Review: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk Adventures, ed. Sean Wallace

The Mammoth Book of Steampunk Adventures ed. Sean Wallace (Running Press, 2014, 512 pages)


The twenty-five steampunk stories in Sean Wallace’s The Mammoth Book of Steampunk Adventures reveal just how rich and varied the genre can be. From fantasy to hard scifi, historical fiction to diary entries, they show us a whole range of ways to conceptualize and understand our world and many of its alternatives. Included are stories about circuses and mechanical birds, shape-shifters and pterodactyls, “mechanika” uprisings and political intrigue. Oh, and lobsters and golems. You get the picture.

The sheer diversity of this volume comes from authors who’ve either written their story specifically for this book or offered a previously-published tale. From Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Jonathan Wood, and E. Catherine Tobler we get stories written specially for Steampunk Adventures; from A. C. Wise, Cherie Priest, Nisi Shawl, Ken Liu, Tobias S. Buckell, and many others, we have steampunk tales that previously appeared in Electric Velocipede, Subterranean Magazine, Strange Horizons, and other collections of steampunk fiction.

Review: Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder, ed. Pamela Smith Hill

Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill (South Dakota Historical Society Press, 472 pages)

If, like me, you devoured the Little House books when you were a kid, then you need to get your hands on this book. Not only does it give us Wilder's unadulterated memoir, but it also provides us with a TON of information about everything you ever wanted to know about pioneer life and the Ingalls/Wilder experience.

Hill's exhaustive and detailed introduction explains just how this never-before-published memoir was the basis for all of Wilder's subsequent books for children about frontier life. In 1929 or 1930, after her sister Mary died, Wilder decided to set down on paper everything she could remember about growing up on the move, living at various times in Wisconsin, Dakota territory, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota. The memoir reads like a series of vivid scenes, many of which were adapted and expanded for the Little House books.

Random Recommendation Guest Post: Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

This recommendation comes from Gargimehra. Check out her website and follow her on twitter @gargimehra.

Shades of Grey (2009) by Jasper Fforde

"Welcome to Chromatacia, where the societal hierarchy is strictly regulated by one's limited color perception. And Eddie Russet wants to move up. But his plans to leverage his better-than-average red perception and marry into a powerful family are quickly upended. Juggling inviolable rules, sneaky Yellows, and a risky friendship with an intriguing Grey named Jane who shows Eddie that the apparent peace of his world is as much an illusion as color itself, Eddie finds he must reckon with the cruel regime behind this gaily painted façade."

Books to Look For (November): History

A Strange Business: Making Art and Money in Nineteenth-Century Britain by James Hamilton (Atlantic Books, 416 pages, November 1)

A Strange Business explores the complex and fascinating connections between culture and business in 19th century Britain. Hamilton considers the roles played by writers, painters, patrons, financiers, collectors, industrialists, and many more to understand the "working lives of some of the most celebrated artists."






Inside Roman Libraries: Book Collections and Their Management in Antiquity by George W. Houston (The University of North Carolina Press, 352, November 17)

If you get all tingly inside when someone mentions the legendary Alexandria library, then this book's for you. Houston looks beyond the facades of ancient libraries to show us how these collections were amassed, organized, and managed. This study focuses on the materiality of texts and the people that preserved them against all odds.