Steam Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories

Steam Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, A Penny Dreadful Review

            I just read the most delightful anthology. Steam Powered introduces us to Steampunk lesbians from five continents. They are from cities, deserts, and jungles, the future, the past, and places that never were. They are cyborgs and pirates, spies and runaway brides, madwomen and scientists. The editor, JoSelle Vanderhooft, has masterfully assembled this brilliant conglomeration. It reminds me a bit of a bright rainbow quilt – every piece wildly different, and the whole a masterpiece.

            I must mention a few tales of adventure and romance in particular. “Brilliant,” by Georgina Bruce, features lush descriptions of a beautiful Cairo and strangers on a train. “Steel Rider,” by Rachel Manija Brown, introduces the reader to damaged people in large suits of mysterious armor. “Love In The Time Of Airships,” by Meredith Holmes, is a crown jewel of a novella at the center of this anthology. It is sweet, sexy, intriguing, and exciting. “Effluent Engine,” by N. K. Jemisin, happens to be my personal favorite. There’s Haiti, New Orleans, spies, and the uncovering of a scientific mind. Also, a daring escape on an airship. I can never resist a daring escape on an airship.

            Not all these tales have happy endings. Perhaps that is because not all real-life lesbians have happy endings. Perhaps that is because some romances are doomed. At any rate, this is not a book of happily-ever-afters. It is a book of adventures that will stick with you.

I give Steam Powered four gears out of five. I highly recommend that you seek out this fantastic collection and read it immediately.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Butterfly Gate

Butterfly Gate: A Penny Dreadful Review

A brother and sister stray from their nanny whilst hunting butterflies. They stumble upon a mysterious gate guarded by a stone idol. Quite by accident, they discover that blood opens the ancient door. They glimpse the wonders beyond, but it shuts in their faces before they can truly experience the gate’s eerie magic. They need more blood, and Nanny has lots…
Butterfly Gate is told by Benjamin Read and Chris Wildgoose with no words. There is only art. It is beautiful. It is also incredibly disturbing. This is the sort of thing a toddler could “read” to you, but I would not put this into the hands of a child. They might get ideas.
The style might remind you of the style of the True Grit comic adaptation or other projects. That would be because both the writer and the illustrator worked on that comic and, according to the aethernet, have been quite busy living the dream and being amazing. This project – I’ve only seen the first issue – is one of several ongoing sequential art projects at Improper Books, a fantastic indie publisher in the UK. As a Steampunk, I recommend investigating their work. It has the twisted, fairy-tale quality that makes Butterfly Gate so enchanting.
Four and a half gears out of five all around. This is brilliant, gorgeous, and terrifying. I highly recommend picking up Butterfly Gate from www.improperbooks.com

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Doctor Tripps: Kaiju Cocktail

Doctor Tripps: Kaiju Cocktail, A Penny Dreadful Review

I recently passed a diverting afternoon with an excellent novelette containing the maddest of mad science. And Rasputin. This slim volume is entitled Doctor Tripps: Kaiju Cocktail, and it contains a chapter entitled “Sheepzilla.” The author Kit Cox has created something like a cheesy science fiction movie in book form, and it is glorious.
The titular Doctor Tripps dislikes the new garish diesel engines. He much prefers a world powered by graceful steam boilers. Being a man with his brain on display inside a glass dome, he concocts a scheme. People like Doctor Tripps do not plan. They scheme. He creates a formula that causes monstrous transformations, taking an ordinary sheep or flying baboon or mad Russian monk and turning them into something much more enormous and terrifying. His intention is to provoke war and destroy diesel technology.
The world, of course, does not enjoy being attacked by monsters. Mr. Diesel (who is not, in fact, dead) has convoluted, invention-filled plans of his own intended to counter Doctor Tripps. The illustrious and impeccable women at NANI stand steadfastly between the children of the world and the dangers of it. And one young foundling becomes a hero when his master weasels out of an obligation.
Kaiju Cocktail is a joyful thrill ride on many different types of conveyances. It is adventure and inventions. It is monsters and good guys vanquishing them. It is fun for the whole family.
I give Doctor Tripps: Kaiju Cocktail three and a half gears out of five. It was a delight to read, and I highly recommend picking up a copy from Telos publishing. In closing, beware of giant sheep whilst traveling by train, particularly if your death might trigger a world war.


Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

The Inexplicables: A Penny Dreadful Review

When a character goes off and has an adventure, what happens to the characters that get left behind? When Zeke Wilkes slipped underneath the wall into zombie-infested old Seattle to learn about his father in Boneshaker, he left behind Rector Sherman, an orphan who's fallen in with the wrong crowd. Haunted by guilt and drug hallucinations, Rector finds his way into the walled and poisoned city of Seattle. What he finds there is much more frightening than a few zombies. There's a drug war, a city crumbling at a touch, and something horrific in Seattle. Something huge. Something wild. Something that isn't and never was human.
The Inexplicables is a brilliant addition to Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series. I love her broken characters rebuilding their lives with whatever they find at hand. Rector - abandoned, drug-addled, directionless - is more broken than most. I love him as the focus of this book. In the hands of a lesser writer, the story would be as confused as Rector.
         Almost all your favorite Clockwork Century characters are back and being awesome, especially Princess Angeline Sealth. She identifies the strange creature in Seattle, and... Nope, I'm not going to spoil it.
I give The Inexplicables four and a half gears out of five. It's a marvelous addition to one of my favorite series. I adore every chance I get to read Cherie Priest.


Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

The Derring-Do Club And The Year Of The Chrononauts

The Derring-Do Club and the Year of the Chrononauts: A Penny Dreadful Review

Things always get frightfully interesting when one meets a person claiming to be one’s future self. David Wake has given us another riveting installment of the Deering-Dolittle sisters’ adventures.
Men in tophats and bizarre glasses abduct various personages from all over London, including the Deering-Dolittle sisters’ uncle. Georgina, meanwhile, must deal with the inheritance left her by her beloved husband Arthur, who was tragically killed in the undead incidents of the previous book. Earnestine finds gainful employment in a secret government office where she must organize mounds of plans for all sorts of strange inventions that might be of use to the Empire one day. Oh, and Charlotte learns how to fence. This is quite important.
The adventures in this book are just as twisty and exciting as those in the last volume of the Deering-Dolittle story. David Wake again balances several plots at once, choreographing a breathtaking dance of characters. It seems that the dance get a little out of his control in this book, and I grew slightly confused over who was doing what when and where. Maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention. Time travel does tend to mess with the mind. At any rate, I enjoyed myself entirely. I recommend the Derring-Do Club series to Steampunks of all ages.
I give this adventure three and a half gears out of five. I eagerly await the publication of the next book. Do the Deering-Dolittles at last journey to the Amazon and rescue their missing parents? Does Charlotte successfully join an army of some sort? I demand answers! And adventures!

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,
Penny J. Merriweather

Space Captain Smith

Space Captain Smith: A Penny Dreadful Review

            You know it is going to be a wonderful book when you start chuckling on the first page. I laughed all the way through Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost, and I bet you will, too.

            Isembard Smith is a desk-clerk from the British Empire, which spans several planets. He is given a run-down spaceship, a pilot who is a sexbot who faked her credentials, and a mission he was never supposed to complete. He must transport a magical hippie chick to a safe location, despite aliens and cultists who want to use her for their own nefarious purposes.

            Toby Frost is a comic genius. He has an excellent grasp of the absurd. Space Captain Smith is loaded with satirical jibes and pop culture references. There’s a cyberpunk planet, there’s a War of the Worlds Martian, and there’s a chapter entitled, “Ho-Down Of The Damned.” This is a silly, silly book. It reminds me a bit of Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with a Steampunk twist.

            I give this silliness four and a half gears out of five. It is an excellent addition to any adult’s library. Space Captain Smith is the perfect book-shaped companion for when you need a good laugh and feel like reading something with aliens in.

Your Correspondent from the Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

1913

1913: In Search Of The World Before The Great War, A Penny Dreadful Review

1913. An interesting year. The year before the sweeping changes of the Great War. What was it like? What was it like in Paris? In London? Berlin? Charles Emmerson is here to answer your questions.
               1913: In Search Of The World Before The Great War is arranged in sections by city, a great information mine about Vienna, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, and more. It is an in-depth and detailed portrait of a world poised on the brink of a new era. This book is an incredible resource, a well-spring of historical knowledge.
              The drawback to this magnificent work of knowledge is that it is very dense and very dry. What should be fascinating and exciting comes across as a blur of facts. This book is an incredible work of research, but I wish it were written in a juicier style.
            I give this opus two and a half gears out of five. It's like reading an odious textbook, but there is so much knowledge here that it cannot be passed up.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather