Monthly Archives: February 2013

Young Adult

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I’m back home and eager to continue my series of blog posts about genre.  It seems natural to jump back in with one of the hottest genres around, Young Adult or YA.

Wild, impulsive behavior, hormones bouncing off the walls, soaring emotions, dark secrets: this is the stuff of young adult novels. It is the fiction of firsts. First crush, date, kiss, job, failing grade, drink, smoke, sexual experience, rejection, the list goes on. Think of one of your milestone firsts and chances are it happened while you were a young adult.

It may be helpful to define the term, “young adult.” In terms of the genre, a young adult is an adolescent, a teenager, typically of high school age, between 14- and 18-years-old. There’s some breathing room on either end, but a protagonist younger than thirteen would be considered Middle Grade and one older than nineteen would be a New Adult.

Voice is particularly important in YA fiction. As you read, you should be hearing the voice of a teen telling her story. A novel written as a memoir, i.e., an older person telling the story of his teen years, is not YA because the voice is that of an adult reliving his youth.

The YA protagonist should also have a keen eye for adult hypocrisy.  Teens are often censured by grownups that talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk, and they are fully aware of this. A sense of alienation from and aversion to the adult world is crucial to the YA voice.

Many subgenres fall under the wide YA umbrella, including historical, romance, literary, dystopia, fantasy and horror. Examples, in order of genre, include “The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing,” “Anna and the French Kiss,” “The Catcher in the Rye,” “Divergent,” “Tithe,” and “The Forest of Hands and Teeth.”

Few subjects are taboo in YA and some books deal with difficult, sensitive topics, such as drug use, promiscuity, suicide, cutting and bullying. “Speak” tells the story of rape victim who calls the police during a blow out party. Unable to say what really happened, she is shunned and becomes a social pariah. In “Living Dead Girl,” a kidnap victim tells the horrific story of her life as a pedophile’s plaything. It’s not all heavy weather in YA and there are plenty of books based around adventure and romance, but even these can brush on hard topics that are of concern to teens.

YA novels are written for and marketed to teenagers. The phenomenon of the YA genre is that many of the readers are adults. According to a 2012 article in Publishers Weekly, adults bought 55% of YA books. Not surprising, since parents must be buying books for their kids. However, of that number, 78% purchased the books for themselves. YA books such as “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games” became blockbuster hits because of their crossover appeal.

Has YA run its course as a hot genre? Apparently not. In sessions at the San Francisco Writers Conference, I learned that sales are still brisk and new books are constantly being acquired. To paraphrase one editor, there is a consistent, yet changing readership as children grow into teens and seek out YA novels.

Interested in learning more? Here are some great websites to check out.

  • Young Adult Books Central is a great place to find the latest books and reader reviews.
  • Adult YA readers may enjoy Forever Young Adult, “a site for YA readers who are a little less Y and a bit more A.”
  • Teen readers should check out Teen Ink, an online magazine and teen community.

Below you’ll find a few free-for-now Kindle books to give you a taste for the genre.

Brightest Kind of Darkness by P.T. Michelle
Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate…until she dreams a future she can’t ignore. After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate. Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.

  The Sword and The Prophet by Missy LaRae
Fifteen year old twins Lily and Tyler are on a mission. Escape from their abusive mother, hop a train to Charleston, South Carolina, and don’t get caught. They’ve been kept in virtual seclusion their entire lives, and in one night make a break for it and succeed. However, something isn’t right with their new Aunt and Uncle, and they realize they’ve escaped one nightmare and stumbled into something even far more sinister and deadly.

  Adventures In Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris
Sixteen year old Kait Lenox has a reputation as the weird girl in her high school, mostly because of her ex-best friend turned mean popular girl, Ariel, but maybe it has a little to do with the fact that Kait has a hobby crashing funerals. At one of these, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her for all the world to see, he asks for her help, and Kait finds herself entangled in a murder mystery. Not only is the thrill of the mystery exciting, but more importantly Ethan knows her name! A little sleuthing is well worth that!

