Sunday, August 31, 2014

Victorian London's Middle-Class Housewife: What She Did All Day

Victorian London’s Middle-Class Housewife: What She Did All Day, by Yaffa Claire Draznin: A Penny Dreadful Review

Steampunk is a genre of adventures and inventions, of exceptional people and exotic locales. The history books are the same way: presidents and kings scrawled over all the pages. In the background of these wild stories and world-shaking events lives an empire full of ordinary people. Occasionally, a scholar starts to wonder what the ordinary people did with their time: how they felt about adventurers tracking mud into their parlours, what that mud might be made of, who paid the grocery bills.
       Yaffa Claire Draznin wrote a book about those ordinary people entitled Victorian London’s Middle-Class Housewife: What She Did All Day. It is an excellent book. She follows the routine of a typical housewife in Victorian London between 1875 and 1900.  Her prose is easy and fun for the layperson (ie: me) to read. I learned so much from her research into the seldom thought-of world of the everyday.
        I wish there were more pictures. It would be fantastic to see more illustrations, perhaps of the interior of a typical Victorian home, or explanatory diagrams about cleaning techniques. Though, with research as scarce as it is on the subject, she may have included everything she could find!
I give this book four and a half gears out of five. I found it informative and clever, easy to read and stuffed with tidbits of usefulness. I highly recommend taking a look at what the middle-class housewife did all day in Victorian London. It’s much more interesting and difficult than you might imagine.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Steam Wench's Salon

The Steam Wench’s Salon: A Penny Dreadful Review

Here is the blog of a Canadian Steampunk. She found herself running a Steampunk group in Vancouver, and has chronicled her adventures in crafting, costuming, and Steampunk on http://steamwenchsalon.blogspot.co.uk/.
Steam Wench has a fascinating collection of posts. She’s described everything from mudlarking to designing a brochure, from sewing projects to history. She has a clever, amusing tone with a sophisticated vocabulary. When she posts a how-to, it is clear and easy to follow, with plenty of pictures of both the work in progress and the finished product. I read her blog post about putting together a Steampunk tea cozy, and I thought I could have a go at it. Then I remembered that I sew like an inebriated simian with a missing thumb, so I wisely did not attempt it.
        If I had any skills in the sewing department, I might attempt the vendor’s apron that Steam Wench recently explained – it would be enormously useful. If any of my devoted readers feel like a bit of a sewing project and have sufficient scrap fabric lying around, I wear size medium.
I give this blog four gears out of five. Every post is brilliant, but there need to be more of them. Soldier on, Steam Wench! Good luck to you! I like the way you write, so you should write more!

Your Correspondent From The Aethernet,

Penny J. Merriweather

Friday, August 29, 2014

The Alamo and Zombies

The Alamo and Zombies, by Jean A. Stuntz: A Penny Dreadful Review

Here is a fascinating alternative look at Texas History. It is a short booklet full of what-ifs and biographical vignettes. Ms. Stuntz is a native Texan, and quite an expert on the subject of how Texas came to be. She seamlessly integrates her zombies into history, and it makes for a fascinating narrative.
Part of the charm of this little book is that it reads more like non-fiction than a story. Parts of it could be straight out of a history book. A history book with zombies. Part of it, though, is a little confusing to read. It is not consistent in point of view, part of it being told from an omnipotent perspective and part of it being told in personal narrative, but I certainly enjoyed it once I got used to the style.
My favorite part is the tale Davy Crockett tells about his history and reputation as a great zombie hunter. He has a gun of his own design that shoots flaming bullets, dispatching his enemies with a headshot and a conflagration at the same time. It is exactly what one would expect from Mr. Crockett.
I would like to see an exploration of other parts of history in this timeline. I’d also like to know whether or not Colonel Travis was really a werewolf.
This gets three gears out of five. The narrative structure is a little clumsy, but the concepts are fantastic. It is absolutely worth picking up a copy from Yard Dog Press (also native Texans, by the way).

