STEAMPUNK! edited by Kelly Link, 2011

Imagine an alternate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and recraft a world of automatons, ornate clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that nevels were. Scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve dastardly crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships. Settings range across Appalachia, ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California. (Goodreads)

1 Some Fortunate Future Day by Cassandra Clare

2 The Last Ride of the Glory Girls by Libba Bray

3 Clockwork Fagin by Cory Doctorow

4 Seven Days Beset by Demons by Shawn Cheng

5 Hand in Glove by Ysabeau S. Wilce

6 The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor by Delia Sherman

7 Gethsemane by Elizabeth Knox

8 The Summer People by Kelly Link

9 Peace in Our Time by Garth Nix

10 Nowhere Fast by Christopher Rowe

11 Finishing School by Kathleen Jennings

12 Steam Girl by Dylan Horrocks

13 Everything Amiable and Obliging by Holly Black

14 The Oracle Engine by M.T. Anderson

Reviewed by Kate Mergener (Book Aficionado)

This Steampunk inspired anthology held many unique and interesting views of creative worlds and inventions. Many of them centered around steam power, clockwork, and even a little magic. Why even one held a certain rivalry of steam versus diesel power. Many of the tales were solid stand-alones that fit well (each easily 4 stars or more). Still, a few stories were a bit shaky as to their development details (concerning the inventions' workings). These few also may have had rather odd or abrupt endings that left me either perplexed or slightly jaded (that is of course my personal bias). Perhaps just in those cases, the story could have been pushed to a longer format to tie up these odds and ends (some actually would make for better novels). Overall, it's a great example of the ingenuity by living beings to either perfect or destroy their fantasy worlds.

Market: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Anthology, Steampunk, Historical Fiction

Language: Mild

Sensuality: Mild, some romance tales

Violence: Moderate, some machines exploding

Mature Themes: Violence and anarchy