Tag Archives: Nick Mamatas

The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk edited by Sean Wallace

April 26, 2020Book ReviewA.C. Wise, Anatoly Belilovsky, Brian Trent, Carrie Vaughn, Catherine Schaff-Stump, Cirilo S. Lemos, Costi Gurgu, Dan Rabarts, Dieselpunk, E. Catherine Tobler, Erin M. Hartshorn, Genevieve Valentine, Gwynne Garfinkle, Jay Lake, Jeremiah Tolbert, Joseph Ng, Kim Lakin-Smith, Laurie Tom, Mammoth Books, Mark Robert Philips, Nick Mamatas, Rachel Nussbaum, Science Fiction, Sean Wallace, Shannon Page, Short Story Collections, The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk, Tony Pi, Trent Hergenraderskyebjenner

Image result for the mammoth book of dieselpunk book cover

Title: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk
Author: Sean Wallace, Jay Lake, Shannon Page, Carrie Vaughn, Anatoly Belilovsky, E. Catherine Tobler, Jeremiah Tolbert, Brian Trent, Rachel Nussbaum, Trent Hergenrader, Gwynne Garfinkle, Genevieve Valentine, Joseph Ng, A.C. Wise, Kim Lakin-Smith, Nick Mamatas, Costi Gurgu, Tony Pi, Cirilo S. Lemos, Erin M. Hartshorn, Dan Rabarts, Mark Robert Philips, Catherine Schaff-Stump & Laurie Tom
Series: Mammoth Books
In: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dieselpunk, Science fiction, Short story collections
Dates read: 18th March 2019 – 25th March 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Anthology
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2015
5th sentence, 74th page: The gremlins will be inside everything given long enough and they just want out.

21 tales of anarchic diesel mayhem. 88 From multiple Hugo Award-winning editor Sean Wallace, a new, cutting-edge anthology of twenty-one vibrant stories that explore the possibilities of history, while sweeping readers into high-powered, hydrocarbon-fuelled adventures that merge elements of noir, pulp, and the past with the technology of today… and sometimes a dash of the occult.

Journey into an era when engines were huge, fuel was plentiful and cheap, and steel and chrome overlaid the grit and grease of powerful machines!

Includes stories by Erin Hartshorn, Trent Hergenrader, Tony Pi, Catherine Schaff-Stump, E. Catherine Tobler, Jeremiah Tolbert, Laurie Tom, Genevieve Valentine, A. C. Wise and many more.

I’ve recently started to thoroughly enjoy steampunk. But this was my first excursion into Dieselpunk. And what an excellent introduction this proved to be! I was enthralled, mystified and totally sunk into some of the stories in this collection. And although it might not be my favourite collection of short stories… it certainly ranks up there.

I found this collection a lot darker than steampunk collections. There is just something about Dieselpunk that is a little more critical, and a little less optimistic than steampunk. Or at least, that’s how I’m finding it. Not that that was a bad thing, but this was certainly a darker collection than the steampunk collections and novels that have been filling my shelves lately.

As much as I loved these short stories, I did take a long time to read this collection. Mostly because I had to be in a pretty specific mindset to actually read them. There is something a little less approachable and more intense about this genre that I both loved and also found a little hard to factor into my daily reading schedules.

<- The Mammoth Book of Dickensian Whodunnits

Rolling Steel: A Pre-Apocalyptic Love Story ->

Image source: Running Press

We Never Sleep by Nick Mamatas

March 18, 2020Book ReviewDieselpunk, Nick Mamatas, The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk, Writingskyebjenner

Title: We Never Sleep
Author: Nick Mamatas
In: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this)
My Bookshelves: Dieselpunk, Writing
Dates read: 12th February 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2015
5th sentence, 74th page: He got up the next morning, went to the offices of the Pinkerton Detective Agency and offered his services – he was bilingual, knew the neighborhood and all the families, had a quick jab, and hated Reds, and thought the rebbe was a fool.

The pulp writer just wants to write a good story. One that isn’t boring and actually has meaning.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. It’s not something I lend a lot of time to at the moment, but it is something which draws me. Constantly. So reading a story that had snippets of attempts at writing throughout. Reading a story which was all about the pursuit of writing something amazing… it definitely drew me in and tugged at some familiar little heart strings.

Although this was about writing, it was also very symbolic about capitalism and the way it overtakes our soul. Or at least, that’s what I felt about it. Every moment felt like it was about being consumed by the machine. Consumed by that need to always do more, be better… incredibly symbolic and powerful if I may say so myself.

There is so much powerful symbolism throughout this story. Yet, it is still the process of writing and that experience which I most strongly connected to. There is something about sharing that frustration that drew me in and maybe even made me understand the themes and symbolism interwoven throughout the fragments of work. The need to create something that shares a part of yourself.