  Perfectly Dateless by Kristin Billerbeck
Daisy Crispin has 196 days to find the right date for the prom. There’s only one problem–her parents won’t let her date or even talk to a guy on the phone. Oh, and she’s totally invisible at school, has to wear lame homemade clothes, and has no social skills. Okay, so maybe there’s more than one problem. Can she talk her parents into letting her go to the prom? Or will they succeed at their obvious attempt to completely ruin her life?

Disclaimers and Disclosures

I found these books via Amazon’s Kindle eBooks store. Resources for free Kindle and other format eBooks are listed in my sidebar.

These freebies are limited time offers, so there is no guarantee any of these books will still be free when you click on the links. Grab them sooner rather than later.

Writers’ Conference Resources

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I’ve come to the end of my San Francisco working holiday. I stayed an extra week in the city, cat sitting the magnificent Spot.

Sun Spot

Spot has found her sweet spot in the sun.

I spent some time wandering around my favorite neighborhoods, walking through Golden Gate Park, and being inspired by the city of my heart. My Crossroads series is set in San Francisco and I took the opportunity to visit some of the locations I’m writing about. In particular, the Three Gems sculpture, located in the de Young Museum sculpture garden, which appears in both “Fake” and the following novel, “The Wayward Way.”

I also emailed requested materials to the agents I met through the conference. As I got back into the writing groove, both fiction and blogging, I thought about the lessons I learned at the conference. It’s hard to put it all into words, since so much of it was internalized. I went to the San Francisco Writers Conference website and happened to notice that the presenters’ handouts are still available as downloads. You won’t want to miss these valuable resources.

San Francisco Writers Conference Presenters’ Handouts

Of course, the handouts are only a taste of the sessions. If possible, I highly recommend attending this or another writers’ conference. Along with lessons learned at the industry and craft sessions, you’ll also have the opportunity to meet fellow authors and interact with agents and editors. I found a partial list of 2013 conferences and festivals in the U.S.

2013 Writing Conferences and Festivals

Doing a web search using your home state or preferred genre will probably yield more. For example, the Romance Writers of America has a huge annual conference, while its local chapters host smaller events throughout the year.

RWA Annual Conference

RWA Local Chapter Events

Can’t afford to go to a conference? Consider volunteering. Many conference offer discounts or even free admission to volunteers.

Can’t leave town? Too busy to leave the house? Don’t let that stand in your way! There are online conferences and workshops as well. One I can recommend is the San Francisco Writers University, which offers free and paid online courses.

San Francisco Writers University

Writing is an art, a craft and a business. Attending conferences and workshops can help you improve all aspects of your writing life.

Speed Dating with Agents

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How I Pitched My Novel in Three Minutes

The most exciting, yet angst-filled moments for me at the San Francisco Writers Conference came during Speed Dating with Agents.

No, not that kind of dating, though that would have been interesting. Speed Dating with Agents is a pitch session in the speed dating format. Literary agents are set up at different tables. Writers take turns sitting down with the agents of their choice for three-minute pitch sessions. At this conference, there were four consecutive time slots for pitching, each one 51 minutes in length. That meant a writer had 51 minutes to reach each agent, which included waiting behind other writers who had queued up to see a particular agent.

So, no pressure, right?

Yeah, right. However, there are steps to take some of the pressure off and help you appear more professional. And it is to your advantage to be professional. Writing is an art. Publishing is a business. Here are the steps I took to prepare for the pitch.

Find out which agents will be attending the pitch session. They should be listed on the conference website or brochure. Find out which ones are interested in acquiring books similar to what you’ve written. Pitch to them. If you have a novel, do not pitch to someone looking for non-fiction and visa-versa. Agents will often state what they don’t want. Someone looking for women’s fiction may not be interested in paranormal romance and will probably say so.

Perfect your hook. A hook is your novel in a nutshell. Easily grasped high concepts work here. For example, my hook is “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.”

Know your novel length and genre. Don’t guess. Know exactly what you are going to tell the agent.

Know your audience. Who will this book be marketed to? I was asked several times and I had an answer: Readers who like stories with cross cultural fantasy and emotionally driven characters.

