Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
NonStop Press (2010), Paperback, 240 pages
Pages
240
Description
Discover original steampunk tales in this anthology of stories written before there were actual rocketships, atomic power, digital computers, or readily available electricity. The modern day steampunk genre is a reinventing of the past through the eyes of its inventors and adventures, but this collection is from real Victorians and Edwardians who saw the future potential of science and its daring possibilities. Steam-powered automobiles, submarines, and robots are featured alongside great airships and spaceships in these bold and creative stories of hope, triumph, and disaster.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2010-07-14
2010
Physical description
240 p.; 9 inches
ISBN
1933065184 / 9781933065182
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Library's review
Steampunk Prime is clearly a book intended to capitalize on the popularity of steampunk, bringing together fifteen Victorian science fiction stories (dating from 1897-1916, but mostly from within a few years of 1900) to illustrate the early days of science fiction. I'm not familiar enough with the
The stories themselves are uneven; none of them have particularly good writing, and the characterization is mostly fairly flat. Read these for the atmosphere and the plot, if you read them. Highlights include From Pole to Pole by George Griffith, where the first voyage to the South Pole is followed by a plunge through a tunnel at the Earth's core (ironically, I found it harder to suspend my disbelief at the ease with which they reached the Pole than with the tunnel itself!), notable for including a woman among the explorers, and "The Plunge", by George England, featuring an airship disaster and characters longing for the good old days of adventure rather than the dreary modern world. Less interesting for me were the abundance of end-of-the-world disaster stories, which tended toward similarity despite the variety of calamities (vampire bats; strange alien lights; catastrophic fires from electricity) and a rather tedious "man from the present awakes in future utopia" travelogue.
While all the stories in this volume are old enough to be in the public domain, I couldn't find any of them on a quick search of Project Gutenberg; if you have an interest in the history of the genre, this is certainly a convenient way to come up to speed.
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era to comment on the selection, other than to note that H.G. Wells is conspicuously absent; the editors comment on that, explaining that his works are widely available and don't need to be highlighted here. While that may be true, it seems odd for an author perceived as synonymous with the time to be missing.The stories themselves are uneven; none of them have particularly good writing, and the characterization is mostly fairly flat. Read these for the atmosphere and the plot, if you read them. Highlights include From Pole to Pole by George Griffith, where the first voyage to the South Pole is followed by a plunge through a tunnel at the Earth's core (ironically, I found it harder to suspend my disbelief at the ease with which they reached the Pole than with the tunnel itself!), notable for including a woman among the explorers, and "The Plunge", by George England, featuring an airship disaster and characters longing for the good old days of adventure rather than the dreary modern world. Less interesting for me were the abundance of end-of-the-world disaster stories, which tended toward similarity despite the variety of calamities (vampire bats; strange alien lights; catastrophic fires from electricity) and a rather tedious "man from the present awakes in future utopia" travelogue.
While all the stories in this volume are old enough to be in the public domain, I couldn't find any of them on a quick search of Project Gutenberg; if you have an interest in the history of the genre, this is certainly a convenient way to come up to speed.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member drneutron
I have a bit of a beef with Steampunk Prime - it claims to be a "vintage steampunk reader", but steampunk as a genre didn't exist before the 1980s with works by K. W. Jeter, TIm Powers and James Blaylock. Steampunk uses Victorian-era stories as a basis, but the point of steampunk is as much in the
Having said that, I'm a fan of Victorian era stories like those presented in Steampunk Prime, and the selections here are generally pretty good examples of turn of the twentieth century science fiction. There are automatons, alien invasions, world-ending disasters, even a trip from South to North Pole through an axial tunnel. There are heroes and damsels in distress, there are dystopias, and evil secret societies. Fun stuff!
Of course, the Victorian style isn't for everyone. Some will find the stories a bit slow, even a bit redundant. The racist and sexist morality can be off-putting. But if H. Rider Haggard or Edgar Rice Burroughs is your thing, the stories in Steampunk Prime will be a mostly interesting introduction to authors who were quite popular in their day but are largely unfamiliar today.
