A collection of stories of the steampunk variety. I enjoyed this collection but nothing really impressed me. ( )

This was my first read of the genre, though it occurs to me that the "Wild Wild West" series was much the same thing, also "Back to the Future" had some steam-punky things in it. I have to say the stories are not all great, but there were a few I enjoyed. I would read more of this genre if it's well-done. I liked the alt-history component in the stories as much as the focus on steam technology. ( )

When I first glanced over these stories early in the year I have to admit that I wasn't that impressed, and neither was my reading group. If there is a collective problem it's that the stories tend not to have enough "punk" in them in terms of lacking social criticism, if not a sense of transgression. The emphasis tends to be on the "Edisonade," though at least the inventor heroes one is presented with are a little worse for wear, such as in Michael Stackpole's "Chance Corrigan and the Tick-tock King of the Nile" (where a down-on-his luck engineer gets back at a schoolmate who crossed him) or Donald Bingle's "Foggy Goggles" (where a aspirant science journalist gets slapped down by a crusty inventor indifferent to environmental havoc). At least a few of the stories try to put the rapidly crystallizing Steam Punk conventions into a different social milieu than 19th-century Western imperialism, such "The Nubian Queen" by Paul Genesse (featuring a dynastic fight between two branches of the House of Ptolemy in a long future after the defeat of Octavian at Actium) or "Foretold" by Bradley Beaulieu (dealing with Siberian meteorite hunters). However, if you're looking for a good Steam Punk anthology you're better off with the collections put together by the VanderMeers. ( )

Very weak writing, seems like a slapped-together collection. And god knows that the title makes you want to bash your head against a wall. ( )

Bought out of curiosity; not a genre I'm into. A couple of the stories were engaging and tech-centric. Most seemed more like fantasy authors taking a stab a steampunk, perhaps dressing up discarded story ideas in hastily cobbled together steampunk garb. More Harlequin Romance than Jules Verne. Some of the tales relied on magic and faeries. ( )