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Tales of the Airship Neverland

Tales of the Airship Neverland: A Penny Dreadful Review

I came across an interesting volume depicting flying tall ships and a burning navy on the cover.  Intrigued, I looked inside.  I found Tales of the Airship Neverland: A Steampunk Fairy Tale by John R. White. It could have been worse, but it had the potential to be so much better.
The action takes place in an intricate alternate universe with places and characters loosely inspired by J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. There are a lot of clever references, particularly in the characters’ names.  The titular airship is called the “Neverland” because, due to a governmental coup conducted by the evil Admiral James Hooker, the ship is never allowed to land. The ship is a machine of beauty, tended by the engineer “Tinker” Belle, who happens to have several pairs of functioning mechanical wings.
While the world building is intricate and pleasing, the prose could have used another edit before publication.  I feel it suffers from inconsistent character development and a minefield of minor plotholes.  I did not understand some of the characters’ motivations. For instance, at a certain point, the witch character flips from malevolent narcissist to fierce, loving mother with no warning or foreshadowing.
This novel frustrated me, because it had such potential to be great. Instead, it was merely all right. I give it two and a half gears out of five for squandering its novel concepts.  The world created by John R. White was exciting to read about, but the man left many holes in the plot for me to stumble over. I hope he does better next time!

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Mighty Tiny

Mighty Tiny: A Penny Dreadful Review, by Penny J. Merriweather

Steampunk isn’t just for humans. It has never been. Mighty Tiny is a graphic novel by Ben Dunn, and it is about Steampunk mice. It was first published in 1990, long before the current Steampunk Renaissance, and it is everything one might want in Steampunk adventure.
The protagonists are two orphan rodents caught up in an international conspiracy. Stewart, a mouse apprenticed to a gunsmith, and his best friend Gunther, a rat who works in a train yard, witness something they were not supposed to see and wind up as the targets of a shadowy cult. Along the way, they fall in with Col. Sabastian Tiny and his kind wife Abagail.  There are airships, motorcars, and lost technologies.  There are engines and wrenches and goggles galore. These mice and rats are unquestionably Steampunk.
They are also adorable. There are mice with mustaches, mice with freckles, and mice in bustle dresses.  I adore the dynamic art in this title.  I do wish the graphic novel were in color, though.  That would make it easier to differentiate between mice. Without their hats on, some of them can look very much alike, so pay close attention.
I give Mighty Tiny four point five gears out of five.  I couldn’t put it down. Grab it for a mighty fun, family-friendly Steampunk adventure, especially if you liked The Great Mouse Detective or Redwall.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Monday, August 25, 2014

Dr. Brassy's Blog

Steampunk By Dr. Brassy: A Penny Dreadful Review

I found another lovely blog. This one is for jewelry makers. It contains the advice and experiences of Dr. Brassy Steamington, of whom you may have heard. It is entirely possible that you are wearing a necklace or art piece of her creation right now.
Dr. Brassy Steamington posts useful advice on all facets of the jewelry-making industry. She shares advice on the business and marketing side, advice on the creative side, and practical advice about the hands-on creating part. Her posts are long and informative, if infrequent. If you create jewelry or art pieces, or if you have ever thought of creating jewelry or art pieces, this is an excellent resource for you.
I give this blog four gears out of five. This is a great blog for makers, jewelers, and fans of Dr. Brassy Steamington. You can find her on facebook, on etsy, and of course, on her blog. Enjoy!


Your Correspondent From The Aethernet,
Penny J. Merriweather

Monday, August 18, 2014

Blood In Elk Creek

Blood In Elk Creek: A Penny Dreadful Review

Danger! Aeroplanes! Zombies! Indians! In another adventure novella from Rachael Acks, Captain Marta Ramos and her nemesis Colonel Geoff Douglas are thrown together in the investigation of mysterious military manoevers and a plot that is larger than their rivalry. Witness Blood In Elk Creek, an exciting and frightening installment of the adventures of Captain Ramos.
The Infected, the zombies that for so many stories have lurked on the outskirts of this world, take center stage as the action moves from the civilized Grand Duchies to the wild lands of the Dead Plains, where zombies roam. But the Dead Plains don’t just belong to the undead, they belong to the native tribes that live there. Yes, thanks to zombies, the Native Americans still inhabit their traditional lands… for now.
This is an exciting and well-written adventure. Dark in places, amusing in others, it is an action-packed read and you will cling to every word of it. My favorite part of this harrowing tale is that we get to learn of one of Captain Ramos’s weaknesses: horses. She’s useless with the animals. With every adventure, the characters grow more rounded and fascinating, and I just love it.
I give Blood In Elk Creek four and a half gears out of five. I adore this series. I look forward to the next adventure with ever-increasing eagerness.


Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Sunday, August 17, 2014

The Ladies of Trade Town

The Ladies of Trade Town: A Penny Dreadful Review

The greatest thing about anthologies is that there is bound to be something you will enjoy inside.  There is a lot to be admired in The Ladies of Trade Town.  Its stories range from high fantasy to hard core science fiction and, most importantly, Steampunk.
Every anthology has some sort of unifying theme, The Ladies of Trade Town is no exception.  How shall I put this delicately?  A large part of each story involves personages for hire (they are not all painted ladies, if you catch my meaning).  Usually they are the protagonists.  Ladies of Trade Town includes everything from courtesans to madams to common hookers and in one case a werewolf who becomes an accidental pimp.
Yet for an anthology where the pleasures of the flesh are the main form of income for most of the characters, there is surprisingly little indelicacy, and none of it explicit.  The anthology is PG-13, not R rated.  I would not hand it to a junior high child, but it is entirely appropriate for a teenager.  It is deliciously steamy, both in the torrid love affair sense and in the Steampunk sense.
The very first story in this anthology could not be more Steampunk.  Gears and steam show up on the first page and there is an escape by airship later on.  Indeed, this is the story that warrants the inclusion of this review in this publication.
It is called “The Ballad of Eskimo Nell Revisited Or John Henry Was A Piston Driving Man.”  In Mr. Jim Reader’s tale, both these individuals are highly sought after for, er, pleasures unspoken in polite company, yet horrible accidents have occurred to their most sensitive body parts.  Through the wonders of science, their business tools have been replaced with admirable steam-powered equivalents that are  superior to their biological counterparts in the performance of their jobs.  There is only one problem.  Neither can feel anything that occurs with these replacement parts.  Nell embarks on a quest to find someone who can remedy this.  John Henry, here driving something that is not exactly steel and swinging something that is not exactly a hammer, steps up to the challenge.
“Silk And Steam,” by Brandie Tarvin, is an entirely different sort of story.  A lady of the evening who is not quite human adopts a small German town where they keep to the old ways, honoring ancient spirits as tanks and war machines clank through the hills around them.  It is a bittersweet tale that involves a good thing that cannot last and copious amounts of bloodshed.  It describes how the red lantern that signifies harlotry came to be.  I loved it just as much as the first story, and possibly more.
I should also like to point out that a third delightful story has one tiny bit of Steampunk-esque content.  “A Touch of Ginger,” by Melanie Fletcher, features Wyatt Earp’s wife and time travel.  I shan’t spoil it further.
I give this anthology four gears out of five.  Most of the stories are five gears material, but a couple of them left me unmoved.  The price of admission is worth it, just for the first story alone.
       Lee Martindale puts together a fine anthology.  I believe this behavior should be encouraged.  I hope to see a second volume in the future.  Indeed, I may simply have to borrow my friend’s temporal manipulation device so that I may obtain more Ladies of Trade Town.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Steampunk Style Jewelry

Steampunk Style Jewelry: A Penny Dreadful Review

As I wandered through a bookstore, I paused to inspect the craft section on the off chance I might find something about the creation of Steampunk objects. Imagine my delight when I struck gold! I discovered a slim volume purporting to tutor me in the ways of creating Steampunk jewelry.
Steampunk Style Jewelry, by Jean Campbell, features a variety of pieces by a variety of designers interspersed with informative blurbs on the origins of Steampunk, goggles, the community, and other useful things for a Steampunk jeweler to know. The pieces explicated are a wide range of Steampunk flavours.  With this book, you can create adornments for all occasions, pieces that can take you from the ballroom to the boiler room. Perhaps the most valuable sections of this book are those in which Ms. Campbell suggests where one might find resources for things such as clock bits and copper wire.  She also describes handy techniques on how to distress or “age” materials in order to make them look antique or “time-traveled.”
I have a good theoretical grounding in jewelry-making now. I did not attempt the pieces demonstrated because I am an amazing klutz and could most likely get into a fatal situation with a pair of pliers and a pillow. I found that I would be able to, after a careful study, use the directions in this book to approximate the items in the photos. Safety tips are included to keep emergency room visits to a minimum. I do wish there were a few more “in progress” illustrations. Some projects feature several of these, but not all. Some do not have any.
I give Jean Campbell’s Steampunk Style Jewelry three and a half gears out of five.  The pictures are inspiring, the directions are mostly clear, and the blurbs on Steampunk are accurate and helpful. I would not recommend it for the absolute novice.  If you have sliced open your fingers whilst wrapping gifts, as I have, this book and the entirety of jewelry-making is not for you. If, however, you have played with wire and have not poked yourself in the eyeball with it, you would likely do well to get this book.  This is a perfect crafter’s introduction to the genre.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Boston Metaphysical Society

