So I've recently decided to pick up an old project of mine. Reading through it I found quite a few good elements and some atrocious ones. I realized I was very strong on the vampire mythos, but my world building sucked when I wrote it. This lead me to decide I need to do a lot of steam punk reading to find what people have done. So I can get some ideas on what to research specifically as well as make sure to not write something that has already been written. (Yes, I said vampires and steam punk referring to the same project.)
I picked up a book by Cherie Priest today called Boneshaker.
My question to yous guys is, what books should I add to my list of books to read for well built steam punk worlds and cultures.
It depends on what kind of steampunk you want to write.
Boneshaker is one of the worst steampunk books I've ever read, because there isn't hardly any steampunk in it (most overrated Hugo nomination ever? maybe). Drop by my blog and read the review I wrote on it.
If you really want to read some good steampunk, and want to cover all your basis, Stephen Hunt is good, as is George Mann.
Leviathan by Westerfeld focuses more on biological creations than steampunk, though the sequel Behemoth is better.
Whitechapel Gods is fantastic. Carriger's work is OK, but it focuses more on the women's love-lives and their hats (and too much over-the-top wit in the dialogue). You could read classics like HG Wells and Jules Verne. Mike Resnick has a novel titled
The Buntline Special that is steampunk western.
Scar Night by Campbell has a little steampunk in it.
Retribution Falls by Wooding has some as well.
However, the best of all of it might be
Steampunk and
Steampunk II edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. Not only are there good short stories in the anthologies, but also a ton of non-fiction essays about the sub-genre. Completely awesome. Steampunk is just a setting device. You take any type of story--vampire, detective, epic quest, romance, horror, fantasy, mystery, western--and put a steampunk skin over it and adjust all your tech to match.