the black god's drums

I’ve been meaning to read P. Djèlí Clark's novella The Black God's Drums for a long time. I’m proud to say I finally finished it (and that the long wait had nothing to do with the book itself, which was fast-paced, satisfying, and a romp and a half!). A couple of years ago I borrowed this novella from the library and racked up a $13 late fee – before returning it unread. *sigh* And then I bought a hardcover copy sometime in the past year… but teaching (and grading!) burned through all of my personal reading time. And THEN I finally bought a digital copy as well – to read whenever. And whenever happened to be over the last few days, sitting with my Kindle in the sunshine at my uncles’ place. It was extremely satisfying to check this one off my to-read list!

Creeper, a scrappy young teen, is done living on the streets of New Orleans. Instead, she wants to soar, and her sights are set on securing passage aboard the smuggler airship Midnight Robber. Her ticket: earning Captain Ann-Marie’s trust using a secret about a kidnapped Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls the Black God’s Drums.

But Creeper keeps another secret close to heart—Oya, the African orisha of the wind and storms, who speaks inside her head and grants her divine powers. And Oya has her own priorities…

Young orphan Creeper sleeps rough and knows the ins and outs of a steampunk version of New Orleans from her life as a pickpocket. Her dreams are bigger than the streets she loves, though – she wants to get away, to join an airship crew and fly the world. When she stumbles upon valuable information about a weapon of mass destruction called the Black God’s Drums, she thinks that selling it to the right source may be her ticket out of town on a Haitian pirate airship. The goddess Oya, who haunts Creeper’s thoughts with visions, may have a different plan – and so the intrigue and adventure begin.

The Black God’s Drums is primarily young Creeper’s story, but it is firmly moored in an alternate history and place: a steampunk version of New Orleans full of airships and mechanical marvels, where the North and South signed a treaty to end a much longer Civil War and Free New Orleans rebelled and lives in its own bubble. In this version of reality, Creeper is on her own and a master at avoiding the risk and danger of her world, and at the same time trying to escape to live in the skies. She’s dropped into intrigue by accident (is it really an accident or Oya’s will?), and thus follows an adventure that crisscrosses New Orleans and brings her up against sinister enemies.

One of the story’s great strengths is the crazy steampunk and cultural mashup in its pages (and that’s also one of the possible weaknesses, if you can’t untangle the threads). It’s speculative fiction, which you always take a bit on faith, but it imagines a mostly hopeful past: one where Haiti thrived and prospered after its slave uprising and revolution (even at terrible cost), the rest of the Caribbean followed it to freedom, and Free New Orleans is a diverse melting pot full of a Blacks, Creoles, and more. Also there are airships! And unlikely information gatherers, and queer characters, and a rollicking pace that catapult the reader through adventures one after another.

The one thing I wish we got more of in the story is MORE of the story – I’d love to see this become a series like the Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells did. Clark has woven a history and a cultural milieu that are rich with detail, and characters you want to know more about. I think there’s more to Creeper’s story, and I’d love to read it.

In all, The Black God’s Drums is an inventive, electric steampunk short story filled with Haitian airship privateers, the unique flavor of New Orleans, and a young heroine who will steal into your heart.

Recommended for: those looking to read more fiction by Black authors, fans of short stories and YA steampunk/alternate histories (e.g. Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series), and anyone on the hunt for a fast-paced read.

waiting on wednesday (83)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I've read one Justine Larbalestier book, How to Ditch Your Fairy.  I thought it was quirky, fun, and I know it would have appealed to teen me (I was a very dedicated teen athlete as well as a bookworm, and I never thought there were enough books for my demographic - especially books featuring girls-who-play-sports!).  I also checked out the short story collection Zombies vs. Unicorns, which she co-edited with Holly Black. Those (positive) reading experiences led me to Larbalestier's blog and Twitter, and I've found that she's articulate, funny, and interesting on social media as well as a great writer of fiction.  So I was quite disappointed when I heard that her latest book hadn't sold in the U.S.  It seemed like pure bad luck.  But hey, that's changed!  It's coming!  I'm super stoked.  Razorhurst will be released by Soho Teen on March 3, 2015.

Sydney’s deadly Razorhurst neighborhood, 1932. Gloriana Nelson and Mr. Davidson, two ruthless mob bosses, have reached a fragile peace—one maintained by “razor men.” Kelpie, orphaned and living on the street, is blessed and cursed with the ability to see Razorhurst’s many ghosts, and she sees the cracks already forming. Then Kelpie meets Dymphna Campbell.

Dymphna is a legendary beauty and prized moll of Gloriana Nelson. She’s earned the nickname “Angel of Death” for the trail of beaus who have died trying to protect her from Mr. Davidson’s assassins. Unbeknownst to Kelpie, Dymphna can see ghosts, too, and as Gloriana’s hold crumbles one burly henchman at a time, the girls will need one another more than ever.