Boston Metaphysical Society: A Penny Dreadful Review

Here is a delightful Steampunk webcomic for those of you who enjoy exploring the aethernet. I recommend navigating your way to www.bostonmetaphysicalsociety.com and enjoying The Boston Metaphysical Society by Madeleine Holly-Rosing with art by Emily Hu.
Miss Caitlin O’Sullivan desires to pick up her late father’s work of spirit photography. Her father’s business partner, Samuel Hunter, a grizzled paranormal detective with a few secrets of his own, is against it. He feels it is far too dangerous. She makes him take her on as an assistant and medium anyway. Meanwhile the secret society B.E.T.H., founded by Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and Harry Houdini are tracking an entity called The Shifter, and entity that may have killed Mr. Hunter’s wife…
This comic has set up quite an interesting world. Mr. Hunter is right – it may be too dangerous for the compassionate Miss O’Sullivan. Or she might rise to the occasion and surprise everyone, including herself. Machinery and the supernatural interact in exciting ways, ways which have not yet been fully explained. I look forward to learning more. I was hooked on the story within the first ten pages.
I give this comic three point five gears out of five. I liked it and I will continue to follow it. I recommend you follow it as well!

Your Correspondent From The Aethernet,
Penny J. Merriweather

Behemoth

Behemoth: A Penny Dreadful Review

One does not meet a flying whale every day.  I was thrilled to read Behemoth, the sequel to Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan wherein the flying whaleship returns for more adventures.
Behemoth opens where Leviathan left off.  Prince Alek and his Austrians are aboard the English living airship Leviathan, having collaborated and escaped their last perilous situation.  The British do not trust the Austrians, as there is a war on between their respective countries.  Dylan Sharp, the midshipman who is really a girl named Deryn in disguise, has developed a crush on the fugitive prince.  Dr. Barlow, the inscrutable scientist, still has both of them caring for her mysterious eggs.  The Leviathan motors toward Istanbul, intending to convince the sultan of the Ottoman Empire to stay out of the war.  Of course, nothing goes as planned.
Alek escapes the increasingly suspicious English, but must leave some of his men behind.  The Germans have a secret weapon meant to destroy the Leviathan.  The gift of peace that Dr. Barlow offers the sultan is ruined.  “Mr.” Sharp’s secret mission goes terribly wrong.  Alek joins forces with revolutionaries, one of whom is an attractive young lady; the Germans chase him all over Istanbul; and to top it off, there’s an American reporter dogging their footsteps.
This being the second in a trilogy, the ending is unsettled and not exactly upbeat, just as it should be.  I can’t wait to find out what happens in the third volume, Goliath.
The mad science is just as enchanting in this book as it was in the last one.  Nay, even more so, because the mechanisms employed by the Ottoman Empire are entirely different from those in Germany and Austria.  We even glimpse a society that uses both genetically manipulated animals and fantastic machinery.
Oh, and the illustrations!  The illustrations have returned and are more amazing than they were in Leviathan.  I adore every sketch by Keith Thompson.  I loved how the art was more integrated into the text of this book.  I would turn the page to find a German walking machine crawling past the bottom of my text and it was delightful!  I rather miss illustrations.  I wish they would put them into books for adults.
I give Behemoth four and a half gears out of five.  Go to the nearest bookseller and obtain one immediately.  No, wait, one must read Leviathan first or one will have no idea what is happening.  Obtain them both!

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Friday, August 15, 2014

Sherlock Ninja

Sherlock Ninja: A Penny Dreadful Review

Recently, I came into possession of a peculiar comic book by the talented and prolific artist Fred Perry.  It is the first issue of something called Sherlock Ninja. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. Sherlock Holmes is a ninja.
        There is a damsel in distress, threatened by an ancient eastern artifact.  There is Sherlock Holmes’s characteristic mysteriousness. There is even Watson – a young lady called Watsu-san, whom I would love to learn more about. Altogether a satisfactory story employing Fred Perry’s characteristic comedic touch of misdirection and lovely art.
I give this delightful little story four gears out of five. I enjoyed it a great deal.  I would definitely love to see more. Grab a copy the next time you run across Mr. Perry – it is well worth the three-fifty.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Soulless

