One response I got to my last blog post celebrating steampunk was a recommendation for the The Parasol Protectorate book series by Gail Carriger (http://gailcarriger.com/), and I did mention this was interesting yesterday due to her position as one of a handful of female writers in the genre. While I haven’t read her series yet myself, it does come highly regarded and well-reviewed. I find her background in archeology particular interesting, as that’s one element of steampunk cosplay to which I’m inexplicably drawn; if I ever were to go full bore with dressing up at a con, I’ve often thought I would go with a kind of “lady Indiana Jones” sort of thing, complete with pith helmet and jodhpurs.
The first book in the Parasol series, Soulless (2009, Orbit) was nominated for a Locus Poll Award. Reviews of her work frequently cite her use of witty wordplay, another favorite device of mine. Too much steampunk, I fear, is deadly serious, or can be if it tends to emphasize the science more than the characterization, and I think that’s something Carriger is managing to avoid. I’m excited to check out her work.
If you have more book recs, please send them my way in the comments or send me a reply on Twitter (@kwtaylorwriter).
K.W. Taylor 