Contemporary steampunk literature in a multi-cultural society
Or, Support your other authors
Steampunk as a genre includes all manner of creative endeavors; clothing and fashion, home decor, music, and movies. But it started with literature.
Beginning with the proto-steampunk novels of the 1980’s, the literary style has persisted through the first quarter of the 21st century and seems intent upon maintaining that momentum. Based inititally on Western Victorian aesthetics, material culture, language, and cultural practices, in the past few years we’ve seen a literary evolution toward works written by and for our modern multicultural society.
After all, the nineteenth-century happened all over the globe, to all peoples. Awareness is increasing about the effect of Euro-centric culture on the non-westernized parts of our world, particularly the issues of colonization, chattel slavery, and the treatment of indigenous peoples. Social injustices based on race, class, and gender ranged from appropriation to dehumanization.
This theme is unavoidable in discussing the Victorian era; it began with James P. Blaylock’s Adventures of Langon St. Ives collection starting in 1986. Blaylock (and Jeter and Powers) used Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor (1851) as foundational material in writing their proto-Steampunk novels, setting the stage for examinations of the class differences in Victorian England.
It is exactly this awareness of toxic cultural issues that contributes to the definition of Steampunk as “punk”.
Critically examining the issues of marginalized populations has continued throughout the past three decades. Consequently, the literature has moved away from a Western European Victorian backdrop to explore more global settings and peoples including Asia, Africa, South America, and the Caribbean, and to include a wider range of cultural and gender identities and people with disabilities as the main characters. There is a substantial cadre of non-white/cis-gendered/abled authors who are addressing these issues in their writing, while presenting rollicking technological adventures and engaging retro-futuristic settings in their stories.
While I’m quite fond of the classic works of Steampunk literature, it’s undeniable that most were written by straight white guys. But the dominant culture can’t quell the authors who are writing from non-dominant cultural perspectives. The universe is bigger than this, and so here are some notable authors who are writing from a wider multi-cultural perspective, and their work.
Take a look, buy some books, and let us know your suggestions and likes in the comments.
Authors
P. Djèlí Clark - The Black God’s Drums and A Dead Djinn in Cairo
Octavia E. Butler - Dawn (Xenogenesis series)
Milton J. Davis - From Here to Timbuktu
Max Gladstone - Three Parts Dead (Craft Sequence series)
Nisi Shawl - Everfair (Everfair series)
Maurice Broaddus - Buffalo Soldier
D. N. Bryn - Our Bloody Pearl
G. L. Thomas - The City of Fallen Stars (Sterling Wayfarer series)
Elizabeth Bear - Karen Memory
Marissa Meyer - Cinder (Lunar Chronicles series)
Balogun Ojetade - Moses: The Chronicles of Harriet Tubman
A. J. Hartley - Steeplejack (Steeplejack series)
Nikki Woolfolk - The Winter Triangle
Ken Liu - The Grace of Kings (Dandelion Dynasty series) [1]
Gail Carringer - Romancing the Inventor [2]
Anthologies -
The SEA is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia (Nghi Vo, ed.)
Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories and Steam-Powered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories (JoSelle Vanderhooft, ed.)
The Steampowered Globe (Rosemary Lim, ed.)
Once Upon a Time in the Weird West (Tricia Kristufek, ed.)
Steamfunk! - (Milton J. Davis, ed.)
Notes:
[1] I hesitate to include Ken Liu, but his writing is amazing. Ken has appeared at local conventions here in Denver twice in the past year; he is the originator of the term “silkpunk”, which isn’t exactly Steampunk. Ken says:
“In creating the silkpunk aesthetic, I was influenced by the ideas of W. Brian Arthur, who articulates a vision of technology as language. The task of the engineer is much like that of a poet in that the engineer must creatively combine existing components to solve novel problems, thereby devising artifacts that are new expressions in the technical language.”
[2] Gail’s Parasol Protectorate series includes queer characters.