Books: Request for Recommendations

[coraa]

Here I am again, asking for book recs!

Specifically, I have a jones on lately for steampunk or gaslamp fantasy (or clockpunk, or neo-Victoriana, or steampulp, or Voyages Extraordinares, or whatever you like to call it). You may at this point be asking me what I consider to be steampunk; unfortunately, I'm pretty lassiez-faire about genre definitions, so usually what I mean is 'the things I point to when I say steampunk.' So you can do the same -- if you think it's steampunk, that's totally cool. (I'm also a tagger, not a sorter, which means I'm perfectly happy calling something science fiction and fantasy, or whatever.) So if you think it maybe could be steampunk, go ahead and suggest it. (If you want a vague stab at a definition, I'd say that steampunk is science fiction with an archaic sensibility and aesthetic -- usually but not always Victorian, and which may or may not actually be set during the historical time period in question -- which may or may not also have significant fantasy elements. I actually think that one of the appealing things about steampunk is that it doesn't so much blur the line between science fiction and fantasy as considers the distinction irrelevant altogether, but maybe that's just me.)

Things I have read that I consider steampunk/gaslamp fantasy:

• Girl Genius, by Phil Foglio
  
• The Grand Ellipse, by Paula Volsky
  
• Perdido Street Station and sequels, by China Mieville
  
• His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman
  
• A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket
  
• Fullmetal Alchemist, by Hiromu Arakawa
  
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, by Alan Moore
  
• The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson

Any suggestions? I'm looking mostly for books and comics/manga, though if you have any movie (or TV or music) recs, go ahead and mention them too.

Comments

[clairebaxter.livejournal.com]

Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder was fun. But don't read anything about it before you read it, because the best part is discovering the world in bits and pieces. The characters aren't that well written.

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, more or less the same. Not that much to discover about the world really, just that it was a fun romp.

Better, but not my style, was New Amsterdam. Well written, exciting, also happens to be murder mystery in the many case style. I read two cases and then realized I'd rather be able to sleep at night. You may not be as much of a wuss.

Not as steam punk, but fun fantasy or scifi set in the Victorian era: Sorcery & Cecelia by Patricia Wrede & Caroline Stevermer (sequels are also reasonably good, and both their separate series are good as well, starting with, Mairelon the Magician /Wrede, and A College of Magic /Stevermer). To say nothing of the dog by Connie Willis is also awesome.