Steampunk (Juvenile, Young Adult, and Adult)
Article in categories Themes and Fantasy
Try Some STEAMPUNK ... a list of books for every age
This list contains fiction and nonfiction, suitable for various age and reading levels.
Many of the books in the “Teen” section are often enjoyed by adults.
A printable pdf of this booklist is available here (5/2011)
Contents
What is Steampunk?
Steampunk combines nostalgia for Victorian aesthetics with creative technology to create a genre of science fiction literature that has influenced movies, television, fashion, and design.
Steampunkers are Makers, embracing a do-it-yourself philosophy and crafting items & clothing from found gears, clockworks, metals, etc. Stories are often speculative fiction or alternate histories which use steam and clockwork technology to emulate modern electronics; using the palette of brass and wood instead of chrome and plastic. Other touchwords include retro-futurism, neo-Victorian, and techno-fantasy. Related genres are weird west, cyberpunk and gaslamp fantasy/romance, among others.
The titles in this list come from the JMRL collection and inhabit many of these sub-genres and more, all touching on various aspects of the steampunk aesthetic. Check them out and visit a world where the future meets the past! --Mdickens 14:14, 14 May 2011 (EDT)
CLASSICS
said to influence the genre
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, by Mark Twain. F Twain
- Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley. F Shelley
- Journey to the Centre of the Earth, by Jules Verne. F Verne
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by by Jules Verne. F Verne
- The work of H. G. Wells. Try Seven Science Fiction Novels. F Wells
FOR KIDS
- Star Jumper: Journal of a Cardboard Genius, by Frank Asch. J Asch
- The Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor. J Beddor
- followed by Seeing Redd and ArchEnemy
- The Nine Pound Hammer, by John Claude Bemis. J Bemis
- Candle Man series, by Glenn Dakin. J Dakin
- The Clockwork Three, by Matthew J. Kirby. J Kirby
- Clockwork; or, All Wound Up, by Philip Pullman. J Pullman
- The Kronos Chronicles, by Maries Rutkoski. J Rutkoski
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. J Selznick
- Fergus Crane, by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell. J Stewart
PICTURE BOOKS
appealing to a steampunk aesthetic
- And the Train Goes... , by William Bee; JP Bee
- The Cat Who Wouldn’t Come Inside, by Cynthia von Buhler; JP Buhler
- The Three Golden Keys, by Peter Sis; JP Sis
- The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg, JP Van Allsburg
- The Wreck of the Zephyr, by Chris Van Allsburg, JP Van Allsburg
- Flotsam, by David Wiesner. JP Wiesner
- Sector 7, by David Wiesner. JP Wiesner
- The Dumpster Diver, by Janet Wong; JP Wong
FOR TEENS
Note: another JMRL wiki article exists solely for YA steampunk reads, Steampunk (Young Adult), and contains some annotations.
- Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare. YA Clare
- Airman, by Eoin Colfer. YA Colfer
- The Foundling’s Tale (series), by D. M. Cornish. YA Cornish
- Magic Under Glass, by Jaclyn Dolamore. YA Dolamore
- Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher. YA Fisher;
- followed by Sapphique
- Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel. YA Oppel
- followed by Skybreaker and Starclimber
- The Golden Compass, by Philip Pullman. YA Pullman;
- followed by The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass
- The Hungry City Chronicles, by Philip Reeve YA Reeve
- Larklight , by Philip Reeve, YA Reeve
- The Hunchback Assignments, by Arthur Slade. YA Slade;
- followed by The Dark Deeps
- Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld. YA Westerfeld
- followed by Behemoth
- The Thirteenth Child, by Patricia C. Wrede. YA Wrede
FOR ADULTS
- Novels of The Company, by Kage Baker SF Baker
- Shooting the Sun, by Max Byrd. F Byrd
- The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, by Gordon Dahlquist. F Dahlquist
- The Kingdom of Ohio, by Matthew Flaming. F Flaming
- Books set in the Bas Lag universe, by China Mieville SF Mieville
- The Dream of Perpetual Motion, by Dexter Palmer. SF Palmer
- Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest. SF Priest
- Against the Day, by Thomas Pynchon. F Pynchon
- The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson. SF Stephenson
RELATED NONFICTION
- The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer, by Doron Swade. 681.145 Swade
- Dr. Eckener's Dream Machine: the Great Zeppelin and the Dawn of Air Travel, by Douglas Botting. 629.133 Botting
- The Giant Airships, by Douglas Botting and the editors of Time-Life Books. 629.13 Botting
- H. G. Wells, by Christopher Martin. 92 Wells
- Jules Verne: Portrait of a Prophet, by Russell Freedman. J 92 Verne
- The Most Powerful Idea in the World: a Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention, by William Rosen. 909.81 Rosen
- Thread Across the Ocean: the Heroic Story of the Trans-Atlantic Cable, by John Steele Gordon. 384.1 Gordon
- The Victorian Internet: the Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's Online Pioneers, by Tom Standage, 384.1 Standage
- Victorian Treasures: an Album and Historical Guide for Collectors, by Carol McD. Wallace 745.1 Wallace
- The Way Things Work, by David Macaulay. 600 Macaulay
- Who Said There’s No Man on the Moon? , a Story of Jules Verne, by Robert Quackenbush. J 92 Verne
GRAPHIC NOVELS AND MANGA
- Fullmetal Alchemist. Hiromu Arakawa ; YA PB Arakawa
- Hatter M, vols. 1 & 2, by Frank Beddor. YA Beddor
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Vol. 1, 1898, by Alan Moore, et al. YA Moore
- Return of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann and Janet Lee, J McCann
- Ruse, by Mark Waid, et al. YA Waid
