Much discussion recently on the subject of steampunk literature as I enter into the field for the first time with Soulless. (Yes look at the date of this blog post, it’s from 2009.)
Here’s a steampunk booklist (as of 2009*):
- The Windup Girl ~ Paolo Bacigalupi
- New Amsterdam ~ Jonathan Barnes
- The Somnambulist ~ Elizabeth Bear
- Crystal Rain ~ Tobias S. Buckell
- Scar Night ~ Alan Campbell
- The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters ~ Gordon Dahlquist
- The Steampunk Trilogy ~ Paul Di Filippo
- The Difference Engine ~ William Gibson
- Thunderer ~ Felix Gilman
- Neverwhere ~ Neil Gaiman
- The Court of the Air ~ Stephen Hunt
- Morlock Night ~ K. W. Jeter
- The Age of Unreason ~ J. Gregory Keyes
- Escapement ~ Jay Lake
- The Affinity Bridge ~ George Mann
- Perdido Street Station ~ China Mieville
- The Nomad of the Time Streams ~ Michael Moocock
- Anno Dracula ~ Kim Newman
- Airborn ~ Kenneth Oppel
- Whitechapel Gods ~ S.M. Peters
- The Anubis Gates ~ Tim Powers
- The Boneshaker ~ Cherie Priest
- The Golden Compass ~ Phillip Pullman
- The Alchemy of Stone ~ Ekaterina Sedia
- The Hunchback Assignments ~ Arthur Slade
- Eyes of Silver ~ Michael A. Stackpole
- Diamond Age ~ Neil Stephenson
- The Fall of Ile-Rien ~ Martha Wells (yes of Murderbot fame)
- Extraordinary Engines Anthology ~ Nick Gevers (ed.)
- Steampunk ~ Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (eds.)
- Walking Your Octopus: A Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephalopod ~ Brian Kesinger
Some newer offerings I’d particularly like to mention
- To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose- dragons + steampunk, indigenous/anticolonial
- A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark – magic, mystery & steampunk
- Cindy Spencer Pape’s steampunk Gaslight Chronicles series
Gail from the future:
More Steampunk Must Read Book Lists?
2020 – Because I am now an established author in this genre, I’m not entirely comfortable recommending my peers. Instead I will direct you, if you’re looking for newer steampunk books, to other recommendation voices.
- Top 10 Best-selling Steampunk Books You Need to Read Today (Soulless on this list)
- Top Gothic Steampunk Books for a Thrilling Adventure This Spring (Soulless on this list)
- Stuck on Steampunk: Take Flight with These 7 Steampunk Comics (Soulless Manga on this list)
- Top 40 Must-Read Steampunk Novels for Retro-Futuristic Fun! (Soulless is on this list)
- The 25 Best Steampunk Books of All Time (Soulless on this list)
- The Best Steampunk Books of all Time (Soulless on this list)
- 6 books to read if you’re obsessed with the Enola Holmes movies (Etiquette & Espionage on this list)
- What to Read If You Can’t Get Over Lockwood & CO (Etiquette & Espionage on this list)
- Steampunk Fiction and the Women Who Write It
BOOK DE JOUR!
Prudence: Custard Protocol Book 1
PICK YOUR VENDOR!
Percy is off to Japan, but will Japan survive Percy?
Bookish and proper Percival Tunstell finds himself out of his depth when floating cities, spirited plumbing, and soggy biscuits collide in this delightful conclusion the Custard Protocol series.
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Quote of the Day:
“The virtue of books is to be readable.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tags: Book Rec List, ETIQUETTE & ESPIONAGE, PRUDENCE, SOULLESS, Steampunk