Have your novel synopsis ready. Don’t ramble. If you can keep it down to a paragraph, you’ve hit the sweet spot. I know it’s really hard to do. The best advice I’ve heard is to look at back cover blurbs of novels similar to yours. Those are usually about a paragraph long and condense the story nicely. I have my synopsis memorized, but I still had a copy on my phone displayed before me as I spoke. This is perfectly acceptable, as are index cards. Here is my synopsis:

After his parents are murdered, 15-year-old Paul Lau runs away. He winds up in Haight Ashbury, hiding among the ragged street kids who beg for spange. As he learns to survive, he runs into and afoul of other members of the Crossroads, an underworld society of warriors, wanderers, beggars and assassins. He makes an ally when he meets Rhian Nolan, an Irish gypsy trapped in a lie. She’s honest with him, but he’s fake with her. No one can know his true identity, not until he’s ready for revenge.

Have a pen and paper ready to take notes.

So, how did I do? Pretty good, I think. I targeted five agents and received requests for partials from all of them. This is how it went:

I greeted the agent. Introduced myself. Named my book, genre, gave the word count and hook. Then I moved on to the synopsis. All this took less than a minute. The agents asked a couple of questions about marketing and audience. Then they gave me their contact info and submission details. In most cases, I was done before the three minutes were up.

I probably sound more confident than I actually was. Believe me, inside, I was quivering jelly. What helped was that I had attended the 2012 San Francisco Writers Conference and went to sessions that helped me hone my pitch craft. I’ll forever be grateful to the editors and agents at the 2012 conference who patiently listened to my different versions and gave me valuable advice.

Will I get an agent out of this? I certainly hope so, but regardless, I’m glad for the opportunity to build my confidence as a professional writer.

Need more advice? No problem. I’ve listed a few resources to help you hone your pitch. One is about query letters. A good pitch fits nicely in query letter.

How to Pitch Agents at a Writers’ Conference

How to Pitch to an Agent at a Writers’ Conference

How to Write a Query Letter

If you are looking for a literary agent, AgentQuery is an excellent resource.

San Francisco Writers Conference Days 3 and 4

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I’m putting these days together because I attended a number of sessions on blogging and platform building, and I wanted to discuss what I learned.

You may wonder, what is platform building? It is something that has filled many writers, published and unpublished, with frustration and confusion. Basically, your platform is your presence on the web. Ideally, it should brand and market you. A single static webpage, a blog you never update, or a Facebook page you share only with friends and family do not equal a platform. Your platform has to have solid planks: constantly updated websites and blogs, an active presence on Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads, etc., and a Facebook page dedicated to you as a writer.

You might be groaning right now. I don’t blame you. I certainly did. We can groan all we want, but resistance is futile. The editors and agents who attended the conference made it very clear they expect writers to have a platform and market their writing even before they are published.

Now, you might be hitting your head against the wall and wondering how you are supposed to write when you’re going to be using all your spare time on blogging and social networking. The good news is you don’t have to do it all at once. Your first step is to pick one and get really good at. For example, go on Goodreads and become active in the forums. Once you get that down, go onto to Twitter and tweet about the books you’ve read. On Twitter, follow the people you’ve met through Goodreads. It’s very likely they’ll follow you back. Follow authors you like. Follow agents and editors. If you have a blog, mention it on Goodreads and Twitter when you get a chance, but don’t be obnoxious about it.  Make it part of the conversation.

I know how difficult this can be. While I love my blog and reading other blogs, I have no real presence on Goodreads or Twitter. This needs to change. I’ll let you know how it goes as I figure it out.

In the meantime, I strongly suggest visiting the websites of Stephanie Chandler and Chuck Sambuchino. You’ll find a wealth of information and resources on these sites.

There was more to the conference on those two days besides platform building. I attended sessions on “Why Fantasy Beats Reality,” “Troubleshooting Your Novel,” and “Sex, Drugs and Violence in YA Fiction.” Since four-to-six sessions ran consecutively, I had to miss out on some good stuff, like “Making Your Work Rejection-Proof.” Luckily, one of the session’s presenters, C.S. Lakin, has helpful handouts posted on her website. You can find them here.

I also heard two great keynote speakers:

Guy Kawasaki is a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Apple evangelist, and best selling author. He has no trouble securing a book deal with a Big Six publisher. However, after some technical frustrations and control issues, he decided to go the self-publishing route, which he refers to it as “artisanal publishing.” You find out more about it here.

