I'm always amazed by the wide range of knowledge this group can bring to bear on a question, so thought I would ask. Can anyone recommend stories, even dead tree, where real steam power (not steam punk) is a significant element.
I'm always amazed by the wide range of knowledge this group can bring to bear on a question, so thought I would ask. Can anyone recommend stories, even dead tree, where real steam power (not steam punk) is a significant element.
I'm thinking of Eric Flint's 1632verse where the little Appalachian town Grantville was transferred back in time to Thuringia in the middle of the Thirty Years' War (arriving there 1631). They had to try to reinvent their technology and adapt to the limitations of the time and the very limited resources they had in their town when the transfer happened.
One of the things they struggled with was reinventing steam power.
Because it's some years now when I last read the stories and books, I don't remember which of the many stories were about steam power (steam engines for mills, railroads, river boats and electric power generation).
HM.
That's right. I've read those and really enjoyed them. As I remember, the technology stuff got kind of glossed over, or maybe I just glossed over it as I read. :)
As I remember, the technology stuff got kind of glossed over, or maybe I just glossed over it as I read. :)
Depends of what you read, in the main novels the technology stuff got glossed over as I remember. It got more detailed in some of the short stories, especially those never printed, only published in the e-zine Grantville Gazette, the last I bought was Volume 75, I just checked on Baen's site, currently it's Volume 102.
HM.
Can anyone recommend stories, even dead tree, where real steam power (not steam punk) is a significant element.
I don't know of any specific stories, however, I would recommend looking for historical fiction set in the early industrial revolution time frame.
The Lost Regiment series by William R. Fortschen - Civil war regiment is transported during an ocean storm to a world where humans are considered food. Building trains become vital to their survival.
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I found 35 posts with "steam power" included.
Didn't 'Tales from Mist World' have steam technology?
And there's 'Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura' by Dragon Cobolt.
I vaguely remember a very promising story in which a Moon expedition was planned using steam technology but there were attempts to sabotage it before lift-off.
ETA: It could be 'It's Only A Steampunk Moon'
by SassyGal84 (incomplete and inactive, premier only)
AJ
but there were attempts to sabotage it before lift-off.
It wasn't sabotage. NASA had ordered many tons of coke. A senator accepted a campaign contribution and had the order changed to Pepsi. Which is a piss poor alternative to an anthracite derivative.
Didn't 'Tales from Mist World' have steam technology?
And there's 'Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura' by Dragon Cobolt.
The OP explicitly said no steampunk.
https://storiesonline.net/s/14790/christmas-blues-at-random-valley-junction by Stultus.
The entire story is about efforts to get a singer to Nashville in time for her show on Christmas Eve. The only means of travel is an old steam engine.
dotB's Aftershock has a steam powered boat that plays a significant element in the plot…
https://storiesonline.net/s/43310/aftershock
Dead tree book - The tales of Para Handy by Neil Monroe about a Clyde Puffer steamship written from 1905 to 1923.
Can anyone recommend stories, even dead tree, where real steam power (not steam punk) is a significant element.
'Christmas Blues at Random Valley Junction' by Stultus
The boss of a rail repair crew up in the mountains of Virginia is trapped by a storm in a small town at an inn owned by his first love, who had left him for musical success thirty years previously. A tale of love lost, found again and steam engine porn! A Christmas Romantic Adventure!
Genre: Romantic
Codes: Ma/Fa, Fa/Fa, Reluctant, Romantic, Oral Sex, Pregnancy, Voyeurism, Slow
Sex Contents: Minimal Sex
Posted: 2016-12-21
https://storiesonline.net/library/storyInfo.php?id=14790
the recluse series of books by L.E.Modesitt jr
the order wars I believe has engineers using steam power
against magic users
But it has been a long time since I read them
the order wars I believe has engineers using steam power
against magic users
Again, the OP explicitly said "real steam power (not steam punk)"
Again, the OP explicitly said "real steam power (not steam punk)"
IMHO the Recluce series are not steampunk.
Ian
IMHO the Recluce series are not steampunk.
Most people would classify:
the order wars I believe has engineers using steam power
against magic users
as steampunk.
And even if you don't, that still doesn't qualify as "real steam power.
I'm using steampunk as described in Wikipedia.
Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or the American "Wild West", where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power.
Steampunk most recognizably features anachronistic technologies or retrofuturistic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them — distinguishing it from Neo-Victorianism — and is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Such technologies may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Other examples of steampunk contain alternative-history-style presentations of such technology as steam cannons, lighter-than-air airships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.
I don't read books that classify themselves as steampunk as the ones I've tried I don't like. On the other hand, I enjoy all the works of LE Modesitt Jr including the Recluce ones.
Ian
Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or the American "Wild West", where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power.
And you don't think a story that has people fighting magic users with steam powered machines qualifies for that?
But that's kind of beside the point. Fighting magic users with steam powered machines, whether it counts as steampunk or not, still isn't the realistic treatment of steam power the OP is looking for.
Clive Cussler published 4 or more novels set c.1900 focused on Steam Locomotives; the main character is a Railroad Detective. Steam ships, steam shovels, etc. are featured.
One of the stories takes place concurrent with the "Great San Francisco Fire" I think these stories are some of his better books.
I really enjoyed them. My uncle was involved with a Railroad historical society; they have several functional Locomotives and other steam powered equipment. I think that the stories are reasonably accurate and has interesting uses of steam power.
Clive Cussler published 4 or more novels set c.1900 focused on Steam Locomotives; the main character is a Railroad Detective. Steam ships, steam shovels, etc. are featured.
Oooh! Thanks!
If you like Terry Pratchett, one of his last books was based on steam engines... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_Steam
"Pack up and go to the Steam Show" by Howard Faxon here on SOL, but it's premier if you happen to have it.
You might be interested in The Steam Man of the Prairies (1868) by Edward S Ellis. It's considered to be the first science fiction dime novel by a U.S> author.
It has some elements that are associated with steampunk, but it was written over a century before that term was coined. Technically, it's part of a genre called "Edisonade," which is a type of book published in the 19th century as a boys' adventure which focuses on a brilliant inventor using wit to get out of trouble. Edisonade books would be considered SF by modern standards, but were not treated as such at the time.
I realize this isn't exactly what you're looking for, but it's such an unusual book that it's worth checking out. Plus, you can download it for free on Project Gutenberg.
It has been a while since i read it, but I believe the fifth volume of Soul Rider by J. Chalker had steam locomotives as a part of the story. I read it as a book, and don't know if it available as an ebook. A nice series.
Please don't forget Conan Doyle's "The Story of the Lost Special"
and a number of other Sherlock Holmes stories