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punk as in the steam. The connection to modern steampunk is a bit more tenuous than the editor would have us believe.Having said that, I'm a fan of Victorian era stories like those presented in Steampunk Prime, and the selections here are generally pretty good examples of turn of the twentieth century science fiction. There are automatons, alien invasions, world-ending disasters, even a trip from South to North Pole through an axial tunnel. There are heroes and damsels in distress, there are dystopias, and evil secret societies. Fun stuff!
Of course, the Victorian style isn't for everyone. Some will find the stories a bit slow, even a bit redundant. The racist and sexist morality can be off-putting. But if H. Rider Haggard or Edgar Rice Burroughs is your thing, the stories in Steampunk Prime will be a mostly interesting introduction to authors who were quite popular in their day but are largely unfamiliar today.
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LibraryThing member macsbrains
This book is an anthology of old-school Victorian era/turn of the century sci-fi short stories which are supposed to showcase the elements of modern Steampunk as they were perceived by the sci-fi writers living in that era.
This book has a distinct audience. That audience comprises avid Steampunk
Unfortunately, the book doesn't really deliver to any member of that audience.
The selection of stories are really pulpy and for the most part pretty weak. In an attempt to showcase more obscure writers some of the work was poorer and so the execution of the concepts suffered. Before each story the editor provided a half-page to a page of history and context for the story, and for the most part that was interesting, but there wasn't enough of it and it wasn't as in depth as I would have liked it to be. The book is about the stories, not the commentary, and I think maybe this book needed to be the other way around.
It wasn't all bad, not at all. But then I fit all 3 audience types. There was one story I really enjoyed, the last one, because in it the characters are on an airship circa 1940 (which would have been near future for the reader at the time) lamenting the fact that here they are on a huge airship, and it's so ho-hum boring. Wouldn't it be wonderful to go back to the days of oh, the 1920s, when men were men and adventure and discovery were just around every corner like in the story books? I found it to be very meta and I thought it was a good close because it really highlighted what steampunk fans like about their steampunk - the romanticization of the mystery, wonder, and the power and danger of the future at their fingertips. The editor didn't comment on that aspect of the story, so it may have been just me reading into things.
In general though, you really have to already like this kind of thing to get any enjoyment out of it. If you don't already like old, pre-golden-age sci-fi it's going to be a bit of a painful read.
This book has a distinct audience. That audience comprises avid Steampunk
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fans, avid old-school sci-fi fans, and interested genre theorists.Unfortunately, the book doesn't really deliver to any member of that audience.
The selection of stories are really pulpy and for the most part pretty weak. In an attempt to showcase more obscure writers some of the work was poorer and so the execution of the concepts suffered. Before each story the editor provided a half-page to a page of history and context for the story, and for the most part that was interesting, but there wasn't enough of it and it wasn't as in depth as I would have liked it to be. The book is about the stories, not the commentary, and I think maybe this book needed to be the other way around.
It wasn't all bad, not at all. But then I fit all 3 audience types. There was one story I really enjoyed, the last one, because in it the characters are on an airship circa 1940 (which would have been near future for the reader at the time) lamenting the fact that here they are on a huge airship, and it's so ho-hum boring. Wouldn't it be wonderful to go back to the days of oh, the 1920s, when men were men and adventure and discovery were just around every corner like in the story books? I found it to be very meta and I thought it was a good close because it really highlighted what steampunk fans like about their steampunk - the romanticization of the mystery, wonder, and the power and danger of the future at their fingertips. The editor didn't comment on that aspect of the story, so it may have been just me reading into things.
In general though, you really have to already like this kind of thing to get any enjoyment out of it. If you don't already like old, pre-golden-age sci-fi it's going to be a bit of a painful read.
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LibraryThing member sdobie
A collection of "vintage steampunk" stories; in other words, stories that were actually written in the late 1800's to early 1900's. It is an interesting concept, but it doesn't really hold up since very few of the stories have any kind of steampunk feel. They are just science fiction stories that
"Mr. Broadbent's Information" - Henry A. Hering 3/5
A genetically-engineered creature seeks freedom. Good until the mad scientist shows up.
"The Automation" - Reginal Bacchus and Ranger Gull 3/5
A man seeks to foil a chess-playing robot. More of a ghost story.