As loyalties shift and betrayal threatens at every turn, Dymphna is determined to not only survive, but to rise to the top with Kelpie at her side—and to save Kelpie from both the living and the dead.

What books are you waiting on?

the mark of the dragonfly blog tour: author interview with jaleigh johnson

Author Jaleigh Johnson is here today at Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia for an interview.  Her middle grade debut The Mark of the Dragonfly combines steampunk, an epic train ride, and a wholly magical adventure.  The Mark of the Dragonfly was released by Delacorte (Penguin Random House) on March 25^th, 2014.

Jaleigh Johnson is a lifelong reader, gamer, and moviegoer. She loves nothing better than to escape into fictional worlds and take part in fantastic adventures. She lives and writes in the wilds of the Midwest, but you can visit her online at www.jaleighjohnson.com or on Twitter @JaleighJohnson.

Welcome Jaleigh!

The Mark of the Dragonfly has been described as steampunk and sci-fi.  What is your favorite thing about writing steampunk/sci-fi?

Well, the “steam” parts were a lot of fun to write, especially the 401 train and its defenses, but I think my favorite thing about writing the steampunk elements of The Mark of the Dragonfly is that I was able to explore the impact of an industrial revolution when combined with an age of exploration. I think that’s more of the “punk” part of the equation. I wanted to write a book where these two forces—exploration and technology—collided and left the world struggling over limited resources, how that would create its own class system, and how it would impact people like Piper, who are at the bottom.

What is the most interesting discovery you made while researching The Mark of the Dragonfly?

I think the most interesting (and unsettling) discovery I made was that as much as I love trains, when I started writing I knew very little about how steam engines work, so that was a huge hurdle to overcome. I also had no idea how dangerous early rail travel could be, or that some people were afraid of the effect that travelling at those high speeds would have on the human body. And by “high speeds” they were talking about anything over 13 miles per hour! For that fact, and many others, I owe a lot to The Railroad Passenger Car by August Mencken.

What are you favorite middle grade/YA speculative fiction titles, aside from your own?

I love Madeleine L’Engle’s books, my favorite being A Wrinkle in Time, and anything written by Robin McKinley, especially Beauty, Rose Daughter, and The Hero and the Crown.

Do you have any hidden (or not so hidden) superpowers?

Hmm, that’s a hard one. Most people are surprised when I tell them that my day job is doing tax and accounting work. Hehe, maybe it’s a superpower to be able to balance all those numbers and words in my head at once. It can be maddening too, though.

What are you reading right now?

At the moment, I’m reading Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo and loving it. Talk about superpowers. Super-powered squirrels for the win. 

What new(ish) book do you wish you'd read as a kid (or at least earlier in life)?

Good question. I’m going to cheat a little because this isn’t new. But more than a specific book, I really wish I’d discovered Diana Wynne Jones when I was younger. I came to her books just a few years ago with Howl’s Moving Castle. I love her writing now, but I would have loved it when I was a kid too. It just goes to show how many amazing books there are out there to discover. I know I’ll never find them all, but it doesn’t stop me from trying.

----

Thank you for joining us, Jaleigh!  I too love Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones – you have wonderful taste in books.  *grin*

Fans of The City of Ember will love The Mark of the Dragonfly, an adventure story set in a magical world that is both exciting and dangerous.

Piper has never seen the Mark of the Dragonfly until she finds the girl amid the wreckage of a caravan in the Meteor Fields.

The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home.

The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect--everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible.

Life for Piper just turned dangerous. A little bit magical. And very exciting, if she can manage to survive the journey.

Fine print: I received an e-ARC of The Mark of the Dragonfly from the publisher for honest review. This post is not sponsored in any way.

waiting on wednesday (57)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

I love steampunk.  I read and post about new YA (and adult!) releases in the genre as much as I can.  Those books may be of varying quality, but from the fully-realized scientific alternate world of Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan to the rip-roaring action of Kady Cross' The Girl with the Steel Corset to the smoldering romance of Meljean Brook's The Iron Seas series, they all capture my fancy.  Every now and then I'll hear of an upcoming book that sounds, well, fantastic.  This is one of those.  Andrea Cremer's The Inventor's Secret will be released on April 22, 2014 by Philomel (Penguin Random House).  Next spring can't get here fast enough to suit me!

Sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees have scraped out an existence on the edge of Britain’s industrial empire. Though they live by the skin of their teeth they have their health (at least when they can find enough food and avoid the Imperial Labor Gatherers) and each other. When a new exile with no memory of his escape from the coastal cities or even his own name seeks shelter in their camp he brings new dangers with him and secrets about the terrible future that awaits all those who have struggled to live free of the bonds of the empire’s Machineworks.

The Inventor’s Secret is the first book of a YA steampunk series set in an alternate nineteenth-century North America where the Revolutionary War never took place and the British Empire has expanded into a global juggernaut propelled by marvelous and horrible machinery.

