I'm Something of a Fan of Science Fiction
And within science fiction, there is something peculiarly attractive to me about certain subgenres: steampunk is one of them.
Human and Humane Sometimes in the face of such evil the only human response is apology, is listening to the stories you do not want to hear or believe and accepting them as part of the world you do not know and then making amends--truly setting things to rights, truly liberating the captive who has been so long languishing through a sin-- not commission, not truly omission, but complete inattention, indifference. It is indifference that robs us of any trace of humanity-- the willingness to allow things to be, so long as they don't affect me or mine. Indifference tamps down the cobbles with which hate paves the pathway to hell for all of us. Indifference is an invitation to inhumanity.
One of my first signs that the internet would change everything was when I read The Difference Engine, shared it with a friend, and we argued over some obscure point. It got to the point where they said, "I guess we'll never know unless we meet the authors" and something clicked. I spent a few minute searching and found Bruce Sterling's email address (this was the pre-web era) and sent him a question. He answered in a an hour. It was a stunning example of the connectedness that was to come.
ReplyDeleteDear Randy,
ReplyDeleteI remember you showing this to us at one of our meetings--or at least sharing it as it happened. And it was significant. We are connected, at times, perhaps too much so. But so much good has come of it.
shalom,
Steven
I've read several steampunk novels and found them OK. THE steampunk novel, which probably many would consider to be Gibson and Sterling's The Difference Engine, is not one of them, though. In fact, I lost interest about half way through and stopped reading.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised as both Gibson and Sterling are favorites of mine, having read many of their works. I am much happier with them when they are writing cyberpunk.
One author mentioned in the article was KW Jeter, who really doesn't fit into any category since he also writes cyberpunk and horror. One of his best, or at least, one that I like best is his _The Glass Hammer_, which is probably best classified as cyberpunk, if anything. I have also read his _Infernal Devices_ and enjoyed it. I didn't think of it as steampunk, but I could see that it could be labeled as such.