Soulless: A Penny Dreadful Review

         Gail Carriger’s Soulless is an excellent addition to the genre I will dub Supernatural Romystery.  The Supernatural Romystery can be found in any large number of settings.  Soulless takes place in an alternate and gloriously Steampunk London.
Soulless is Ms. Carriger’s first published novel, and it is fantastic.  She writes in a wry, proper tone that an Anglophile will love, even when some of the events described in that tone become very improper indeed.
Ms. Carriger’s heroine, Miss Alexia Tarabotti, is a clever spinster whose father has the temerity to be a dead Italian.  In addition to inheriting his library of inappropriate books, she inherited his bizarre trait of having no soul.  Vampires loose their fangs when they touch her, werewolves become human, and she may exorcise ghosts if she wishes.  Her ability lands her in a great deal of trouble and frequently comes in handy.
As this is a ROmystery, there is a love interest.  He is Lord Conall Maccon, Earl of Woolsey, Alpha werewolf of the only pack in London.  Ms. Carriger puts an interesting twist on a romantic trope that I find worth mentioning.  In most stories where the hero and heroine utterly detest each other, then fall hopelessly in love with each other, the reader or viewer watches the characters meet for the first time.  In Soulless, they have met a good deal prior to Chapter One, and it involved a hedgehog.
The werewolves and vampires in Soulless are a fascinating variation on the typical bloodsuckers and occasionally furry gents we see every day.  Only people with excess soul, Miss Tarabotti’s opposites, survive the transformation to supernatural beings.  They have been so well integrated into society from the time of Henry VIII that they have their own gentlemen’s clubs.
I give Soulless four gears out of five.  I couldn’t put Soulless down, and I suggest you pick it up.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Deadeye

Deadeye: A Penny Dreadful Review

This isn’t Steampunk per se, but this is a cool piece. It takes place in what looks like the Old West, but could really be anywhere. A family is destroyed, and a boy survivor trains himself to defend the helpless. He wanders, following a tune from his shattered childhood. Where is he going? Issue One is the only volume that exists, so I don’t know.
The story by Nathan C. Gooden and Damian A. Wassel is minimalist. There are few words, no speech bubbles. Sounds and dialogue scrawl directly under the action, integrated with the art. In a way, I wish there was a little more dialogue, a little more explanation of this world, a little more about the characters. On the other hand, more dialogue might get in the way of the stunning art.
The art is colored with watercolor washes, and it tells the story in sweeping sepia tones. It is quite beautiful and atmospheric, with the dreamlike quality of a memory. It is more like a gallery of sequential paintings than a comic book.
I give this graphic novel three gears out of five. The art is gorgeous, yet the story may leave too much unsaid. At any rate, it is worth a look, especially if you like works which push the boundaries of a given form of art.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Leviathan

Leviathan: A Penny Dreadful Review

Servants hurry a young man out of bed.  He must flee the assassins of his parents.  A girl disguises herself as a boy in order to pursue her passion for flying.  Europe teeters on the brink of war.  Tanks walk and whales fly.  This is the gripping young adult novel Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld.
The heroes are a pair of intrepid teenagers.  His Serene Highness, Aleksander Ferdinand of Austria eludes an entire empire full of people who want to kill him.  Deryn Sharp, disguised as the boy Dylan Sharp, masters life aboard a Royal Navy airship without her secret ever being guessed.
Leviathan contains fantastic technologies.  The Germans and Austro-Hungarians have the steam-powered machines so familiar to the Steampunk genre.  Great Britain has abandoned those mechanisms in favor of genetically modified animals.  The title character, the H.M.S. Leviathan, is a flying whale ship with its own ecosystem of fuel-gathering bees, watchdogs, and organic weapons.  I find the animals the most enchanting form of mad science I have ever read.
I am still not sure what a “boffin” is, or why they wear bowler hats.  The enigmatic scientist Dr. Barlow is one.  Perhaps they fabricate the strange beasts that run the British Empire?  Perhaps I will find out in a future book.
A most delightful aspect of this book is the cunning illustrations.  They are the work of Keith Thompson, an artist gifted with the ability to capture expression in action.  His work makes this book all the more exciting.  Perhaps adults have been remiss in abandoning picture books.  Illustrations add such charm.
I give Leviathan four gears out of five.  I can’t wait to read the sequel, Behemoth.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Dearly Departed