What books are you waiting on?

etiquette & espionage

There’s something about steampunk that hooks me time after time.  It’s fantasy set in an alternate Victorian Era, so you have the feeling and trappings of historical fiction.  It’s also speculative (sci-fi or fantasy or a mix of the two), with a sense of hope about what technology would/could do to make society different.  In the hands of young adult authors, steampunk is also often fun and adventurous.  I was certain that I’d like Gail Carriger’s first YA steampunk novel (she wrote the adult Parasol Protectorate series, which started with Soulless), and I wasn’t disappointed.

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to finishing school.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is the bane of her mother's existence. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper etiquette at tea—and god forbid anyone see her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. She enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But little do Sophronia or her mother know that this is a school where ingenious young girls learn to finish, all right—but it's a different kind of finishing. Mademoiselle Geraldine's certainly trains young ladies in the finer arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also in the other kinds of finishing: the fine arts of death, diversion, deceit, espionage, and the modern weaponries. Sophronia and her friends are going to have a rousing first year at school.

Sophronia is a tomboy-ish younger sister who throws her mother into fits.  She simply doesn’t care that she’s not supposed to be interested in running and jumping and listening at doors.  After all, it’s natural to her, and she can’t see a good reason to start being boring like her elder sister.  However, her mother doesn’t agree, and sends her off to a finishing school to reform her temperament and behavior.  And that’s when things start to get very interesting.

Sophronia has a personality, if you know what I mean, and she’s the life of the book.  Sophronia makes Etiquette & Espionage worth reading because her inquisitiveness, cunning and dismissal of scruples lead to one scrape after another.  Sophronia isn’t attending an ordinary school (although there are the requisite moments of school chum bonding and teaming up to outwit teachers), after all – she’s also learning the fine arts of espionage and murder.  At first she’s bemused and mystified, and later she embraces her lessons with verve.  Her energy and penchant for disregarding the social niceties (while everyone around her is obsessed with them) makes for entertaining reading and hijinks galore.

While this book won’t best please those YA readers who have come to expect romance as a major element of their reading, it will satisfy those with an eye for a unique setting, a soft spot for clever characters, and anyone who has secretly wanted to become a spy at some point in their lives.  The girls at Madmoiselle Geraldine’s learn about poison, machinery, making enemies and friends, and learn to curtsy at the same time.  It’s a bit of a comedy of manners, but a dashing one, and seeds are planted for continuing story arcs.  The formula = mystery + adventure.

Recommended for: fans of YA steampunk (think Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan or Kady Cross’ The Girl in the Steel Corset), and anyone waiting for their entrance letter to a school of magic or espionage.

waiting on wednesday (53)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Gail Carriger started off by writing engaging steampunk for adults.  Her novel Soulless, the first of the Parasol Protectorate series, was a hoot and a half.  Carriger is following up that success with a steampunk series for the young adult audience.  The first book, Etiquette & Espionage, introduced a school on a dirigible, a mystery, and many moments of hilarity.  I'll review it later today, as part of Girls in Steampunk Week.  The good news is that Carriger is continuing on, and the second book in the Finishing School series comes out later this year.  Curtsies & Conspiracies will be released on November 5th, 2013 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette).

Does one need four fully grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill four fully grown guests?

Sophronia's first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy (won't Mumsy be surprised?). Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers' quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship's boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a school trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot--one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card. 

In this sequel to bestselling author Gail Carriger's YA debut Etiquette & Espionage, class is back in session with more petticoats and poison, tea trays and treason. Gail's distinctive voice, signature humor, and lush steampunk setting are sure to be the height of fashion this season.

What books are you waiting on?
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kiss of steel and heart of iron

We all know (or at least suspect) how much cover art affects our decision to pick up a book, much less buy it.  I am not immune.  In fact, I’ve discovered that I am quite the cover snob.  That is the reason I didn’t pick up Bec McMaster’s steampunk romance Kiss of Steel right away – its cover art.  Never say that I don’t learn from my mistakes, because after seeing Jane of Dear Author’s positive review, I picked it up anyway.  Kiss of Steel and its companion novel, Heart of Iron, are unexpectedly entertaining (and steamy!) historical fantasy romances, and well worth the read.  Beware/bonus: ess-eee-exx.  Oh, and if you're looking for more steampunk with strong heroines, check out my Girls in Steampunk Week!

Most people avoid the dreaded Whitechapel district. For Honoria Todd, it's the last safe haven. But at what price? 

Blade is known as the master of the rookeries—no one dares cross him. It's been said he faced down the Echelon's army single-handedly, that ever since being infected by the blood-craving he's been quicker, stronger, and almost immortal. 

When Honoria shows up at his door, his tenuous control comes close to snapping. She's so...innocent. He doesn't see her backbone of steel—or that she could be the very salvation he's been seeking.

