Tolog Review: Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant
reviewed by Hailey Ramos

"Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories," edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, showcases an array of short stories from the steampunk genre, a subgenre of science fiction that often features steam- and clockwork-powered machines rather than more advanced technology. Set in places as diverse as Canada, Kentucky, and England during various periods in time, unique characters such as storytellers, detectives, scientists, and outlaws create new worlds, solve crimes, and bring back the dead.

A heaping handful of the stories demonstrated a large sense of feminism, with females being compelling and unique protagonists. "The Last Ride of the Glory Girls," by Libba Bray, exhibited a diverse and strong cast of women. Adelaide Jones, watchmaker and outlaw, found herself working for an agency called the Pinkerton Detectives in place of serving time in jail. The Pinkertons worked with mechanicals and weaponry, so Addie fit in perfectly as a watchmaker. She proved herself a whiz in the workshop and was chosen to go undercover for the Pinkertons when the Glory Girls, a wanted gang of girls who robbed trains and airships and left their victims to “find their jewels and lockboxes gone and the Glory Girls’ calling card left on a table all polite and proper-like (25),” came around. Gaining the trust of the Glory Girls, made up of Josephine Folkes, Fadwa Shadid, Colleen Feeney, and Amanda Harper, Addie repaired the Girls’ Enigma Apparatus, which assisted them in robbing trains by slowing down time. Addie had been having so much fun with the Glory Girls, leading to missed rendezvous with the chief of the Pinkertons, which would soon lead her to trouble.

Bray uses various imagery to describe fantastical objects like the Enigma Apparatus. Bray uses visual and auditory imagery in describing the Apparatus and a video device, describing it as a “blue light bubble [that] come over the train [stopping] it dead on the tracks. Then the picture crackled up like old Christmas paper, and there weren’t no more (26).” As mentioned before, a strong feminist theme is present in "Last Ride," along with a very racially diverse cast. Addie was part of an incredibly religious home and left to look for a life in technology. Josephine Folkes was a runaway slave handy around the house, Fadwa Shadid was part of a family that lived in a refugee camp, practicing her shooting skills “off the scorpions that roamed the cracked dirt outside the tents (34),” Amanda Harper, abused by her uncle, found ways to easily take trains and airships, and Colleen Feeney, whose father had tried to take down the Parliament, ran away from authority in search of his family.

I would recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys reading of lands of fantasy, whether they are familiar with the genre of steampunk or not. I was fairly familiar with the genre when I began reading this book, but after reading I found that it was as fantastical as a story genre could get.