Steampunk Contents!
(rough cover–still changing)
We’ve finalized the contents for the Steampunk antho, with the exception of a little piece at the end (a list of steampunk novels, that we’re still querying about). This will be my eighth anthology, Ann’s third (not including, of course, fifteen magazine issues for Ann and now Weird Tales). Out in May 2008.
We’ve gone for a mix of classics and newer material, and a contrast of styles and approaches.
“Preface,” Jeff and Ann VanderMeer
“Introduction: The Nineteenth Century Roots of Steampunk,” Jess Nevins
“Steampunk in Pop Culture,” Rick Klaw
“Steampunk in the Comics,” Bill Baker
“Benediction: Warlord of the Air” excerpt, Michael Moorcock
“Lord Kelvin’s Machine,” James Blaylock
“The Giving Mouth,” Ian MacLeod
“A Sun in the Attic,” Mary Gentle
“The God-Clown Is Near,” Jay Lake
“The Steam Man of the Prairie and the Dark Rider Get Down,” Joe Lansdale
“The Selene Gardening Society,” Molly Brown
“Seventy-Two Letters,” Ted Chiang
“The Martian Agent: An Interplanetary Romance,” Michael Chabon
“Victoria,” Paul Di Filippo
“Reflected Light,” Rachel E. Pollock
“Minutes of the Last Meeting,” Stepan Chapman
“Excerpt from the Third and Last Volume of the Tribes of the Pacific Coast,” Neal Stephenson
October 22, 2007 at 11:29 pm
I just freakin’ LOVE steampunk! I’m really, really looking forward to this!
October 22, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I already have a fair number of those, heh. Yay for youse!
October 23, 2007 at 4:31 am
I like the cover, though rather than the pale blue, I’d go with a deep green or a deep red. That’s very close to battleship grey and that’s very much a 20th century colour. For a lot of people Steampunk’s a form of weird Victoriana and while that isn’t necessarily accurate, the association is “out there”.
A deep British racing green or a deep velvetty red or possibly purple would give off a more Victorian vibe and might prompt more people to pick the book up off the shelf when they see it. Just an idea.
October 23, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Lots of great stuff there!
October 23, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Lord Kelvin’s Machine… I’ve read the novel of that. Are you doing excerpts? Or was what I read an expansion of a short story?
October 23, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Hey, Caleb. What you read was an expansion.
jv
October 23, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Otherwise, we’d have excerpts from Powers and Gibson/Sterling, but people can go out and buy that stuff pretty easily.
jv
October 23, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Is there a steampunk Powers novel? I can’t think of that one
October 23, 2007 at 4:55 pm
Kinda. I mean, the Victorian stuff. But that’s also our benchmark for most of it. Most of the stories have to have airships or weird golem thingees or…ya know–steampunk!
jv
October 23, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Background texture says rust/verdigris to me which is fine. And brass is always great until you have to polish a lot of it.
I’ve been asked to do a steampunk design myself for something next year About Which I Can Speak No Further, so I’m taking note of the comments.
October 23, 2007 at 8:21 pm
I would definitely call Powers’ Anubis Gates a steampunk novel.
October 23, 2007 at 9:32 pm
That’s what I was thinking, Rick.
John–I agree. Although we’ve suggested to the publisher they put something in the circle in the middle.
JV
October 23, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I believe John is referring to the airship Mike Moorcock has commissioned John to design for his 75th birthday party. But in that case, you have plenty of time, John. It doesn’t need to be done next year.
jeff
October 23, 2007 at 9:47 pm
No kidding since Mike is only going to turn 68 in December.
October 23, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Now you’ve gone and spoiled it… It’s actually a vast hawk-winged dirigible shaped like an incontinent elephant which goes by the name of the Rush Lindbergh. Unfortunately test models keep crashing and burning, causing devastation over wide areas.
And yes, something in the circle would be good.
October 26, 2007 at 7:10 am
Nothing from G D Falksen ?
  http://www.myspace.com/gdfalksen
It would be disappointing if its the case hes not in there.
Or is that the last author yet to be named?
His cereal story “An Unfortunate Engagement,” is the only reason why I keep getting issues of SP Magazine.
October 27, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Cereal or serial? Nope, sorry, not Falksen.
JV
December 4, 2007 at 9:34 pm
[...] Pollock of la bricoleuse will have her piece “reflected light” reprinted in an upcoming SteamPunk Anthology, appearing alongside Michael Moorcock, Jay Lake, and Neal Stephenson, among [...]