In Kiss of Steel, Honoria Todd is desperately trying to hold her family together after the disappearance (and presumed death) of her father.  She has relocated her younger sister and brother with her to the slums, and is eking out a living as a teacher.  Unfortunately, her efforts don’t do enough to keep the cold at bay or buy enough medicine for her brother, and she must put herself at the mercy of the blue blood (a human infected with a blood craving virus but not yet a mindless, dangerous vampire) who goes by the ominous moniker of the Devil of Whitechapel.  How this dangerous character and Honoria deal with each other (and eventually fall in love) takes up the majority of the story.

Kiss of Steel’s strengths were descriptions of class structure within the alternate London, how Honoria dealt with her relationships while looking for a cure for the virus at the same time, Blade’s noblesse oblige and its effect upon a forgotten neighborhood, and (of course) the sexual tension between Honoria and Blade.  I very much appreciated how a little information was given out bit by bit, but not dumped, on the reader.  In addition, McMaster did a good job of playing with different characters’ motivations and revealing them slowly over the course of the story. 

On the negative side of things, the cant dialogue was more distracting than helpful, and there were a few quibbles I had with the world-building (things that weren’t explained or didn’t make sense within the set-up, such as how Blade or most of the Echelon actually made money).  In all, though, I thought it was a strong romance, and I was anticipating the next in the series, Heart of Iron.

In Victorian London, if you’re not a blue blood of the Echelon then you’re nothing at all. The Great Houses rule the city with an iron fist, imposing their strict ‘blood taxes’ on the nation, and the Queen is merely a puppet on a string…

Lena Todd makes the perfect spy. Nobody suspects the flirtatious debutante could be a sympathizer for the humanist movement haunting London’s vicious blue blood elite. Not even the ruthless Will Carver, the one man she can’t twist around her little finger, and the one man whose kiss she can’t forget…

Stricken with the loupe and considered little more than a slave-without-a-collar to the blue bloods, Will wants nothing to do with the Echelon or the dangerous beauty who drives him to the very edge of control. But when he finds a coded letter on Lena—a code that matches one he saw on a fire-bombing suspect—he realizes she’s in trouble. To protect her, he must seduce the truth from her.

With the humanists looking to start a war with the Echelon, Lena and Will must race against time—and an automaton army—to stop the humanist plot before it’s too late. But as they fight to save a city on the brink of revolution, the greatest danger might just be to their hearts…

Heart of Iron follows Honoria’s younger sister Lena and Blade’s second-in-command, Will Carver, who is a verwulfen (werewolf).  Lena made the decision to return to the world of the Echelon in hopes of contracting as a thrall (someone who willingly exchanges blood for creature comforts), but she is now acting as a spy for an organization that plans to overthrow the Echelon’s social order.  While she walks this dangerous line, Will is thrust into the spotlight as one of the only verwulfen in England as a contingent from Scandinavia visits in order to form an alliance.  Lena and Will must work together, but old attraction won’t leave them alone for long.

In the first in this series, Blade was the one pushing for a relationship, rather than Honoria.  In Heart of Iron, Lena is the one in charge (regardless of how the summary makes it sound!).  This dynamic is a refreshing switch, and there’s more of a slow burn than the ‘will they, won’t they’ vibe from the first book.  At the heart of it all is Will’s werewolf virus, his superhuman control (or lack thereof), and a strong thread of nostalgia and longing for the world you knew, rather than the world you have now.  McMaster also weaves in loss of innocence along with further world-building and the dynamics within the foreign delegation.

Heart of Iron is a strong follow-up in an interesting world, but some of the same small annoyances followed from the first book to the second (historical slang, unexplained $$).  In addition, there were almost too many characters, viewpoints and motivations to decipher for a romance-centric plot.  It is to be hoped that McMaster ties off some ends in her next volume, while at the same time maintaining the compelling romance factor.

Both books recommended for: fans of Gail Carriger’s Soulless and those who like steampunk or historical fantasy mixed with romance.

girls in steampunk week calendar of events + giveaway

Welcome!  It’s Girls in Steampunk Week at Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia.  All week long I’ll be featuring books that both fit into the steampunk mold and have strong heroines.  Planned activities are listed below, and will be updated with links as the content goes live.  Oh, and there’s a giveaway.

5/13 – Girls in Steampunk Week calendar of events + giveaway
5/13 – Review of Kiss of Steel and Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster

5/15 – Waiting on Wednesday featuring Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger

6/1 – Review of Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
5/16 – Review of The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross
5/16 – Review of Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells

And now for the giveaway!  Several months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Caitlin Kittredge at a local author event.  She writes young adult steampunk, and was kind enough to sign copies of the first two books in her Iron Codex series, The Iron Thorn and The Nightmare Garden.  I’m offering these two books for giveaway.  Want to enter?  Simply fill out the FORM.  Giveaway open internationally, will end May 18^th at 11:59pm EST.  Winner will be selected randomly and notified via email.  Good luck!

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day. 

Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.

girls in steampunk week

Steampunk has been one of the constants in my reading life since I started blogging.  The genre's fun meld of speculative fiction, science, and the allure of the Victorian age seemed to hit peak popularity at the same time that I was rediscovering young adult fiction.  In order to keep myself motivated to read the latest and greatest in an area I pretend to know something about, I hatched a plan.

Next week I’ll be blogging up a storm with an *event* that I created on a whim and a sugar high.  I’m making it up as I go, with some generous inspiration from previous steampink events organized by V of vvb32reads.  It’ll be fabulous.  Look out for Girls in Steampunk Week at Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia from May 12-15.  I’ll be reviewing recent steampunk releases that feature strong female leads, hosting a giveaway or two, and I'll probably throw a meme in for good measure.

Best of all, my delightful (real life!) sister Ginny made a fancy button for the occasion.  If you’d like to check back here for Girls in Steampunk Week content, it’ll be in the sidebar, available at the click of a button.  From the 12th on, the image will lead directly to the calendar of events/reviews. 

If you don’t know what steampunk is, please check out this description, then come back next week for more fun in worlds both strange and fantastic.

larklight

Philip Reeve is a major influence in steampunk, though his books are not as well known in the US as in his native Britain.  I read and reviewed the first of his young adult steampunk trilogy, Fever Crumb, and enjoyed its unusual heroine and impressively detailed world.  I always meant to go back and read more of Reeve’s work – I’d read glimmerings here and there on the interwebs of middle grade sci-fi and steampunk books.  When Larklight turned up as an ebook deal a few months ago, I clicked ‘buy’ without a second thought.  Then Middle Grade March came along and gave me a good reason to finish what I’d started.

Arthur (Art) Mumby and his irritating sister Myrtle live with their father in a huge and rambling house called Larklight…that just happens to be traveling through outer space. When a visitor called Mr. Webster arrives for a visit, it is far from an innocent social call. Before long Art and Myrtle are off on an adventure to the furthest reaches of space, where they will do battle with evil forces in order to save each other--and the universe.  A fantastically original Victorian tale set in an outer space world that might have come from the imaginations of Jules Verne or L. Frank Baum, but has a unique gravitational pull all its own…

Larklight is a space adventure starring the many narrow escapes of the two Mumby children, Art and Myrtle.  Myrtle is the eldest, and is a bit obsessed with Earth fashion.  Art, the typical younger brother, is fascinated by pirates and feats of courage. They live with their father in a unique home, Larklight, which orbits the moon.  Early in the narrative the Mumbys are forced to flee their house, and the resulting journey follows them to the moon, Mars, and even to the rings of Saturn.  Whether they come home safely or not will be up to themselves and to the merry band of companions that they collect along the way.

Reeve’s Larklight is written in the style of a Victorian-era first-hand account, and it is a triumphant tale of a boy’s travels to the far reaches of space.  Art is the main narrator, though his exploits are interspersed with snatches from his sister’s private diary.  The narrative is also punctuated regularly with lovely illustrations by David Byatt, which often provide a much-needed visual for some flight of imagination or curious bit of alien science.  There’s not much contemplation – this is an all-action yarn filled with dramatic venture after voyage after quest.  That said, the story doesn’t really hit its stride until a few chapters in, when the Mumby children encounter Jack Havock, known pirate and scallywag. 

This sort of rollicking sci-fi journey is long on plot and short on character development, but the adventure is too much fun for that to seriously detract from the tale.  The best bits are the descriptions of space, the hinting at a mysterious chemical alchemy that allows advanced space travel, and the ever-present danger and humor with which the characters face that danger.  Art is a boy’s boy, and he does have a way with description, as this excerpt from Chapter 12 will prove:

“I wonder if you have ever been fired out of a giant howitzer in a hollowed-out rock? The feeling is somewhat akin to being sat upon by an elephant, while traveling downhill at speed in a tin dustbin.”

Recommended for: intrepid boys (and girls!) who are on the younger side of the middle grade spectrum, along with their parents – it would make a splendid read-aloud.  Will also appeal to those who long for space adventure with a touch of nostalgia, though the tech is mostly modern marvel.

top ten favorite characters in steampunk

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we all get to exercise our OCD tendencies and come up with bookish lists.  If you’d like to play along, check out this post.

Today’s task is to list favorite characters in a genre of your choice.  I could pick fantasy, but then how would I narrow the list down to ten favorites?  There are too many choices (good ones, too!).  It is with this in mind that I picked the sci-fi subgenre of steampunk. Steampunk is about alternate Victorian history with advanced steam-based technology, and all of the fun you can have with gadgets, gears and imagination. 

Top Ten Favorite Characters in Steampunk

1. Deryn Sharp from Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan – Deryn hides her identity in order to do what she loves (which is flying – very unladylike!).  Her adventures in the sky above an alternate-history WWI-era Europe make me long for a time that never was.

2. Alek from Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan – Alek is the Clanker counterpart to Deryn’s Darwinist.  He’s been raised to behave a certain way and believe certain things, but his personal journey (and honor) make him someone you’d want on your side.

