I pounced on The Eternal Child when it appeared on Amazon. It’s a steampunk adventure, and a lifetime ago (before COVID), I worked with the author.
Here’s the blurb taken from the bookshelf.
The Eternal Child is a thrilling mystery set in a 19th-century Britain plagued by an oppressive regime and the living dead. When a dangerously beautiful woman asks for her help, Alice McInnes, private investigator, must discover how it all connects to a child thought long dead.
This steampunk adventure takes you into a world of fantastic technology and the supernatural. Meet the characters that delve into the shadows and the terrifying depths to reveal the most curious of tales.
Shamefully, I must admit it: The Eternal Child is still at the top of my “to read pile” pile. That is a small swamp of books that are arranged in an artful mess on the corner of the bed.
No harm, no foul, right? That was until I bumped into G.T. Craig at Cymera, the horror and sci-fi writing convention here in Edinburgh. So, while The Eternal Child wriggles higher up my very slow nighttime reading, let’s dig into the debate with G.T., a steampunk author, that I had during a horror and sci-fi convention.
Are steampunk novels too niche to be popular?
Some would say that it was a curious choice to write a novel in a literary genre that I was not actually that fond of. I mean, I did like the premise and aesthetics of steampunk, but I couldn’t find any novels that made me want to run out and read more. I felt that the genre deserved a novel that I and others like me could enjoy. If that meant I needed to write one, then so be it.
Steampunk is built on the premise that the internal combustion engine was never invented and so technology goes off in a different, steam-based direction. It is a science fiction genre that taps into the fascination with the unknown that the Victorians embraced, along with their fashions. It not only allows for inventive and charming takes on technology, it also opens up the realms of the supernatural, with vampires, zombies, and the occult adding spice to the mix. It takes place during a period in history with a reputation for colonialism, class inequality, and conservative views on gender roles, race, and sexuality, and allows us to go back and imagine if things were different, and to explore these important themes that are still being wrestled with today.
There is a thriving steampunk community out there. Every year, thousands of people meet up across the globe to show off their creations, from fabulous outfits, hats, and jewellery, to weapons and equipment that are works of art. Many of these creations are hand made and represent hours of work and hundreds of pounds worth of investment.
The film and television industry has recognised the appeal and potential of the steampunk aesthetic, and you will often see the familiar colour tones, brass and wooden fixtures, and cog and piston mechanics that exemplify the steampunk style being used to produce a visually striking look across so many productions.
And yet somehow, with all the love the steampunk aesthetic receives, I still often see a look of disappointment sour the face of the person I am pitching my book to when I tell them it is set in a steampunk universe. They seem to be where I was before I spent 17 years writing in the genre. An experience that has opened me up to the stories it can tell.
Why has the literary side of the genre not garnered the same appeal as the visual side? There have been great tales of mystery and adventure going all the way back to Shelly, Verne and Wells, but nothing that I’ve seen in recent times to make people fill their bookshelves with tales of top hats and technology.
I personally think that steampunk needs some modern heroes. It needs what Aragorn and Frodo did for epic fantasy, and what the Skywalkers did for sci-fi. It needs a genre-defining work that will capture people’s imagination and make people realise that it is more than just a niche genre. It would be nice if this was my book, but I think I’m a few years away from anyone buying the film rights for The Eternal Child.
Not that this shift in perception needs to come from the big screen. We are talking literary appreciation here. Recently there is a surge in popularity for ‘romantacy’ novels, such as Crescent City and Fourth Wing. Perhaps I just need more intimacy in my book. Would it then be ‘steamypunk’? Google that with care.
One of the issues steampunk faces is that it doesn’t have the future-facing appeal of traditional sci-fi. Science fiction grew in an age of discovery, with technology constantly pushing back the boundaries of what was thought possible. The works of sci-fi surged ahead of technological progress and invited you to imagine, if this is what is achievable now, what will the world be like decades from now. People pictured living a life with flying cars, space travel, and robots that did all of the unpleasant tasks. A future of hope and opportunity.
Steampunk faces the other way. It looks backwards into the past. The universe it invites you to inhabit is often one with modern technology transposed onto a bygone age.
But this need not hold it back. You can lean into this and make it something wonderful. I look at shows like Arcane: League of Legends and realise that steampunk is still out there but has put down its cup of tea and picked up a spraycan, leaving behind the stuffy preconceptions people may hold of it. With expectations already established, you can take a mundane piece of technology and make it awesome. You don’t have to explain it, or if you do, you can wow your audience with how ‘modern’ technology can be replicated with ‘primitive’, or sometimes ‘arcane’, materials. Would leaning toward a different description, such as ‘alternative history’ or ‘neo-Victoriana’ convey these themes with fewer negative connotations or is that just chickening out?
I have pinned my writing career on the hopes that people just love a good story, well told. Steampunk allowed me to tell my stories, and I hope they inspire more people to give the genre the love that I feel it deserves.
Thanks, G.T.
IBM has deleted the research now, but over a decade ago, they did predict the steampunk trend would boom.