"The Abduction of Alexandra Seine" - Fred C. Smale 2.5/5
Bad guy takes girl on a flying car chase. Cheesy
"The Gibraltar Tunnel" - Jean Jaubert 3/5
Disaster in the new train tunnel under Gibralter. Decent action.
"From Pole to Pole" - George Griffith 4/5
Explorers traverse a natural tunnel through the Earth from pole to pole. Good adventure with bad science.
"In the Deep of Time" - George Parsons Lathrop 3/5
A man is frozen until the end of the twenty-second century. What he finds there is fairly silly.
"The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings" - L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace 2.5/5
Search for a kidnapped child. Barely seemed like SF.
"The Plague of Lights" - Owen Oliver 2/5
Alien lights infect and kill humans while searching for love. Dumb.
"What the Rats Brought" - Ernest Favenc 2.5/5
A plague sweeps across Australia. Not much story.
"The Great Catastrophe" - George Davey 3/5
Electricity goes wild and destroys London. OK disaster story.
"Within an Ace of the End of the World" - Robert Barr 2/5
Mankind depletes the nitrogen in the atmosphere and causes disaster. Silly conclusion.
"An Interplanetary Rupture" - Frank L. Packard 2/5
Mercury and Earth go to war. Unconvincing attack from space.
"The Last Days of Earth" - George C. Wallis 4/5
The last humans survey the dying Earth and prepare to colonize a new world.
"The Plunge" - George Allan England 4/5
Disaster on a giant trans-Pacific airship. Pulpy fun.
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happened to be written in a certain time period and about half take place well in the future of the steampunk era, and others are on themes such as alien invasion that don't inherently fit into steampunk. The stories themselves are almost all poorly written, which will make this only of interest to the dedicated modern reader. Ashley's introductions to the stories are interesting, however. The best stories are the Griffith, the Wallis, and the England."Mr. Broadbent's Information" - Henry A. Hering 3/5
A genetically-engineered creature seeks freedom. Good until the mad scientist shows up.
"The Automation" - Reginal Bacchus and Ranger Gull 3/5
A man seeks to foil a chess-playing robot. More of a ghost story.
"The Abduction of Alexandra Seine" - Fred C. Smale 2.5/5
Bad guy takes girl on a flying car chase. Cheesy
"The Gibraltar Tunnel" - Jean Jaubert 3/5
Disaster in the new train tunnel under Gibralter. Decent action.
"From Pole to Pole" - George Griffith 4/5
Explorers traverse a natural tunnel through the Earth from pole to pole. Good adventure with bad science.
"In the Deep of Time" - George Parsons Lathrop 3/5
A man is frozen until the end of the twenty-second century. What he finds there is fairly silly.
"The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings" - L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace 2.5/5
Search for a kidnapped child. Barely seemed like SF.
"The Plague of Lights" - Owen Oliver 2/5
Alien lights infect and kill humans while searching for love. Dumb.
"What the Rats Brought" - Ernest Favenc 2.5/5
A plague sweeps across Australia. Not much story.
"The Great Catastrophe" - George Davey 3/5
Electricity goes wild and destroys London. OK disaster story.
"Within an Ace of the End of the World" - Robert Barr 2/5
Mankind depletes the nitrogen in the atmosphere and causes disaster. Silly conclusion.
"An Interplanetary Rupture" - Frank L. Packard 2/5
Mercury and Earth go to war. Unconvincing attack from space.
"The Last Days of Earth" - George C. Wallis 4/5
The last humans survey the dying Earth and prepare to colonize a new world.
"The Plunge" - George Allan England 4/5
Disaster on a giant trans-Pacific airship. Pulpy fun.
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LibraryThing member psybre
I found this collection quite underwhelming. Although nearly all of the stories contained an interesting idea or two, few were written well enough, or were modern enough, for my taste. Several of the stories were so "Victorian" (read, over-the-top sexist) that I could imagine only Victorians being
I can't recommend the whole of Steampunk Prime to anyone, but the following stories contained either some merit from plot, idea or quality:
"The Last Days of Earth" by George C. Wallis (3 out of 5 stars)
"Within an Ace of the End of the World" by Robert Barr (3 stars)
"The Great Catastrophe" by George Davey (3 stars)
"The Plague of Lights" by Owen Oliver (3.5 stars)
"The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings" - L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace (3 stars)
"In the Deep of Time" by George Parsons Lathrop (3 stars)
"The Gibraltar Tunnel" by Jean Jaubert (3 stars)
If this collection is an accurate sampling of speculative writing from the Victorian Era, it has taught me to ignore such tawdry works from the past, and to find the contemporary works of steampunk more refreshing and satisfying.
