Steampunk, Anyone?

The "steampunk" subgenre has been flitting around the outskirts of my consciousness for the last couple of years. It's one of those terms one hears whispered on the wind, a sort of suggestion that one resolves to look into, at some point. So I finally got around to it, and I'm glad I did.

I'm in somewhat murky waters here. I feel qualified to write about "mystery"/"crime fiction" and its various subgenres; "steampunk," not so much.  As I am coming to understand it, it's more of a subgenre of science fiction/fantasy than mystery, and yet - now that I've read two such books - I can see where and how steampunk would appeal to mystery lovers.

For those of you who haven't dipped their toes into the waters into these books yet, here's the definition from Wikipedia:

 

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually thebVictorian era Britain—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Other examples of steampunk contain alternative history-style presentations of such technology as lighter-than-air airships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace's Analytical engine.

So, where is the connection to mystery, you may ask?

 Check out, as an example, George Mann's The Affinity Bridge. This is the first in a series; you might not be able to see it from the book image at left, but the subtitle is a "Newbury & Hobbes Investigation."  Maurice Newbury works for Queen Victoria, investigating all kinds of phenomena. His "assistant" is Veronica Hobbes, though she serves more as a partner than an assistant. In this first book of the series, Newbury and Hobbes are called onto investigate the crash of an airship/dirigible that was piloted by an automaton. A relation of Queen Victoria's had been on board, which is why the investigation has a certain urgency. In the meantime, Newbury battles an addiction to laudanum, while Hobbes has a few secrets of her own.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. While the description of Steampunk from Wikipedia (above) makes it seem as though the genre is "dark," I wouldn't say that The Affinity Bridge is deeply noir. I found the writing clever; the pacing fast; and I liked the respectful and friendly relationship between Newbury and Hobbes.  Meanwhile, supernatural beings called "revenants" are roaming the streets of London while airships fly overhead, and a "glowing policeman" seems to be taking revenge on the people responsible for this death. It's a heady mixture that (described to me out of context) might make me raise my eyebrows in skepticism. And yet it somehow all works together in this fictional world created by Mann. I had no trouble suspending disbelief once I got into the book (and I do believe that some of the best storytellers are those who are the best at making readers see very strange occurrences as the norm). 

I don't know if Jedediah Berry's The Manual of Detection would be "officially" considered Steampunk, though it does seem to be inspired by that subgenre. The setting is not Victorian-era London but rather what seems to be Victorian-era New York City (the city is never named), where a huge, nameless Agency is in charge of investigating crimes. The world here is highly Orwellian, with each job within the agency having its own hyper-specialized duties, and the members of each department not allowed to speak with the members of other departments. So, the book seems not only Victorian but also futuristic, and probably owes a bit of debt to the dystopian world of the movie Brazil and others like it.

"The Manual of Detection" refers to the book given to each agency Detective upon being appointed to his post. However, the last chapter of the book has been expurgated because it deals with something called "oneiric detection" - or detection through dreams. The villain is stealing all the clocks in town, using a carnival as a sort of hiding place/base of operations. It's up to our hero, the mild-mannered functionary Charles Unwin, to get to the bottom of things, with the help of a femme fatale named Cleopatra Greenwood and a missing, perhaps murdered, Agency Detective named Travis Sivart. Unwin, who's happy being the best clerk he can be, is mysteriously promoted for no reason he can figure out, and the story proceeds from there, moving from reality to surrealism along a line that becomes increasingly steep as the story continues.  

The Manual of Detection is crisply and cleanly written; however, it does move at a slower pace than The Affinity Bridge, simply because the plot is much more convoluted. And for me - not being used to sci-fi, or punk, or post-modern writing - I had to keep re-orienting myself to the book's world. But I do think it's fair to classify it as a sort of mystery or crime novel, even if it's not what we expect - and that is part of the joy of the book.

I'm intrigued enough to think I might want to publish a Steampunk book or two; but I worry that I just don't know enough about that world to do justice to a manuscript - or to know what distinguishes good Steampunk from subpar Steampunk. And how would we market it? I wouldn't even know where to begin. If anyone reading this is a Steampunk fan or aficionado, I would love you to click on the "comment" button and share some of your thoughts about the subgenre. 

 

 

 

Comments

[Standback]

I'm definitely familiar with steampunk as an odd subgenre of fantasy and science-fiction; I'd say publishing a steampunk mystery would be analogous to publishing a fantasy mystery or an SF mystery.

If you're aiming at mystery-lovers who aren't familiar with steampunk, then you want something that shows off the subgenre's tropes - zeppelins, steam technology, brains in jars, what-have-you - in an accessible manner. If you're aiming at people who are already into steampunk, you might want to watch out for using overfamiliar tropes in an overfamiliar way - but anything that radiates the unique feel of the subgenre will find its fans.

One of the biggest challenges in steampunk is that, as in other speculative fiction, you've got to spend a lot of energy laying down the rules of the setting, making clear what's possible and what isn't. Mysteries can be a great vehicle for that kind of exposition; it's important not to leave mystery solutions (or major plot twists) up to sudden revelations of technobabble without sufficient buildup.

[writing samples]

though I am a ghostwriter myself, yet steampunk was an unknown concept for me until I read your post. Thanks. And I agree with you one you can't leave your mystery up to quick revealation of techs without a process.
Regards,
Jena Twain