R.L. Stine is the author of “Goosebumps,” a wildly successful series of humorous horror novels for young readers. To date, he has sold over 350 million books worldwide. “Goosebumps” was also adapted into a popular TV series. Stine spoke about his life and career. He was fortunate enough to get a job as Scholastic Books at a fairly young age. However, he didn’t publish the first “Goosebumps” book until he was 49-years-old. So, if you’re thinking it’s too late, too hard, taking too long, remember that success doesn’t have an age attached.

Click here for more information on the San Francisco Writers Conference.

San Francisco Writers Conference Day 2

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Another sunny, beautiful day spent inside, but no regrets. I attended four sessions and two keynote speeches. The conference has full attendance, i.e. sold out, so the rooms were packed. All the presenters had great information to share. Here are the highlights.

Publishing in Transition: The View from the Big Apple

This session featured a panel of editors from Big Six publishing houses. Each one stated that they frequently checked the digital bestseller lists, looking for independently published authors who had good number and good reviews. Basically, the stigma of self-publishing is gone. Self-publishing is now considered an alternate track to starting your writing career. But, if you want the Big Six to take notice, you’ve got be really good.

Hot Plots: Persuading Your Readers to Turn the Page

Authors Robert Dugoni and Mandy Hubbard discussed the finer points of page turners. Two important words to remember: So what? So what if my character fails? Why would it be so bad? For example, so what if Dorothy had to stay in Oz and never return to Kansas? Would that be so bad? Yes. Why? Because the Wizard has shown Dorothy a vision of Auntie Em dying. Guilt stricken, Dorothy becomes all the more determined to return home.

Writing Dialogue That Brings Your Characters to Life

A panel on writing convincing dialogue. My favorite moment wasn’t so much about dialogue. One of the panelists was formerly a journalist. Once, she wrote a story about alternative families. She said that at each household she visited, the first thing she asked was to see the fridge. The contents of a refrigerator can tell you a lot about a person or a family. She suggested looking in our characters refrigerators. I think that’s brilliant.

Luncheon Keynote Speaker Anne Perry

Yes, the Anne Perry. She was fascinating. I could have listened to her all afternoon. She told lots of stories about her writing and her life. My favorite moment, though, came earlier, during the Hot Plots session, when she did the equivalent of a literary photo bomb. When Hot Plots opened the floor for Q&A, a woman in the back made a statement, something like, “You only need to know as much about a character as is important to the plot at that moment in the story.” I remember thinking, “Wow. She stated that so perfectly.” That woman was, of course, Anne Perry.

Feeding Your Daily Writing Habit: 4 Steps to Higher Productivity

The presenter, Ellen Sussman, actually had 10 steps. The two most relevant for me were “block the Internet” and “save editing for later.” This is especially true for your first draft. Just write, don’t let anything interrupt you, especially your internal editor.

Afternoon Keynote Speaker Bella Andre

Bella Andre is a contemporary romance writer. Her traditionally published novels were respectably midlist. When she decided to self-publish, her writing career skyrocketed and she has sold 1.5 million ebooks. She told us the story of her success. Main point is that to successfully self-publish, your book has to be awesome. Put out a polished product, not just something you slapped together.

Great first full day. By evening, I was exhausted, but happy and looking forward to Day 3.

Click here for more information on the San Francisco Writers Conference.

San Francisco Writers Conference Day 1

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I left Denver in subfreezing temperatures, with falling snow and a delayed flight while the plane was de-iced. I arrived in San Francisco to blue skies and 70-degree weather. Needless to say, I was overdressed, sweltering in my heavy winter coat.

Not that I was surprised. I know that February can bring some truly lovely weather to San Francisco. It can also bring cold and rain, so it’s important to pack for both kinds of weather. It’s all about layers and the first layer I shed was that coat!

There were two class sessions being offered attendees that afternoon. Unfortunately, my plane arrived right before the first session began at 2 p.m. It might be just as well because I would have had a difficult time choosing between Bob Dugoni’s “How to Write Your First Bestseller” and Katharine Sands’ “Convincing Agents and Editors to See Your Work with a Dynamite Pitch.” Still, I would have liked to attend one of them, so phooey.

