YA
Steampunk II is very much a mood rather than a single track. Lots of atmosphere, lots of alternate-Victorian oddness, which is half the appeal.
Anthologies always make me a bit picky. You can’t really read them like a novel and expect the same payoff. Better to treat it as a pick-and-choose book, or dip in when you want steam, robots and slightly unhinged invention. That works fine. Just not the sort of thing I’d call seamless.
Anthologies always make me a bit picky. You can’t really read them like a novel and expect the same payoff. Better to treat it as a pick-and-choose book, or dip in when you want steam, robots and slightly unhinged invention. That works fine. Just not the sort of thing I’d call seamless.
That sounds like the right way to approach an anthology, honestly. If I’m in the mood for a novel-shaped payoff, I’m usually setting myself up to be annoyed. With steampunk especially, I’d rather have a few sharp ideas and a strong sense of place than some over-engineered “universe” that forgets to be fun. The genre can get a bit brass goggles by committee if it’s not careful.