Punk Punk?

[rainwaterspark]

I've often thought of trying my hand at steampunk/clockpunk/biopunk etc., just because it seems like it would be so fun, except that even though I have a general idea of what steampunk is, I'm totally clueless when it comes to specifics.

Me: "Have you heard of steampunk?"
Friend: "What's that?"
Me: "It's...uh...you know, that subgenre of fiction with, um, gears and Victorian England and...yeah."

Anyways, I had a squee moment when I found out that there's going to be one of those illustrated guides to the Leviathan series (by Scott Westerfeld) featuring Keith Thompson's amazing art, in full color!

And then I was disappointed when I found out that the original cover for Behemoth was going to be this:



...instead of the less awesome version that's now being used.

In fact, why did the original awesome cover for Leviathan get pulled from the shelves, anyway? *sad face*

Comments

[chronochromatic.livejournal.com]

Are those books any good? I'd like to read some steampunk fiction, but I'm not sure what to go for.

And yeah, I think it'd be fun to play around with a "-punk" world, but I have no idea how to start researching for it. Where does the research/reality stop, and when do you start adding in more fantastical elements? And I don't know much about the steampunk community, so I wouldn't be sure if there's some generally agreed upon steampunk lore to draw from...

[yoinokaku.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed them. World War I + Steampunk + Biopunk = What else could you want? Admittedly, I don't think the plot is particularly groundbreaking, but it's enjoyable and the characters are sympathetic (this is one of those rare cases where I'm not annoyed at the Action Girl).

I don't know much about the steampunk community either, but I've always felt like "steampunk" is very loosely defined. I agree with you about researching Punk Punk stories, though.