Title: Clockmaker’s Requiem
Author: Barth Anderson
In: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Steampunk
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: It needs little hands.

Is time supposed to be a constant? Or is it something that is a little more random and should be controlled by all?

Time is a human construct. Ideas of it change across cultures and peoples. Across time and space. So it was kind of fun to read a steampunk short story that featured time in a number of ways. From the current idea of time in the story. Which from my understanding was controlled by each individual clockmaker to the more common and well-known ideal of time. The idea that it is uniform and governs everything.

There is a stark contrast between uniformity and total chaos. And a great sliding scale of everything in between. Using clocks and the concept of time are a great way in which to highlight the differences in this. There is this sense of loss when a clock of standardised time is introduced. This sense that individuality and independence no longer exists. And I was actually sad as I turned the last page of this story.

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