I arrived at the conference at about 3 p.m. and still had to register. Then I had to choose between “First Page-A-Thon” and “Making Your Work Rejection-Proof: Tips & Techniques from Freelance Editors. “ Dang! They don’t make it easy at this conference with so much good stuff going on.

In the end, I decided to go with the “First Page-A-Thon.” What is that? To quote the conference schedule:

Bring the first page of your novel without identification. A panel of agents and editors will give you feedback on it.

Unfortunately, I arrived too late to have my first page added to the queue. However, it was really interesting hearing the feedback on the pages that were read. The agents and editors focused on what worked and what didn’t, and if they would want to keep reading or not. They gave suggestions on how to fix problems, the most common being needless repetition and starting the story in the wrong place. Overall, it was an entertaining and informative class.

Looking forward to a full day of classes on Friday!

Click here for more information on the San Francisco Writers Conference.

San Francisco Writers Conference

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Tomorrow through Sunday, I’ll be attending the San Francisco Writers Conference. I attended last year and found it to be an excellent conference with lots of great classes, and plenty of opportunities to network with industry professionals and fellow writers. Afterward, I rewrote “Fake” and feel that I have a better book through what I learned.

This year, I’m planning to share my experience through this blog. I’ll let you know what classes I attend and give some highlights of what I learn.

Since my manuscript is still under consideration at Harper Voyager, I’ll be pitching only to agents. For those of you who don’t know, never pitch your book to a publishing house editor if you’ve already submitted it elsewhere.

In the meantime, I’ve got to ready my conference wardrobe (stylish office casual,) print a few writing samples and memorize my pitch. I know. I should have it memorized by now. I do, but I get nervous. That’s why I have a copy on my phone. Sometimes it’s just easier to read it.  I do have my elevator pitch down, though:

Think “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” meets “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.”

Wish me luck!

12 Points To…

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Some of you might remember last May when I decided to check out Eurovision, became a fangirl and burbled on about it through the entire month and a little beyond.

Others of you may wonder, what the heck is Eurovision?

Eurovision is an annual international song contest. About 40 or so nations send their chosen artists to perform in an internationally televised event. Viewers, along with a professional jury, decide on the winner. The catch, and it’s one I truly love, is that you can’t vote for your own country.

This year, rather than take up space in this blog, which is more about reading and writing, I decided to start a new blog. It’s called 12 Points To… 12 points being the highest score a performer can earn from each nation.

If you’re already into Eurovision or want to learn more, you might want to check it out. Currently, the participating countries are choosing their performers. Some countries do this through televised contests that can be very exciting. In other countries, the broadcasters decide which artists to send. The performers can be either amateurs or professionals.  In my blog, I’m taking a first look at the chosen participants.

In my Lori Writer menu, I’ve replaced my poor, neglected Tumblr, 6 Words, with 12 Points To… This will take you to my Eurovision website. Enjoy!

Alternate History

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Alternate history is a genre encompassed in two little words: what if.

What if the Confederacy won the Civil War? What if the Roman Empire never fell? What if the Chinese colonized America? What if the Axis Powers won World War II? What if John F. Kennedy survived the assassination attempt?

The list goes on and on because there are as many “what ifs” as there is history. This makes for a rich and varied genre. But what kind of genre is it? Science fiction? Fantasy? Literary? Historical fiction? The answer is yes. Alternate history fits into a number of genres.

For example, “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” by Michael Chabon imagines a world where the state of Israel was crushed in its infancy. Jews instead take refuge in a portion of Alaska allotted them by the United States. As the book begins, that arrangement is about to come to an end. While this situation propels the novel forward, the heart of the story is a murder mystery with a hardboiled detective protagonist.

Philip K. Dick, a scifi master, wrote an alternate history novel, “The Man in the High Castle,” that contains very little science fiction, aside from mention of the Nazis colonizing Mars. He creates a world 20 years after the Axis powers have won World War II. Those living under Japanese rule on the west coast of the U.S. consider themselves lucky not be under the iron fist of the Nazis, who, having killed all the Jews, have extended their final solution to the inhabitants of Africa. In a neat twist, a forbidden novel has been published; one that imagines a different world, in which Franklin Roosevelt had never been assassinated and the Allies had won the war.

