Some things are always cool, and some things have their moment in the sun. I suspect steampunk is going to sit somewhere in between. Steampunk – that gonzo form of Victoriana which reached its height with Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates, James P. Blaylock’s Homunculus, and K.W. Jeter’s Infernal Devices (all published within a few years of one another in the 1980s) – holds special appeal for my inner geek, and always will. It’s like the zeppelin thing. Who can resist?
Anyhow, I have the feeling that steampunk is only now going to have its moment in the sun – something that’s underscored by the pending arrival of two new anthologies. Next March Jeff and Ann VanderMeer will edit The Steampunk Anthology for Tachyon Publications. It collects previously published stories by James P. Blaylock, Neal Stephenson and so on, and should provide a pretty clear statement on what steampunk is and has been up till now. The VanderMeers are very smart and skilled editors, and this fourth ‘movement anthology’ for Tachyon should be the best of the lot.
The second book, Nick Gevers’ Extraordinary Engines, is an all-original anthology from Solaris Books that is due in the Fall. The tentative line-up for the book looks terrific and if all of the authors named deliver stories it should be a top notch book that would standard as a perfect complement to the VanderMeer anthology. Nick definitely knows a good story when he sees one, so I can’t wait to see the final book!
LA Times critic Ed Parks has published his end-of-year round up for the newspaper, Favorite SciFi Books of 2007, and Eclipse One is the lead-off title! Parks discusses Andy Duncan’s remarkable “Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse” (1) and is enthusiastic about the book as a whole. He also says great things about another Night Shade book, Liz Williams Precious Dragon, which you should all check it immediately.
(1) Entry corrected to change my hamfisted late night conflation of “Ugly Chicken goes in Reverse” to the correct title. Gack. Thanks Jeff!
The administrators of the 2007 Aurealis Awards have announced the nominees for this year’s awards. I’d like to offer my congratulations to Garth Nix and Terry Dowling. Garth’s story from Eclipse One, “Bad Luck, Trouble, Death and Vampire Sex” has been nominated in the Best Young Adult Short Story category, while Terry’s Eclipse One story, “Toother”, has been nominated for Best Horror Short Story. It was a delight and privilege to have the stories in my anthology, and I’m thrilled they’re both up for this national award. Congrats also to all of the other nominees!
Today Sophie and Jessica watched Star Wars for the first time. I’m not really sure what they made of it. It took a LOT of explaining, as we went along. This wasn’t a case of geek instistence on my part, either. I’d mentioned the movie to Sophie a while ago, because it had a princess in it. She picked it as a video rental, then insisted on watching it. I had to sit and explain, as the film went on. I think they kind of liked it, even though Sophie said it was maybe for older kids and they might wait to see the sequels. For me – I was surprised how watchable it was. I saw it when I was 13, and have a special place for it in my heart, but it’s seemed awfully dated the last few times I’ve seen it. Oh, by happenstance Return of the Jedi was oin free-to-air TV last night and I saw ten minutes of it. IT looked awful. Strange how time changes so many things.
I feel for writers, I do.  You work hard, you put all of yourself into your work, and do your very best. Your work gets published, and then the messages you get back from readers is weird beyond measure. Yesterday I read a review of an anthology I edited. In it the reviewer, who I respect, called one of the stories in the book ‘terrible’. I don’t think it is, and was a little non-plussed. Then this morning I received an email from someone else who I respect a great deal, and by purest chance they mentioned the same story and called it close to perfect. I find that fascinating. And no, I won’t name the story because the author doesn’t need thje grief. But, very interesting.