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inspired by the content. I struggled through the book, reading every story critically, and some of them near the end were actually quite good. The final sentence of the final story, "The Plunge" however, was so blatantly misogynous that I nearly tossed the book in the trash.I can't recommend the whole of Steampunk Prime to anyone, but the following stories contained either some merit from plot, idea or quality:
"The Last Days of Earth" by George C. Wallis (3 out of 5 stars)
"Within an Ace of the End of the World" by Robert Barr (3 stars)
"The Great Catastrophe" by George Davey (3 stars)
"The Plague of Lights" by Owen Oliver (3.5 stars)
"The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings" - L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace (3 stars)
"In the Deep of Time" by George Parsons Lathrop (3 stars)
"The Gibraltar Tunnel" by Jean Jaubert (3 stars)
If this collection is an accurate sampling of speculative writing from the Victorian Era, it has taught me to ignore such tawdry works from the past, and to find the contemporary works of steampunk more refreshing and satisfying.
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LibraryThing member ryvre
Interesting, but not great. I liked the concept of this book, but the stories did not particularly impress me. I'm glad I read it, but it doesn't warrant a reread.
LibraryThing member johnklima
This collection of "original" steampunk stories is a great concept, excellently executed. I have the word "original" in quotes because when these stories were written, there was no genre called steampunk. In fact, there were no genres as we know them today. All the stories collected in Steampunk
But that's the interesting thing that this anthology does. These are not stories that are well known, or stories that are cited as inspiring steampunk. But they should have been. Any current reader who enjoys steampunk should delve into these stories because this is a really solid collection. Hopefully the anthology will inspire people to seek out other work by these authors, as they do deserve more attention.
You'll have to read these, however, as you would read anything that's more than a hundred years old. You'll finds turns of phrase, concepts, dialog, and other things that sound tinny to the modern ear. Still, I think it's worth the effort of reading these stories. From a publishing standpoint, I wish the layout had been a little cleaner. I found the layout more detrimental to reading these stories than their age.
This was one of my most-looked-forward-to books from 2010 and it did not disappoint me.
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Prime were essentially written during the Victorian Era, which is ostensibly where modern steampunk places its fiction. These are the stories and the writers who helped inspire today's steampunk.But that's the interesting thing that this anthology does. These are not stories that are well known, or stories that are cited as inspiring steampunk. But they should have been. Any current reader who enjoys steampunk should delve into these stories because this is a really solid collection. Hopefully the anthology will inspire people to seek out other work by these authors, as they do deserve more attention.
You'll have to read these, however, as you would read anything that's more than a hundred years old. You'll finds turns of phrase, concepts, dialog, and other things that sound tinny to the modern ear. Still, I think it's worth the effort of reading these stories. From a publishing standpoint, I wish the layout had been a little cleaner. I found the layout more detrimental to reading these stories than their age.
This was one of my most-looked-forward-to books from 2010 and it did not disappoint me.
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LibraryThing member butterflybaby
I really like steam punk. It has all the best generes in one. I would recommend this book.
LibraryThing member storyjunkie
This collection would be great when I'm in the mood for good turn of the 20th Century science fiction (Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, etc). However, it took a lot of time to get past the expectations engendered by the title and the introduction. The adventure stories about aerocar chases,
Steampunk is a very specific subgenre and creative-aesthetic movement, and calling good Victorian and Edwardian-era science fiction "steampunk" does a disservice to both the works in this collection and the movement, as the similarity is entirely in the setting, and the fantastic nature of the "scientific" advances, but the genre conventions and the storytelling hallmarks are entirely different.
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automatons, the sense of possibility and exploration are wonderful, and carry the optimism of un-dashed imaginings. Steampunk is a very specific subgenre and creative-aesthetic movement, and calling good Victorian and Edwardian-era science fiction "steampunk" does a disservice to both the works in this collection and the movement, as the similarity is entirely in the setting, and the fantastic nature of the "scientific" advances, but the genre conventions and the storytelling hallmarks are entirely different.