3. Fever Crumb from Philip Reeve’s Fever Crumb – Fever has grown up as the only girl (the only child, really) in a society of engineers and inventors.  The discoveries she makes about herself and her city’s history change everything, but Fever’s resourceful enough to survive.

4. Mina Wentworth from Meljean Brook’s The Iron Duke – Mina is strong and proud despite living in and being born to a terrible world.  Society is forever turned against her, and yet she fights for what is right and good.  In other words?  She’s awesome.

5. Eff from Patricia C. Wrede’s Thirteenth Child – Eff has been born unlucky, but her pluck, heart, and find-a-way-around it mentality save her family and create a new future.

6. Alexia Tarabotti from Gail Carriger’s Soulless – Alexia is not fashionable, but that’s alright, because she’s clever, enterprising, and just happens to be the perfect foil for a werewolf.  Adventures abound around Alexia, and it’s all good fun.

7. Archibald Clare from Lilith Saintcrow’s The Iron Wyrm Affair – Clare is one half of a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-esque detective duo in a steampunk world, and he’d be on the edge of madness if not for the help of his counterpart, Bannon.  Their ridiculous/dangerous/slapstick antics make for an enjoyable tale.

8. Finley Jayne from Kady Cross’ The Girl in the Steel Corset – Finley doesn’t take any nonsense, and that is true for both of her selves.  This girl has dual personalities, but both enjoy a spot of fun.

9. Mad Machen from Meljean Brook’s short story ‘Here There Be Dragons’ – Crazy characters have a strange allure, don’t they?  This ship captain is renowned for his mad antics, and his pursuit of his lady love is the stuff of sailors’ lore.

10. Half mermaid from Frewin Jones’ short story ‘The Cannibal Fiend of Rotherhithe’ – I can’t recall the name of this character, but I can remember the wild beauty of her ignorance and the violence of her hunger.  Haunting!

Do you have a favorite steampunk character or book?  Do tell!

riveted

Right around the time that I read Meljean Brook’s novella “Here There Be Dragons,” I knew I’d found a new auto-buy author.  Brook combines imaginative world building with great characters, romance, and a focus on the social politics of her world. The combination is electric, and I have yet to be anything less than delighted by her steampunk The Iron Seas series.

A century after a devastating volcanic eruption forced Iceland’s inhabitants to abandon its shores, the island has become enshrouded in legend. Fishermen tell tales of giant trolls guarding the land and of seductive witches who steal men’s hearts. But the truth behind the legends is mechanical, not magic—and the mystery of the island a matter of life and death for a community of women who once spilled noble blood to secure their freedom.

Five years ago, Annika unwittingly endangered that secret, but her sister Källa took the blame and was exiled. Now Annika serves on the airship Phatéon, flying from port to port in search of her sister and longing to return home...but that home is threatened when expedition leader David Kentewess comes aboard.

Determined to solve the mystery of his own origin, David will stop at nothing to expose Annika’s secrets. But when disaster strikes, leaving David and Annika stranded on a glacier and pursued by a madman, their very survival depends on keeping the heat rising between them—and generating lots of steam...

Riveted is the story of two people hunting for their pasts.  Annika has been seeking her sister Källa for four long years while traveling the world as an airship mechanic.  She’s been hiding her origins and hoping that the next stopover will bring news that will allow her to return home.  David Kentewess is on a mission to find his mother’s birthplace, but he’s also a volcanologist, traveling to the far corners of the earth to study mountains and their eruptions.  Each has their secrets, but they’ll be forced to share more than secrets when a brilliant (mad?) mind threatens all.

In The Iron Duke and Heart of Steel, the main source of action and movement was a physical threat.  While element remains in Riveted, both David and Annika’s pasts play a much larger role.  Where they are from, who their parents were, what they are escaping and what they have come to turns with – these drive the plot and development at least as much as physical danger.  And Brook has done a fantastic job of making that transition not only interesting, but page-turning.

I won't write more about the content of the book or unravel its secrets in a review.  That is for the reader to do.  What I will say is that Brook addresses themes of gender and sexuality, race and religion, the results of colonialism, and how people navigate within culture and grapple with experiences different than their own.   Don’t get me wrong – it IS a satisfying steampunk romance.  But it is ALSO an extremely thoughtful book, and I find (perhaps you do too?) that the smarter the story, the more I enjoy it after the fact.

Riveted is a winner, and I can tell I’ll be reading it again soon.

Recommended for: fans of intelligent romantic fiction, those who enjoy steampunk, and anyone who appreciates stories that break the mould and characters that go far beyond ordinary.  

Interested in more steampunk?  Check out the Steampunk Week in September calendar of events.

leviathan – guest post by ginny of ginnylou studio

Today’s guest blogger is Ginny of GinnyLou Studio (my sister, in other words).  She paints her nails obsessively and has an overly large accessory collection.  She’s also my best friend.