As a fantasy subgenre, alternate history’s “what ifs” are of a fantastical nature. In “His Majesty’s Dragon,” author Naomi Novik writes of a world where the Napoleonic Wars were fought with dragons. Susanna Clarke’s “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell,” also set in Napoleonic England, has wizards influencing the outcome of historical events.

In all these examples there is a “what if” that changes history and the world. According to Steven H Silver, as quoted by Wikipedia:

Alternate history requires three things: 1) the story must have a point of divergence from the history of our world prior to the time at which the author is writing, 2) a change that would alter history as it is known, and 3) an examination of the ramifications of that change.

It’s both fun and frightening to imagine what might have happened if… fill in the blank. Which is part of what makes alternate history such an appealing and enduring genre.

A good example of alternate history is the Belisarius Saga by David Drake and Eric Flint. Set in the sixth century, a real historical figure, Byzantine general Flavius Belisarius, is pitted against the Malwa Empire of India, with interference by far future factions wanting to alter history. The second book in the series is available for free from Baen eBooks. It is listed below.

  In the Heart of Darkness
The Malwa Empire has conquered 6th century India and is forging the subcontinent’s vast population into an invincible weapon of tyranny. Belisarius, the finest general of his age, must save the world. Guided by visions from a future that may never be, he and a band of comrades penetrate the Malwa heartland, seeking the core of the enemy’s power. And when Belisarius leads the forces of good, only a fool would side with evil.

Description provided by Baen eBooks

Disclaimers and Disclosures

I found this book via Baen eBooks. I make no guarantee that this book will remain free.

Punk Subgenres

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The “sub” stands for “subversive” in the case of the punk subgenres. These are the rebels of literature, for readers who like their fiction full of street smarts and grit. Though the settings are often futuristic or fantastical, readers want a strong dose of seamy realism.

There are a fair number of punk subgenres. I’ll be concentrating on the two most popular: cyberpunk and steampunk.

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk takes place in the near future, usually in a high-tech dystopian society, with hackers as the protagonists. Multinational corporations are the villains and have often taken over the government, either openly or behind the scenes. Cyberspace, though still virtual, is portrayed as physical and visceral. Hackers enter cyberspace through their consciousness and encounter real dangers that can harm and even kill their physical bodies. Cyberpunk first came into popularity in the 1980s and was fueled by the visionary science fiction film, “Blade Runner.” “Neuromancer” by William Gibson, published in 1984, set the tone for the genre with a tale of futuristic Tokyo, illegal substances, and corporate sabotage via cyberspace. Other popular authors include Bruce Sterling, Neal Stephenson and Peter F. Hamilton.

Steampunk

The word “steampunk” describes both a speculative fiction subgenre and the subculture it inspired. In literature, steampunk envisions an alternate history of the nineteenth century where the world is powered by steam, moved by gears and traveled by zeppelin. Steampunk influences include 19th century speculative fiction writers Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. To quote Steampunk Magazine:

Steampunk as a genre is descended from Cyberpunk, which questioned the scientific optimism prevalent in mainstream science fiction and instead offered a gritty, grimly realistic world in which corporations ruled the earth, empowered in many ways by the development of communications technology. Cyberpunk protagonists were hackers and subcultural street fighters who navigated endless metropolises and uncovered corporate conspiracies. Steampunk authors realized the same sorts of values could be used to re-imagine the Victorian era, with the empire serving a similar role as corporations. Steampunk has of course developed since its creation in the 1980s, and has, since roughly 2006-07, become an art and craft movement as well as a subculture with its own fashion and music.

Cyberpunk and steampunk crossover in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s novel, “The Difference Engine.” This book imagines an alternate history where Charles Babbage is successful in his invention of the Analytical Engine, thus spawning the computer and information age in the mid-nineteenth century.

Popular steampunk authors include Phil and Kaja Foglio, Gail Carriger and Cherie Priest.

