News

Just received my passport, spinning badge, pin, patch, and a few other things from the Steampunk: History Beyond Imagination exhibit kickstarter—the exhibit opened on Sunday, wish we were getting to see it but maybe it will come over to the east coast. Waltham, City of Steampunk, must be a candidate!

You can:

Visit their YouTube Channel

Follow them on Twitter

Visit their Behind-The-Scenes Blog

Great story-by-story review here. The post is part of the B&N Bookseller’s Picks, which is exciting.

“Fourteen stories, and not a dud among them. Educators looking for a textbook to inspire class discussion around the question, “What is steampunk?” should look no further than this oft-iconoclastic collection. For those not so pedagogically inclined, it’s got my vote for the best collection of steampunk I’ve seen so far, not only as steampunk tales, but as damn fine short stories in their own right.”

Woot!

There’s also an appreciation of Steampunk, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, so you can get all the punky steam you like!

“The VanderMeers’ first Steampunk anthology (2008), can already be considered a classic, for the quality mix of the stories and non-fiction articles.”

I know that indie bookstores (those closest to our hearts!) ordered a ton of copies of Steampunk! so I hope you will consider them first in your quest for the book.

And! This just in, Steampunk! has just gone back to print—yay and thank you everyone!

Yay!
We came up with the idea of this book almost three years ago(!), on September 23rd, 2008, in Holly Black’s car on the way back from a wedding in New York City and were hugely excited when Candlewick bought it in May 2009. It’s been a crazy couple of years and it is so great to have this beautiful book to put into people’s hands. Or onto their ebook reader. Or audiobook device. How awesome is all that?

We have to thank the baker’s dozen of authors whose stories have brought in five starred reviews (still knocked out by that!); the cover artist Yuko Shimizu who created the totally fabulous eye-catching cover; Nathan Pyritz the designer; Kelly’s agent (the hardest working person in publishing!) Renee Zuckerbrot; and, of course, our excellent editor, Deborah Wayshak!

So to celebrate we recommend Rosie’s Bakery in Cambridge (since Rosie was a fireball at a pre-launch thing we went to for booksellers) and out here in Western Mass I think we’ll set the dinozeppelins free at sunset and watch them float away down the happy valley. Or something. Maybe we’ll just do a book giveaway? I think Kelly and I will offer some signed copies tomorrow. In the meantime . . .

. . .  Goodreads has 3 copies signed by me and Kelly here, here, and here!

and there’s a great review in today’s Shelf Awareness:

“All the stories are of consistent excellence, with surprises galore.”

and here’s a line lifted from Gwenda Bond’s review in the September issue of Locus:

“It’s a rare anthology where all the works included merit mention, but this is one. Even the staunchest of steampunk skeptics—those who think the subgenre is all fashion and steam without fire—should be convinced to give the subgenre its due by these fourteen “fantastically rich and strange” stories.”

Thanks to everyone who worked on the book. We really hope you enjoy it reading it as much as we enjoyed editing it.

Just in case anyone missed this, Cassandra Clare’s story from Steampunk! “Some Fortunate Future Day” is also available in the current issue of Lightspeed Magazine. Lightspeed is free, but is released piecemeal throughout the month. If you want to read it right now, you can pick it up or subscribe on Weightless.

The book has arrived at various places and we just received our boxful. Woot!

As publication day approaches things are heating up in Steampunk!ville:

We got books! Woot!

Also: Holly Black’s “Everything Amiable and Obliging” will soon be available on the Storyville app. If all goes well, next week another story should be available on tor.com. There’s an interview with Kelly and me on the Book Smugglers. Yes, we smuggle.
And, turning the tables, Kelly just interviewed Kate Beaton (author of the absolutely huge Hark! A Vagrant) for the Boston Phoenix.

That interview should be out in time for the Boston Book Festival—where Kelly, me, and Holly Black will be on a panel with Mrs. Grymm about, you know, steampunk!

Is it a literary genre, an aesthetic style, or a way of life? It may be all of the above! Join Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, co-editors of the new Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, as well as Spiderwick Chronicles co-author Holly Black and steampunk creator Allison DeBlasio (aka Mrs. Grymm) for a discussion of all things steampunk, from goggles to gyrocopters. Wear a costume and you may win a prize or get to see the session while seated on stage. Moderated by Maya Escobar, Teen Librarian at the Cambridge Public Library.