EXCERPT from "The Brass Tacks of Steampunk" by Christopher Paul Carey in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction
The resurgence of steampunk has left writers scrambling to don brass goggles and set off into the heavens in steam-powered dirigibles. But before tripping blindly over the first clockwork cliché that comes to mind, novices to the genre would do well to survey its founding works and influences:
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
The invention of a mechanical computer takes Victorian London by storm.
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Professor Brendan Doyle travels from 1983 to 1810, where he runs afoul of a secret society whose failed attempt to oust the British from Egypt has unlocked the time-gates.
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Christopher Paul Carey holds an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. He is the co-author with Philip José Farmer of The Song of Kwasin, the final novel in the Khokarsa trilogy, the author of short stories and essays in various anthologies, and the editor of three fiction collections. Chris lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife Laura, where he works as an editor at Paizo Publishing. Visit his website and blog at www.cpcarey.com.
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