How do you like your Steampunk?

[Captain Braid]

>Sorry if this topic has been raised before.<

Having just read the two Newbury and Hobbes books and having been given a copy of Clockwork Angel, which Im part way through, I've become curious and wondering how others feel about their Steampunk reading?

Do you prefer, a technological slant, with no or limited magical/supernatural elements?
or
Are you comfortable with the inclusion of Magic, Supernatural beings and The Faerie realm amidst the Coal and Steam?

I anticipate your replies.

[Dr Fidelius]

Any world which can include Professor Challenger can also include the Cottlingly Faeries.  Much of Victorian science is now seen to be balderdash; I see no reason to limit our Victorian-inspired stories to what is currently believed to be true.  As it stands, Steampunk technology is mostly fantasy- the airships are impossible, rayguns don't work that way, there are no Martians with War Machines, the Earth is not hollow, and there is no legitimate way to operate those mechanical arms.  So?

I do like internal consistency within the story -- if Queen Mab is sending an ambassador from the Unseelie Court to Whitehall, I want to know why she is constrained from using the High Hunt to defend England against the Ruritanian Assault Dirigible Fleet.

But I could most happily never see another zombie.

[Just call me Rob]

I don't have a preference really.
I have a broad imagination and there's space for all sorts of ideas and concepts.

I don't especially like books that get bogged down into the science and fantasy just for the sake of it – but, if it's written well then I'll happily read half a book of explanation and pseudo science as long as it's enjoyable to read.

I'm not a big fan of alternate storylines.
I don't like re-written King Arthur books or re-invented historical Celebrities.
I think I'd get frustrated reading about Tesla all the bloody time or other historic characters popping up an anything but cameos.

That said, I did once read a great story about Sherlock Holmes in the Cthulu world which was pretty damned good.

Edit...
Which I've just found again here;http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf
And it's be the great Neil Gaiman.

[Darin Calhoun]

If it makes me go "That is a cool idea" and feel entertained I'm happy 

[Dr. Madd]

>Sorry if this topic has been raised before.<

Having just read the two Newbury and Hobbes books and having been given a copy of Clockwork Angel, which Im part way through, I've become curious and wondering how others feel about their Steampunk reading?

Do you prefer, a technological slant, with no or limited magical/supernatural elements?
or
Are you comfortable with the inclusion of Magic, Supernatural beings and The Faerie realm amidst the Coal and Steam?

I anticipate your replies.

Its ok if I'm playing Arcanum.

[Gunner Gregson]

i like my steampunk with Vampires, zombies, werewolves and the such, but there existence needs to be believable.
im still reading through Boneshaker then onto Leviathan.

my vision of steampunk is a semi dystopian world, with supernatural hunters, and steam, not to everyones taste but i like it.

GG

[Professor Griffiths]

I like many others, feel that as long as it fits the story, then why not?

I love Supernatural stuffs and adding it into Steampunk is awesome.

[Dr. Madd]

Madd works through the natural world. A lot of biological discoveries were made in the 1880's.

[Atterton]

I like my steampunk cold, with a thin slice of lemon.

[Arkwright]

I like my steampunk cold, with a thin slice of lemon.

Its at times like this that I wish this forum had a like button!

[Pottclocker]

I am going to repeat myself here from another thread but with edits, since it is relevant:

My steampunk tastes are more in the realm of...hmm... Stardust (the film, having not read the novel which I hear isn't the same, then again it never is) airships and magic are awesome, or The Deepwood Trilogy (those wonderfully illustrated children's books about a boy named Twig who reaches a steampunk-ish city).
Speaking of childrens books, I loved the world of Mortal Engines but absolutely hated the writing style and the oh-so-predictable plot. Ok, ok it's a kid's book, fine, I have a copy just so I can look through it occasionally and read the parts where London eats other towns and villages muhahaha.
I have read Orthe by Mary Gentle; I really enjoyed it as it's science fiction but is set on a post-tech world. I have a big love for post-apocalyptic worlds but I'm not sure I like the steampunk version, I guess I'm a cyber gal at heart.

I will give most things a try whatever crazy concept it is but it needs to be written fairly realistically so I can believe in it. I need to BELIEVE it could happen, so I like a bit of science thrown in, but not too much or else it goes over my head.

Oh! Epic battles! Always need an epic battle somewhere so I can cry over someone's death *sigh*

Oh and I'm an anime fan so I like characters with big flashy weapons and quirky catch phrases haha that always goes down well  ^__^

[cer0]

Stardust (the film, having not read the novel which I hear isn't the same, then again it never is)

Neil Gaiman has explicitly stated that he never wanted it to be the same. He wrote the Stardust story as a fairy tale, and as all good fairy tales are, it should be re-imagined and altered by the current storyteller to suit their tastes. He was very happy with how the film came out as I recall.

Some stories should be told as close to the original as possible. Others should grow in the telling and change as they are brought to new audiences.

[Atterton]

My god, an author actually liked the movie version of their book? The apocalypse is nearing I tell you.

[pakled]

I like obscure allusions to real events, trying to figure out who the characters are really supposed to be (like Turtledoves' Marching through Peachtree; the Civil War, but with magic...
A good story, good characters, the usual, otherwise...

[Dr. Madd]

I like my steampunk cold, with a thin slice of lemon.

Not a bad prep. a lot in common with my method for cooking Kiwis.

[Hamilton]

 As it stands, Steampunk technology is mostly fantasy- the airships are impossible, rayguns don't work that way, there are no Martians with War Machines, the Earth is not hollow, and there is no legitimate way to operate those mechanical arms.  

Sir!

Are you mad? Obviously if one plays with blimps one cannot expect miracles but a semi-ridged or better still , a ridged - most certain does work and satisfies on most occasions.

With regard to rayguns, yes they may be employed by the visibly non-proletariat and in that respect may considered gauche caviar. Nevertheless their functionality is not in question merely their efficacy. As is often the case, nomenclature is simply another aspect of taxonomy. Would the concept be better regarded if it is named a Interfield Disuptor or an Infrared Controller. I therefore contend that rayguns do work but not with a flash and bang.

Of course Martians do not have war machines - our airships destroyed them with their rayguns!

You appear to also suggest that the Earth is not hollow and I agree. Utter balderdash...why the earth is filled with all sorts of lost civilisations and burrowing evil Empires, not to mention a fully working Cretaceous to Tertiary period (depending on location naturally).

On your last point I take issue at your maladroit venture into mechanical prosthetics. I am rightly proud of my appendages and consider those which utilize nuts & bolts with almost equal affection - as do many others.

Yours in affectation,

Lord Hamilton,

Lord Hamilton is currently wrestling with a large bar bill, hopefully normal service will be resumed.
 

[Dr Fidelius]

Good Lord, man.  Don't you recognize disinformation when you read it? 

The Vril-ya are certainly monitoring all our communications -- if they suspect our true abilities they will launch an all-out attack before we are properly prepared!  That could spell the doom of all Western Civilization, as well as making things hugely uncomfortable for the rest of the world.  We must continue to lull them ibnto a false sense of security until we can complete the fleet of digging leviathans and launch a pre-emptive strike on Agartha.

So, no, none of the reports of our techncal prowess are accurate -- they are ALL FICTIONAL! (wink, wink)

[Professor Jacobs]

My favorite kind of steampunk takes fantasy elements and attempts to view them through the lense of science, or rather the science of the setting.

For example, two of my favorite authors right now are Cherie Priest and Gail Carriger. Priest's stuff is definitely the grittier of the two and deals with zombification, but instead of being magic or voodoo or a curse, it's a (possibly volcanic) gas released from deep tunnels under the Pacific northwest. It isn't viewed as fantasy, it's seen as a disease and potential biological weapon by both sides of the Civil War.

Carriger is a bit more lighthearted and has werewolves, vampires and ghosts, along with a new breed called the preternatural or soulless. Again, the creatures aren't treated as mythological beings in the flesh, they're seen as being the natural result of an imbalance of "soul" in the blood. Supernaturals have too much and preternaturals have too little, with humans in the middle. A preternatural acts as a kind of black hole that can temporarily dampen supernaturals, and supernaturals can attempt to shunt some of their excess soul into humans to convert them. Ghosts as the lingering psychic imprints of dead humans who had a slight imbalance of souls.

I think it stems back to growing up on so much Lovecraft as a child. A lot of people overlook that he wrote his stories as science fiction rather than fantasy, and take the mythos to mean an actual fantasy mythology. The Old Gods aren't deities so much as they are alien entities powerful beyond human comprehension, the deep ones are human-alien hybrids, most of the terrors come from the stars, so on and so forth.

Straight up fantasy does have its place though. I've recently gotten into Stephen Hunt's books and have been enjoying them. Machines having loa spirits and whatnot, very neat concepts.