, cream-colored paper with just enough weight and texture to get a nice line, and it doesn't smudge. I bought two.

But I digress. What book do you think was not on that endcap? Something that really should have been. Difference Engine! William Gibson's Difference Engine was not on the steampunk endcap, and woe to humble book grunts who try and change the required title lists handed down to us. Now, I personally could not get through the first couple of chapters of that book, and I find it really dull, since it doesn't feel, to me, like the characters fit in that time period. It's really more cyberpunk with fancier clothes. That being said, if you are a bookstore, and you are taking it upon yourself to introduce a genre to the nation, shouldn't you include that genre's seminal work?

Not including Difference Engine, and including Golden Compass, shows their understanding of steampunk to be purely based on style, and not based on the philosophy or themes that make it a defined genre of science fiction, however fanciful it gets. The sheer variety and creativity is a big part of what makes steampunk so appealing, but a nod to the canon would be nice. I myself would have included some Jules Verne for good measure, even though, obviously, he was just writing science fiction in his time, steampunk not yet being a twinkle in his eye.

Still, I'm glad people are reading steampunk books, and writing steampunk books, and that the new ones seem pretty good. Perhaps there will be a market clamoring for more when I eventually crank mine out...