Dearly Departed: A Review

A society modeled on the structure and manners of Victorian England rises from the ashes of chaos and war. A rogue prion causes the dead to walk. A girl and a zombie fall in love. That is Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read before.
Nora Dearly’s life is what one might expect in a young adult novel. She attends an all-girl school, has a catty archrival, and chafes against the role she is expected to play in society. Then she is kidnapped by zombies. I shan’t spoil the plot further, but there is somewhat of a zombie apocalypse. There are also kittens.
I love the world Miss Habel created for this book.  It is set in a future that looks back to the past for a model of how to live. They create stunning architectural facades out of holograms and have special news channels that do not disturb the delicate sensibilities of ladies. Miss Habel invents all sorts of cunning gadgets that marry futuristic technologies and a Victorian aesthetic. I was particularly delighted by the color-coded parasols indicating the availability and interests of the young lady beneath.
         The stratified society the New Victorians adopt inevitably spawns a rebel group opposed to that order. The rebels are called Punks, and they have airships. Such glorious airships. Miss Dearly’s zombie lover was a Punk farm boy. Now he is a Captain in a special undead regiment of the New Victorian Army. I never thought I would say this of a corpse, but Bram is adorable.
          I love when someone completely ordinary becomes a hero. Nora’s best friend Pamela is one such character. I hope Miss Habel gives her a volume of her own adventures some day. It would be quite the read.
I give Dearly, Departed five gears out of five for its clever story and the sheer uniqueness of the world it contains. I highly recommend reading it, even if you normally dislike zombies or young adult romances. You might find its quirky ways win you over.


Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

The Great Mouse Detective

The Great Mouse Detective: A Penny Dreadful Moving Picture Review

What could be more Steampunk than a robotic Queen Victoria?  In Disney’s lesser known, but brilliant, movie The Great Mouse Detective, one such clockwork duplication figures prominently in the villain’s plot.
Created in 1986, this movie was based on a series of books.  As many movies do, this animated feature has very little in common with the books it came from.  That is perfectly fine.  This movie is just as delightful now as it was when I was a child (which can by no means be said about all movies).  It features a tight storyline, excellent characters, and one of the best Disney villains ever.
The movie begins with a bat (who has a face which gave me nightmares as a little girl) kidnapping a Scottish toymaker named Hiram Flaversham.  His plucky little daughter Olivia knows she cannot find him alone, so she seeks out the help of the Great Mouse Detective, an eccentric named Basil of Baker Street. Basil is a tiny version of Sherlock Holmes.  He even plays the violin and forgets to explain things, just like his human counterpart. She gets lost on the way, and this is where the narrator comes in.  Dr. David Q. Dawson is a tubby mouse full of compassion and heart, just the sort of Watson Basil needs to balance his, er, brusque mannerisms.  Basil realizes that the bat who kidnapped Olivia’s father is none other than the henchman of his archnemesis, Professor Ratigan.
Professor Ratigan is the epitome of an excellent villain.  He is a rat in a tuxedo (no, really).  He dreams of ruling all Mousedom and takes extreme offense at being called what he is – “a slimy, contemptible sewer rat.”  In his introductory song, he feeds one of his own men to his pet cat, simply because the inebriated mouse slips up and sings about Ratigan being a rat.  He covers his “genius twisted for evil” with a façade of fine airs, but he is really a monster underneath.  All civility tears away from him in the smashing climax which takes place amid the gears of Big Ben.
Every element of this movie comes together in a cohesive whole.  No image or line of dialogue is wasted.  Even the humor is vital to the plot.  The movie’s rainy Victorian aesthetic tells the story practically by itself.
This movie also features the seediest bar ever to appear in an animated Disney feature.  Gaston’s tavern in Beauty and the Beast is a safe and wholesome place compared to the cabaret where the heroes track Ratigan’s men.  This movie also features a good deal of drunkenness and a burlesque dancer.  This is complete truth.  Disney would never put such things into an animated movie today, and I think they’re a little poorer for it.
Victorian mice and Sherlock Holmes parodies are all very well, you say, but they are not Steampunk.  Well, I tell you they are when they involve such a great deal of clockwork and a bicycle-propelled zeppelin.  And mad science (Basil owns quite a chemistry set).  And a clockwork monarch.  And an overly complicated death trap involving a gramaphone, a camera, and an anvil.  Yes, my friends, Disney has made Steampunk movies, and The Great Mouse Detective is far from the only example.
The Great Mouse Detective remains one of my favorite movies of all time.  I give it five gears out of five.  A version of this movie has been released on DVD and Blue Ray.  There’s not a moment to lose!