*ahem*

hi--it's Cecelia's favorite sister (never mind the only part) here with a post about steampunk.

why, oh why, would Cecelia ask her crafty sister to do a post?  

...

'cuz i'm a teacher.

of kids.

in the english language.  and various historical events.

and i'm smart.

(even though the last few sentences may have painted me in an unflattering light.  and please disregard the fact that i wrote the aforementioned sentences.)

...

or it might have something to do with the fact that i really like steampunk literature and have actually read quite a few books that fit the category.

yeah, that must be it.  okay, back on track here.

…

so i'm going to share a few of my thoughts on one of the first steampunk books i ever read: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.

see, back when my sister lived in Washington (state), we went to this book signing/ book talk event because she was still a book nerd back then.  i was her plus one, because let's face it, i'm the best plus one EVER, and i'm pretty sure she told me we could have food on the way up.

so, we went to this event and saw THE Scott Westerfeld, listened to him promote his book, saw the book trailer, asked questions, got in line for the book signing, got a picture with him, and walked out of the store with a free cardboard cutout of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days."  it was fun.

it was also my first exposure to steampunk.

i was impressed.

if you haven't seen the book trailer for Leviathan, you should really check it out.  it's one of the best book trailers i've ever seen, and i know legitimate school librarians with real school jobs who use that trailer when they talk about books to kids.

there's this combination of sound effects/ music that makes the video engaging, and somehow all of it unwittingly piques your interest in the entire world that Westerfeld creates.  it's mesmerizing.  you see and hear and can almost smell the machines clanking around the screen.  go watch it.  *phew* and i haven't even started talking about the illustrations.  (well, i guess now i've mentioned it.)  

so the book not only has a stellar author in Westerfeld, but also an amazing illustrator.  i'm not talking doodles with stick-like figures.  these pictures are full blown, 24"x36" print-worthy illustrations.  these illustrations give life to the machines and beasts and contraptions, and imagery in the steampunk book.  (please also note that the following two books in the series sport their own full page pictures as well--AWESOME-SAUCE!)  some of the illustrations pop up in the book trailer, but they're really best seen in person in the pages of Leviathan... they stand out when you're flipping through your book, reading little captions below pictures to see what's coming ahead (but not in a "give it all away" type of way).

i must admit, i think Leviathan was the perfect introduction to steamunk.  it has the pictures, it has great story elements (more on that later).  AND, it just happens to be historical fiction (albeit extreme historical fiction).  basically, right up my alley!

lots of things i liked about this book:

1.  action scenes.  this book isn't too heavy on the expository sections... Westerfeld shows us the world, but he also doesn't bore us to death with detail-overload.  the action scenes were fun for me because i've always been a fan of war movies... my dad used to borrow war movies from the library and i swear i've probably seen 3/4 of all the war movies ever made.  the action wasn't gratuitous either, i mean, the setting of the book is a war.  it's the clankers vs. darwinists--machines vs. beasts.

2.  there's a good mix of fantasy/ history.  the Darwinist animals in this story are some of the most interesting elements in my humble opinion.  not that i don't enjoy a piece of machinery as much as the next guy, but Westerfeld made the 'beasties' likeable even if they were those attacking bat/ bird things.  and the title "Leviathan" actually refers to the name of the Darwinist ship, a huge honking whale/ blimp.  it's awesome.  and like the book trailer says, it's 1914, Europe is close to war, but this story is a re-working of the history of WWI... it both follows the main points, yet doesn't.  sorry for being cryptic.  you should just read the book.

3.  there's this awesome guy/ girl thing.  it's that painfully truthful representation of girls... or one girl in particular: Deryn (who poses as a boy so she can work on the ship).  she over thinks her relationship with Alek, the son of the assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  and she doesn't just do a little bit of over thinking, she does the adolescent version of over thinking.  i know this because it sounds just like the kids i teach in school.  *le sigh*  and then there's Alek... he's a typical guy--he's still figuring out life, he doesn't know what he thinks about girls, or his role in the war, and he's clueless.  there are plenty of hints throughout the book that point towards the truth about Deryn.  does he pick up on them?  of course not.  he's a guy.

4.  the occasional caper-ish type of scene.  this is different than the action scenes.  i guess it's more about the main characters actually acting like teenagers.  Westerfeld must have a really good model to study in terms of teenaged behavior, because he does a really truthful telling of what they're like.  almost painfully so.

all in all, i guess i didn't really hit on too many "steampunk" elements, but don't worry, this book is squarely/ firmly/ concretely in the steampunk genre, and will be for a long long time.  but never fear, there are tons of fun steampunk-y slang phrases ("Barking spiders!" and "You're a bum-rag" which is really just an insult, not a steampunk phrase...) and there are also lots of gadgets too... guns, tools ,machines, that type of thing.

recommended for: adventure fans, coming-of-age stories, slight romance lovers, gadget geeks, and other people that are easily swayed by book trailers, fancy covers, offers of food, and book blogging sisters.  so pretty much everyone.