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LibraryThing member babsji
This was a thoughtful and well researched book. You can tell the editors were passionate about the subject, which were scifi tales in the height of the Victorian era. Some of the stories I thought were just meh, but that's me looking at it from the 21st century. I was amazed with the amount of
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biographical history that they were able to get on some of the authors. You just kind of have to sit back and think about what life was like for what had to be the first incarnations of geeks. In fact, the bio sketches were the best part for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member BryanThomasS
One of the best anthologies I've read ever. Most of the stories are outstanding, all are fascinating for their worldview and views of science and the future. If you love Verne and Wells, this is especially a don't miss. Rich period detail, some interesting scientific conjecture, and good writing.
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The stories are everything from action adventure to mystery. Thoroughly enjoyable. I'll post a more detailed review soon. Show Less
LibraryThing member Leonard72
This book is a hardbound book. There are wonderful illustrations throughout the book. I bought it for $8.98 for B&N off of their bargain rack.
LibraryThing member marysneedle
Most of the stories were very good.
And since they were all written between 1880 and 1914 it was interesting to compare what they were writing about with what has actually come to pass since then.
And since they were all written between 1880 and 1914 it was interesting to compare what they were writing about with what has actually come to pass since then.
LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck
3 stars for an interesting look into pre-pulp science fiction, 2 (or less) for quality of writing. For those who've never read (or even heard of) Moskowitz's Science Fiction by Gaslight, which covers the same time period, this could be a real eye-opener. Ashley's intent was to pick steampunk-ish
Running down the stories: "Mr Broadbent's Information" tale of an intelligent automaton fleeing from a cruel inventor is more satirical fantasy than SF. "The Automaton" -- a chess-playing automaton -- is a cheat. It turns out not to be an SF story at all. "The Abduction of Alexandra Seine" is full-on steampunk with an aerocar chase dominating most of the story. It's the first of many stories with a damsel in distress and/or painful romantic exchanges. Bad romance appears again in "The Gibraltar Tunnel," but the story of a perilous train trip beneath the Straits of Gibraltar has its moments. Romance once again in "From Pole to Pole," but this is a moderately readable fantastic journey in the mode of Verne than a potboiler with steamdriven SF. "In the Deep of Time" is one of those awful tours of the far future where what little bad plot there is is forgotten for pages on end. Supposedly the ideas were provided by Thomas Edison. Not steampunk to me. "The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings" is very weak tale in the Fu Manchu mode, with a technological resolution. Not steampunk. "The Plague of Lights" is a fantastical invasion tale where mysterious dots of light fall to earth and take over the minds of those they attach to. Interesting but hurt by the passivity of all the characters. It's one of several tales that begin "while the formal reports have been published, as one of the few survivors who actually experienced the events reported..." Not steampunk, nor is "What the Rats Brought," an odd catastrophe tale of giant bats and unbearable ennui. Another tale told by a survivor is "The Great Catastrophe" where electricity turns on mankind. "Within an Ace of the End of the World" is straight SF speculation, as a miracle invention that can turn nitrogen into food leads to an excess of atmospheric oxygen and what entails. "An Interplanetary Rupture" finally returns to some level of steampunkishness as Mercury's warlord invades Earth. The tale is pure space opera as 1000's of ships battle each other in Earth's skies, as witness sentences like "Within the hour 883 might engines of destruction rose like gigantic birds, and for an instant steeped the city in a dim twilight as they hung suspended over it; then forming in parallel columns they were swallowed up in space" and "The huge engines of destruction rushed at each other with terrific speed, to recoil from the shock battered and stunned and helpless, to reel and turn and sink in hideous gyrations from the dizzy height, crusining themselves into unrecognizable shapes on the ground beneath." "The Last Days of Earth" is a dumb bad romance about the last couple at the end of Earth's days. Steampunk returns with "The Plunge," a bad romance, that begins with a long boring conversation onboard a gigantic aero-liner about how perfect life has become. Then a meteor strikes and the tale becomes pure disaster movie, with so many scenes of people falling to their death, you wonder if Cameron used this as his template for Titanic. There's also one element of space opera hyperbole: at one point it's mentioned how the aero-liner flies above a 300 mile an hour hurricane, a hurricane created by the aero-liner!