Your Correspondent from the Moving Picture Show,
Penny J. Merriweather

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Graveslinger

Graveslinger: A Penny Dreadful Review

It’s a little Jonah Hex, it’s a little Night of the Living Dead, it’s Graveslinger by Jeff Mariotte and Shannon Denton. I rather enjoyed this vendetta against resurrected killers.
The main character, Frank Timmons, is a greedy prison undertaker in Arizona who robs the wrong body and releases more than a hundred hardened killers from hell. They raze the town and kill Frank’s lady love while he sinks into an alcoholic stupor. Since Frank made this mess, it falls to him to clean it up by tracking down every single undead outlaw. By doing so, he has a chance to rescue his woman’s soul from Hell. Throw in a simmering range war, some not-so-innocent bystanders, and a handheld gatling gun, and you have yourself one hell of a comic. The moral of this story is that if a criminal is known as El Brujo, which is Spanish for The Witch or The Warlock, it’s probably best to leave his personal effects alone.
The art by John Cboins and Nima Sorat that brings this comic to life is spare and evocative. It features a dry and desolate palette of desert colors. A lot of reds and browns clothe the gaunt characters and their Arizona environment. Except for the walking dead. The zombies are a sickly, wet-looking mixture of greens and blues, and the viewer can tell right off that they are something that does not belong in this world. It’s a nifty touch.
I give this comic three gears out of five. It was a fun read, but the story left me almost corpse cold in places. It definitely makes a good addition to a home comic collection, and is a pretty good adventure.

You Correspondent from the Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Boneshaker

Boneshaker: A Penny Dreadful Review

What could be better than alternate Steampunk American history with zombies?  Cherie Priest’s fantastic Boneshaker has it, and a touching story of the relationship between a mother and her son.
In Ms. Priest’s world, introduced with an excerpt from a “historical text,” a man called Leviticus Blue invents the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine, or Boneshaker, intended to mine gold from under the thick ice in the Klondike.  Instead, it burrows under the streets of 1862 Seattle, releasing Blight Gas from deep underground.  Many of those the Blight kills do not exactly stay dead…
Sixteen years later, the story proper begins. It is obvious that the “historical text” of the prologue which you thought explained everything hasn’t given you more than a vague idea of what actually happened.  A wall surrounds the Blight-affected areas and the widow of Leviticus Blue lives with her son in the dystopian Outskirts.  The exposition unravels with tantalizing hints at the true story of the Blight.
Briar Wilkes, the unfortunate widow of Leviticus Blue, is a tired, close-mouthed, practical woman who isn’t quite sure how to relate to her son, Zeke.  Zeke, or Ezekiel, is an idealistic boy of fifteen who decides to discover how much of what he’s heard about his father is true.
When Zeke crawls under the wall into the Blight-ridden city of Seattle, Briar must follow him and face the past she’s tried to forget.  The zombies crowd the streets, the Blight Gas has only thickened, and the tyrannical mad scientist Dr. Minnericht rules what is left of the city.
What follows is a twisting, rollicking, zombie-crammed adventure that takes our heroes far above and far below the walled city with a cast of distinctive rough-and-tumble characters who have made lives for themselves among the zombies.
The prose is touching and gritty.  The no-frills characters are harsh and human by turn.  Each of them seems alive.  Well, excepting the zombies, or rotters.
I give Boneshaker five gears out of five.  It is a work of art as well as a gripping adventure.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore.
Penny J. Merriweather