It is the cusp of World War I, and all the European powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet. Aleksandar Ferdinand, prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men. 

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered. 

With the Great War brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way...taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure. One that will change both their lives forever.

If you'd like to see more steampunk goodness, check out the Steampunk Week in September calendar of events!

steampunk! an anthology of fantastically rich and strange stories – guest post by alexis of lit from woe

Today’s guest blogger is Alexis of Lit From Woe.  She’s part of my DC FYA book club, and is (of course) smart & funny. Deadly combination.

HELLO DETROIT!

This is not Detroit. I've never even BEEN to Detroit. But it sounded punk rock and a bit mechanical, and since this week is steampun…

Oh. NOT that kind of steampunk? Man. I'm two and oh here.

Okay. *Steampunk* Like, the sub-genre. In kid lit.

Got it.

I don't think I'm alone in having more than a bit of private embarrassment over the fact that, while I like the *idea* of steampunk, and I LOVE the aesthetics, I'm rarely enticed, let alone bowled over, by steampunk in literature. Maybe because the concept is TOO visual, it's hard to sustain interest in a non-visual medium. Maybe my imagination sucks.

I know, I know. This whole post is going all the wrong ways. BEAR WITH ME.

So I don't love stempunk in literature, but I really really *want to.* My TBR pile, it's always open to new steampunk efforts. And even if I'm not the right reader for most of them, occasionally I find things I love, and Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, is one of the efforts I loved.

Not surprising, really. Kelly Link is a superhero with words. I would buy her Pretty Monsters collection for every person I ever met, if only I had the money. The things she does with stories…seriously. SERIOUSLY. She takes genres and peels them inside out and rightside back, and makes you wonder how it is possible that no one ever thought of those stories (monsters; aliens; wolves; ghosts) from those angles before.

Which is probably why I was so impressed by her edited collection of steampunk short stories, and bowled the heck over by both her own and Libba Bray's contributions: their stories are steampunk, but pulled inside out and rightside back.

In Link's "The Summer People," the story opens on a contemporary girl, home miserably sick from school, dealing with a myopic, self-interested dad on his way out the door for a "week or three" to "get right with God." Again. There is NyQuil and television and Lexuses and prayer meetings and hooch running in this world. There are also fairies.

But the story isn't about the fairies (although Fran's entire existence hinges on her relationship with them), or about the hooch running or prayer meetings (although Fran's entire existence hinges around her father's relationship to THOSE), or even about the magical clockwork toys the summer people leave for Fran as gifts for her help (although those are as fascinating as any a clockwork bauble popped up in steampunk lore).

No, what "The Summer People" is about is how Fran is living her life, and what she does, good or bad, to take it by the horns and make it HERS. This is steampunk where the steam power and clockwork is incidental background noise, and the real story is what happens in and around it. This is steampunk where punk ideals—fighting against/within/despite/in the face of the system, wearing your own decisions like a bloody crown, making your own damn mark on the world—those are what matter most. And it's fantastic.

The word I most associate with Libba Bray (incidentally, doing a The Diviners event @ DC's own Politics & Prose this very evening!) is AMBITIOUS, and with her entry in the Steampunk! collection, she does not disappoint. "The Last Ride of the Glory Girls" is just as punk rock, with just as much spitting by the heroine(s) in the face of the clockwork world at large as is Link's "Summer People," just with fewer fairies and a few more train heists.

(Although, interestingly, there is still plenty of "getting right with God" serving as motivation for the heroine to grab the reins of her own life…)

"Glory Girls," for all it is steampunk, is also a western. It is, too, sci-fi. But the generic trappings aren't what make the story. When Adelaide Jones rides with the Glory Girls, she is not a cowgirl. When she signs up with the Pinkertons, she is not a dusty private detective. When she fiddles together a clockwork device that bubbles time, she is not a steampunk engineer.

What she is is a girl whose been left behind and forced into working the system the only way the system will let her. What she is is a girl who is on her way to having just about too damn much, and would you mind greatly if I go ahead and explode my way through a life I've decided on for myself, you love-drowning, backwards society, please and thank you and a big EFF YOU to you all.

She is Adelaide Jones, and her story is not ABOUT the aesthetic trappings of steampunk. That's just icing.

So, privately—now publicly—embarrassed as I may be to admit that literary steampunk just isn't my bag, I am MORE than happy to shill for steampunk that lets the steampunk do its own thing in the background, so long as the characters are allowed to punch their way through their own lives up front.

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories: consider yourself shilled.

Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships. Here, fourteen masters of speculative fiction, including two graphic storytellers, embrace the genre's established themes and refashion them in surprising ways and settings as diverse as Appalachia, ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California. Visionaries Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant have invited all-new explorations and expansions, taking a genre already rich, strange, and inventive in the extreme and challenging contributors to remake it from the ground up. The result is an anthology that defies its genre even as it defines it.

Interested in more steampunk? Check out the Steampunk Week in September calendar of events!