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stories written in steampunk's Victorian era. This conceit works well for a few stories at the beginning and end, but IMO pretty much fades away in the middle stories. Even more interesting to me were some of the final stories, that presaged not steampunk but hard-core space opera. Running down the stories: "Mr Broadbent's Information" tale of an intelligent automaton fleeing from a cruel inventor is more satirical fantasy than SF. "The Automaton" -- a chess-playing automaton -- is a cheat. It turns out not to be an SF story at all. "The Abduction of Alexandra Seine" is full-on steampunk with an aerocar chase dominating most of the story. It's the first of many stories with a damsel in distress and/or painful romantic exchanges. Bad romance appears again in "The Gibraltar Tunnel," but the story of a perilous train trip beneath the Straits of Gibraltar has its moments. Romance once again in "From Pole to Pole," but this is a moderately readable fantastic journey in the mode of Verne than a potboiler with steamdriven SF. "In the Deep of Time" is one of those awful tours of the far future where what little bad plot there is is forgotten for pages on end. Supposedly the ideas were provided by Thomas Edison. Not steampunk to me. "The Brotherhood of the Seven Kings" is very weak tale in the Fu Manchu mode, with a technological resolution. Not steampunk. "The Plague of Lights" is a fantastical invasion tale where mysterious dots of light fall to earth and take over the minds of those they attach to. Interesting but hurt by the passivity of all the characters. It's one of several tales that begin "while the formal reports have been published, as one of the few survivors who actually experienced the events reported..." Not steampunk, nor is "What the Rats Brought," an odd catastrophe tale of giant bats and unbearable ennui. Another tale told by a survivor is "The Great Catastrophe" where electricity turns on mankind. "Within an Ace of the End of the World" is straight SF speculation, as a miracle invention that can turn nitrogen into food leads to an excess of atmospheric oxygen and what entails. "An Interplanetary Rupture" finally returns to some level of steampunkishness as Mercury's warlord invades Earth. The tale is pure space opera as 1000's of ships battle each other in Earth's skies, as witness sentences like "Within the hour 883 might engines of destruction rose like gigantic birds, and for an instant steeped the city in a dim twilight as they hung suspended over it; then forming in parallel columns they were swallowed up in space" and "The huge engines of destruction rushed at each other with terrific speed, to recoil from the shock battered and stunned and helpless, to reel and turn and sink in hideous gyrations from the dizzy height, crusining themselves into unrecognizable shapes on the ground beneath." "The Last Days of Earth" is a dumb bad romance about the last couple at the end of Earth's days. Steampunk returns with "The Plunge," a bad romance, that begins with a long boring conversation onboard a gigantic aero-liner about how perfect life has become. Then a meteor strikes and the tale becomes pure disaster movie, with so many scenes of people falling to their death, you wonder if Cameron used this as his template for Titanic. There's also one element of space opera hyperbole: at one point it's mentioned how the aero-liner flies above a 300 mile an hour hurricane, a hurricane created by the aero-liner!
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LibraryThing member MooqieLove
I enjoyed this book, but it is not one that reads smoothly. STEAMPUNK is a collection of short stories written in the Victorian Era about the ideas and mechanization of the future. While this can be a bit dry, you must take into account the time in which it was written.
Something that I really enjoy
It is a hard book to get into as there is no flow between any of the stories. That being said, it is good for starting and stopping whenever it strikes your fancy.
It is a very interesting literary reference to have on hand.
Something that I really enjoy
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about the book is that before each new short story, the compiler/editor/author(?)writes a small blurb about the original author as well as the time is was written, which leads to a better understanding as to how and why the story came about. It is a hard book to get into as there is no flow between any of the stories. That being said, it is good for starting and stopping whenever it strikes your fancy.
It is a very interesting literary reference to have on hand.
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LibraryThing member BraveKelso
The collection is a sample of SF from popular magazines 1900-1910, a generation before Gernsbach and the age of American SF pulp fiction. The stories and writing are not good.