Monday, August 11, 2014

The Buntline Special

The Buntline Special: A Penny Dreadful Review

Mike Resnick’s The Buntline Special is an action-packed, shoot-em-up Steampunk version of the infamous events at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.  It has were-bats and zombies, bulletproof brass and an electric stagecoach, Thomas Edison and Wyatt Earp.  It is a fantastically inventive adventure.
Which is why it’s a shame that the entire first chapter doesn’t need to exist. It consists of nothing but dialogue for expository purposes between Wyatt Earp, who is never again a viewpoint character, and a shadowy conspiracy figure who does not reappear.  Mr. Resnick’s skill is certainly superior to this clumsy blunder of a beginning!  Ignore it and go on to enjoy the rest of the novel.
In this envisioning of the West, the United States stops at the Mississippi River, though there are settlements throughout the western half of the continent.  The magic of various tribes’ medicine men keeps the land-hungry states at bay.  Thomas Edison has moved out to Tombstone in order to find a mechanical way of counteracting this magic.  Understandably, the medicine men are not pleased.  Wyatt Earp and his brothers are commissioned to protect Mr. Edison from the inevitable assassination attempts.  It is for this reason that Wyatt Earp brings in Doc Holliday.
I have always found the emaciated, sardonic gunslinger charming, and Mr. Resnick’s Doc Holliday certainly charmed me.  He is a compelling central character with depth exceeding that of every other person in the book.  I wish there was a little more to some of the characters, especially Thomas Edison, who spends the entire book being angelic and inquisitive.  The most intriguing character, I would have to say, is the Thing That Was Once Johnny Ringo.  Raised from the dead in order to measure his gun-wielding talent against Holliday, he elects to have intellectual conversations with him instead.  I do love an unusual zombie.
Let me speak of the gadgetry.  The gadgetry was fantastic!  An inventor named Ned Buntline (yes, this is where the title of the book comes from) invented a bulletproof form of brass, which he welds into body armor, electric stagecoaches (the Bunt Line), protective siding for saloons, and robotic ladies of the evening.  Oh, and guns.  The titular special is a gun.  All sorts of artillery springs forth from the fertile minds of Mr. Edison and Mr. Buntline, with, of course, the aid of the author himself.  The only Steampunk gadget missing is an airship.
I recommend this book.  It’s fun.  If you enjoy tales of the Old West, this is the novel for you.  I give it three and a half gears out of five.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Avalon Revisited

Avalon Revisited: A Penny Dreadful Review

Not many characters can seduce and murder someone in the first chapter and still wind up being the good guy.  Arthur can.  Welcome to Avalon Revisited by O. M. Grey.  It’s a dark, sexy, vampiric, Steampunk romance with a hint of delightful absurdity.
The narrator is Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII’s older brother.  I find historically-based vampires fascinating, so I loved this book from page one.  Arthur lives the high life in London, seducing his way through the Quality.  Then, at a gala on an opulent dirigible, he meets Avalon.  Avalon is the girl of the dreams he didn’t know he was dreaming.  She is a vampire hunter investigating a series of gruesome murders, only one of which is Arthur’s fault.  Enamored, Arthur joins her vampire hunting in order to win her heart.  The absurdity of a vampire becoming a vampire hunter has the comical results one would expect, in addition to several less pleasant consequences.  Avalon Revisited is dark and beautiful.  If Edgar Allen Poe were into romances, he might enjoy this one.
This is not a book for the innocent or faint of heart.  Some portions are quite graphic and beautiful.  I’ve never read such entrancing descriptions of feminine anatomy.  I found it inventive and pleasing, but someone else might be offended by the passages of a delicate nature.  Read the first chapter, and if that’s too much for you, put down the book.
I give Avalon Revisited a solid four gears out of five.  It was sexy and dark and Steampunk. The only flaw is that it is far too short.  Brava, O. M. Grey.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Goliath

Goliath: A Penny Dreadful Review

This is the satisfying conclusion to the series Scott Westerfeld began with Leviathan and continued in Behemoth.  Goliath starts off a little more slowly than the other two books, but it’s not two chapters before we’re plunged into adventure and intrigue as per usual.
In this volume, Deryn and Prince Alek rescue Nikola Tesla, yes, THE Nikola Tesla, from giant bears in Russia and try to help him end the war with his nightmarishly huge Tesla cannon.  Meanwhile, some secrets are uncovered and romance is finally brewing between our beloved narrators.
The mad science continues to be fantastic.  In this installment, the reader discovers what’s going on in the North American continent – a bizarre mixture of machinery and genetically engineered animals.  We get to watch a moving picture and see reporters wielding cameras and talking frogs.  We even get to see New York!
The brilliant illustrations of Keith Thompson return as well, of course.  Without these beautiful pieces, this book would be incredibly diminished.  I love the art. It brings the wild inventions and bizarre animals to life in a way that words do not. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
I was quite sad when I reached the end. Not that the ending is unfortunate – in fact, quite the opposite. The end is everything one could hope for. I was sad because the series was over.
I give Goliath a solid five gears out of five.  The adventure is fantastic.  I venture to say that this trilogy may be the perfect young adult series.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather