YA Authors You've Never Heard Of: Steampunk

Showing posts with label Steampunk. Show all posts

Monday, October 6, 2014

October!

It's fall again, and that means pumpkin EVERYTHING! I was never a fan of pumpkin when I was growing up. Never liked pumpkin pie, always apple. But now that I've grown I've developed a taste for it. Seems like there is nothing that doesn't have a "special" get it now pumpkin spice flavor. So far I've had pumpkin coffee, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin cheesecake smoothie (delicious!) and even pumpkin spice Oreos (highly recommended).

I LOVE October, and not just for pumpkin. Being me, I'm pretty much a Halloween junkie. One of my favorite holidays. Because DRESS UP. I haven't yet gotten out my decorations, the time to really go all out just hasn't been available the last few years. But I get out my gargoyles and ghosts and strobe light skull. This is my first year in a school with older kids, so I can't WAIT to show my 8th graders some Poe. They think they're tough, they're in for a surprise.

I have gotten compliments on my son's choice of costume every year -- Obi-Wan Kenobi, Draco Malfoy, Doctor Who (11, with bow tie), Percy Jackson, the Headless Horseman. Obscure, different, really fun costumes. This year he wants to be Agent Phil Coulson. Not Ironman. Not Captain America. NOT Thor. Phil-freaking-Coulson. What a great kid, such imagination that he chooses the quiet but still butt kicking completely human agent instead of the obvious superhero. I love him! My costume...if I'm allowed to wear one to school... I have a couple of choices. Working on a Hermione, which would be perfect for Library, or I ordered some new Steampunk stuff. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I've turned in my first round edits and I'm working on other projects. Trying to squeeze it all in! Next week I'l be at the Collingswood Book Festival -- if you're in the area stop by!

But it's FALL so nothing else matters.

Happy October!!!

Monday, May 19, 2014

Post weekend week

Hey gang!

I spent the weekend at the Steampunk World's Fair. It was SUPER fun, and I took some great pictures. But I came home beat. I was planning a photo blog, but the weekend and the workday caught up with me.

So next time. Promise.

Meanwhile, I should have the cover for A CURSE OF ASH AND IRON soon. There will be a BIG cover reveal. As soon as I have details, I'll post.

Later!

Friday, March 28, 2014

YA Steampunk

Last weekend I was on a panel at MidSouthCon 32 about YA Steampunk. The panel description was “How to use/write steampunk in YA”, with an additional comment that “Steampunk is huge, especially in YA.” Panelists were Missa Dixon, Jennifer Mulvihill, Sharon Rawlins, Kimberly Richardson, and Kathryn Sullivan (me). Three authors of steampunk stories, a YA librarian and an editor (also author) of steampunk anthologies brought several different outlooks to the panel.

Like YA, Steampunk can cover so many other genre: alternate history, science fiction, mystery, romance, pirates, adventure, thriller, or Westerns. Even fantasy can be steampunk. I’ve read both those with a magic versus machines theme and those with just magic elements or beings. Dragons as well as elves and dwarves appear often in both versions. (Just to mention that I have a short story, “The Taste of Treasure” in Clockwork Spells and Magical Bells which has a competition between an elf and the Dwarfking’s children) Steampunk is usually associated with the Victorian age, but the stories don’t always have to be set in that time period.

The appeal of Steampunk is that the science is understandable. Steam power and electricity are not as complicated as, say, nuclear power, and much easier for do-it-yourselfers to figure out how things work and visualize how to construct things (and I’m not just referring to the costumes, though the panel did get slightly distracted on that point). Materials needed to construct a steam-powered or electric-powered machine are also easier for the average person to obtain or make, rather those in modern day science fiction stories (which requires the character to be a millionaire or backed by the government of a small country at the very least). The heroes of a steampunk story (both male and female) can be not only the good fighters and adventurers, but also (depending on the story) the engineers and the inventors, the MacGyvers and the Teslas, the people who “fix things”.

Sharon Rawlins provided a handout of YA Steampunk titles, which included Gail Carriger’s Finishing School series, Cassandra Clare’s Infernal Devices series, Kenneth Oppel’s Airborn series, Philip Reeves’ Larklight series, and Tiffany Trent’s The Unnaturalists, just to name a few. The panelists mentioned other titles they could recommend. The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress and The Jupiter Pirates series by Jason Fry are ones I can add to the list. Girl Genius is an example of a steampunk webcomic of interest to many ages.

There have been television shows that embodied steampunk before the term ever existed: The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne with Michael Praed, Legend with Richard Dean Anderson and John de Lancie, and even The Wild, Wild West with Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. A example of a show today that has steampunk elements is Warehouse 13.

Writing YA Steampunk means focusing on both YA and Steampunk. Good YA (and Middle Grade) has characters that do things rather than just letting things happen to them. No matter how dark things became in A Series of Unfortunate Events, one panelist pointed out, she could always count on Violet rolling up her sleeves and taking charge to put things right.

All three authors as well as Kimberly Richardson (editor and author) are published with Dark Oak Press, so we all had experience with one publisher that publishes Steampunk. Anthologies allow for more varieties of approaches. Kimberly Richardson mentioned what she looked for in stories submitted to her, both in terms of believable technology and characters.

What YA and Middle Grade Steampunk stories have you enjoyed?

Monday, December 2, 2013

2014 Will Be Epic

Where did it go? I feel like it was just January a few days ago. The new laptop I'm working on I got in January, and now it's almost a year old. My car accident was in January, so my new car is almost a year old too. Wow. Unbelievable. Thanksgiving is over, and the holiday season is upon us. Three weeks until Christmas *yikes!* and then a month until 2013 is over.

I'm kind of sad to see 2013 go, because even though it didn't start off great -- Hubby having surgery, car accident, computer dying, the passing of so many people we loved -- it had some nice times too. Great vacation with the family. New car. New computer. Great conferences, time with friends, new friends, new conferences. It was pretty good, overall.

However, I am SUPER EXCITED for 2014 to start because there are so many BIG THINGS coming next year.

First of all, I have a story in a Steampunk anthology that comes out next year. The anthology is called Gaslight and Grimm and will be published by Dark Quest Books. It's all Steampunk fairy tales. I wrote a version of The Three Little Pigs, which contains no pigs whatsoever. There are some other authors whose Names You Might Know who will also have stories included. Not sure of the release date yet, but I will make a big announcement when it comes out.

I SHOULD also finish the final Library of Athena book next year. Should. It's coming along and I really like where it's going. It will be a fitting end to the series, with a couple of twists I didn't even know about until I wrote them down.

The other bit of news is a BIG HUGE SEKRIT. I cannot tell you. Or, I could, but then I'd have to kill you. Or give you kittens, or something. This is the Most Exciting piece of news of all the news that I have to share. Hopefully it will be able to be shared in the next two weeks. I am BURSTING.

I'd love to tell you. But I can't. Just know that 2014 Will. Be. Epic.