Other Punks

Splatterpunk is a horror subgenre that reached its main popularity in the 1990s. Not for the faint at heart, it ratcheted up the gore and mayhem to 11.

Elfpunk could be called an urban fantasy subgenre. Usually in a gritty, contemporary urban setting, the stories involve elves and other denizens of Faerie. Vampires, werewolves and Olympic deities need not apply.

Mythpunk is mythic fiction, i.e. fairy tales, folklore and mythology, given a postmodern edge. Boundaries are not just crossed but broken as social issues are examined. Experimental writing styles are welcome.

A more complete list can be found in Wikipedia article, Cyberpunk Derivatives.

Below are a couple of classic novels and a few free-for-now steampunk novellas and short stories to give you a taste for the genre.

Around the World in 80 Days  Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
One ill-fated evening at the Reform Club, Phileas Fogg rashly bets his companions that he can travel around the entire globe in just eighty days — and he is determined not to lose. Breaking the well-established routine of his daily life, the reserved Englishman immediately sets off for Dover, accompaned by his hot-blooded manservant Passepartout. Traveling by train, steamship, sailboat, sledge, and even elephant, they must overcome storms, kidnappings, natural disasters, Sioux attacks, and the dogged Inspector Fix of Scotland Yard — who believes that Fogg has robbed the Bank of England — to win the extraordinary wager. Around the World in 80 Days gripped audiences on its publication and remains hugely popular, combining exploration, adventure, and a thrilling race against time.

The Time Machine  The Time Machine H. G. Wells
The novel is considered one of the earliest works of science fiction and the progenitor of the “time travel” subgenre. Wells advanced his social and political ideas in this narrative of a nameless Time Traveller who is hurtled into the year 802,701 by his elaborate ivory, crystal, and brass contraption. The world he finds is peopled by two races: the decadent Eloi, fluttery and useless, are dependent for food, clothing, and shelter on the simian subterranean Morlocks, who prey on them. The two races–whose names are borrowed from the Biblical Eli and Moloch–symbolize Wells’s vision of the eventual result of unchecked capitalism: a neurasthenic upper class that would eventually be devoured by a proletariat driven to the depths.

  Dreams of Steam by Kimberly Richardson
Travel back to a time when steam powered inventions ruled the land, water, and sky. It’s a time of extraordinary contraptions and innovative ideas created by men and women who dared to ask the question, “What if?” Peer through the glazed window into a world long gone, but not forgotten. Make a cup of tea, find a comfortable chair, strap on your goggles, and be amazed at the power of steam!

  Clockwork Fagin (Free Preview of a story from Steampunk!) by Cory Doctorow
Imagine an alternate universe where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships. In Steampunk!, fourteen masters of speculative fiction, including two graphic storytellers, embrace the genre’s established themes and refashion them in surprising ways and settings as diverse as Appalachia, Ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California. Get a preview of the anthology by sampling one of these inventive tales for free Cory Doctorow’s (Clockwork Fagin,) in which orphans use the puppet of a dead man to take control of their lives.

Flash Gold (a steampunk novella set in the Yukon) (The Flash Gold Chronicles)  Flash Gold by Lindsay Buroker
Eighteen-year-old Kali McAlister enters her steam-powered “dogless sled” in a race, intending to win the thousand-dollar prize and escape remote Moose Hollow forever. The problem? Fortune seekers and airship pirates are after her for the secret to flash gold, her late father’s alchemical masterpiece. With her modified rifle and a pocketful of home-made smoke bombs, Kali wouldn’t normally hide from a confrontation, but taking on a whole airship single-handedly is a daunting task. Unfortunately, the other racers won’t assist her–they’re too busy scheming ways to sabotage her unorthodox sled.

The 19 Dragons  The 19 Dragons by SM Reine
There are nineteen provinces in the Land held aloft by nineteen pillars. Above the earth there is sky, and nobody knows what goes below except the Nineteen Dragons. That is all you need to know, but that is not all there is to be known. The Device has been stolen and the godlike Dragons have been rendered mortal. Someone is murdering them one by one, and each death brings the world closer to its end. Unless the the Device is somehow restored to its deceased owner, the Dragons are doomed to destruction–and the human world will go with them.

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