<- Black Sunday

Cosmobotica ->

Image source: Running Press

The Mammoth Book of Steampunk edited by Sean Wallace

April 17, 2019Book ReviewAlex Dally MacFarlane, Aliette de Bodard, Amal El-Mohtar, Barth Anderson, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Cat Rambo, Catherynne M. Valente, Cherie Priest, E. Catherine Tobler, Eileen Gunn, Ekaterina Sedia, Genevieve Valentine, James Morrow, Jay Lake, Jeff VanderMeer, Jeffrey Ford, Lavie Tidhar, Mammoth Books, Margaret Ronald, Margo Lanagan, Mary Robinette Kowal, Matthew Kressel, Megan Arkenberg, Michael Swanwick, N.K. Jemisin, Nick Mamatas, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Peter M. Ball, Samantha Henderson, Sean Wallace, Sharon Mock, Short Story Collections, Shweta Narayan, Steampunk, The Mammoth Book of Steampunk, Tobias S. Buckellskyebjenner

Title: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk
Author: Sean Wallace, Ekaterina Sedia, Jeff VanderMeer, Caitlin R. Kiernan, E. Catherine Tobler, Jay Lake, Genevieve Valentine, Cat Rambo, Shweta Narayan, Aliette de Bodard, N.K. Jemisin, Peter M. Ball, Sharon Mock, Catherynne M. Valente, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Eileen Gunn, Michael Swanwick, Tobias S. Buckell, Matthew Kressel, Margo Lanagan, Amal El-Mohtar, Barth Anderson, Jeffrey Ford, James Morrow, Cherie Priest, Margaret Ronald, Megan Arkenberg, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Mary Robinette Kowal, Samantha Henderson, Nick Mamatas, Nicole Kornher-Stace & Lavie Tidhar
Series: Mammoth Books
In: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Short story collections, Steampunk
Dates read: 3rd October 2018 – 6th March 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Anthology
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: He was in his library, or so he called it, a small room that smelled of pipe tobacco and old leather, so close that one could barely breathe.

30 anarchic mash-ups of past and future that push the boundaries of steampunk.

Great steampunk stories confront an uneasy history of oppression – of women, other ‘races’ and classes – and the abuse of science, by reimagining the past. The writers represented in this outsatnding collection look to the future through the lens of the past, imagining worlds in which technology is used to uplift rather than to oppress.

I’ve only recently gotten involved in steampunk. It’s a genre that I only started reading late last year and one that I kind of love. Although, as I discovered with this collection of short stories, it is also a genre that I have to concentrate a little more to read (unlike genre such as romance).

This anthology runs the gambit of steampunk stories and brings a number of themes, styles and settings to life. It is a perfect way to completely disappear from the world after a long day. Although, with many of the themes, once you have finished the story you are thrown back into reality ten times more heavily than you were before. After all, most of these stories have a great commentary about the world that we live in today.

From capitalism to feminist movements, every major issue and discussion that seems to be occurring in modern society is touched upon in this collection. Yet, these aren’t all serious commentaries on the world. Some of the stories are kind of hilarious, and some are downright weird. The one thing that they all have in common is that they are thoroughly enjoyable and have helped to give me a new addiction.

<- The Traitor

Steampunk: Looking to the Future Through the Lens of the Past ->

Image source: Amazon

Arbeitskraft by Nick Mamatas

March 27, 2019Book ReviewNick Mamatas, Steampunk, The Mammoth Book of Steampunkskyebjenner

Title: Arbeitskraft
Author: Nick Mamatas
In: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one)
My Bookshelves: Steampunk
Dates read: 19th February 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: A great buzzing rose up from the device and a flickering illumination filled the room.

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Is it the time for a revolution? Or is this mad man just another over-privileged man from the upper class, trying to enforce his own ideals?

I enjoyed the fact that this short story was split into a series of almost interconnected chapters and stories. They create one long journey, but they also have a series of smaller moments that can be read independently of one another. I don’t often enjoy chapters (and so many chapters) in a short story. But Mamatas worked this perfectly and I almost found it more difficult to put the story down because of the stop-start flow of the tale.

The part of this story that struck me most heavily is that although the protagonist is trying to bring about change for the better, he’s not really doing it in all that great-a-way. First of all, he’s trying to bring about change and equality when he’s part of the upper class. He’s also forcing people to conform to his view of thinking and not listening to theirs. It’s forcing his ideas of equality on others and not actually listening to their views – which isn’t any kind of form of equality really.

<- Cinderella Suicide Review

To Seek Her Fortune Review ->

Earth and Skye

The ramblings of a bibliophile.