Can Steampunk be Dystopian?

Last week, someone asked if Steampunk was dystopian.

Both are sub-genres of speculative fiction. Of course, genres and sub-genres are just labels, and they’re hardly mutually exclusive. You can have an alternate history noir detective story. (Set it in Alaska, and you have Michael Chabon’s YIDDISH POLICEMEN’S UNION.) And, you could have a dystopic Steampunk story. However, in general, the perspectives of the two sub-genres are very different.

Dystopia imagines a far less than ideal future. When writing one, we ask the question: what if things went really wrong? We extrapolate from today and build a future as we’d truly not like to see it become. And, as Beth so aptly pointed out, the world we build acts as an antagonist. The characters fight against the dystopic world around them.

Steampunk re-imagines the past. Its writers ask the question: what if the steam age (mostly the 19th century) had developed the technology we have today? (The term, Steampunk, was coined in the 1980’s as kind of a tongue-in-cheek play on the cyberpunk genre.) The premise is not as far-fetched as it may sound. Charles Babbage designed the first mechanical computer—the Difference Engine--in the 1820’s. Unfortunately, it didn’t work—at least then. One of the best known Steampunk novels—THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE (1990) by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling—imagined that Babbage’s computer did work, and it became the cornerstone of technology in the Victorian era. Imagine a steam-powered internet--and Victorian England (Babbage was British, btw) as the Silicon Valley of the 19th century.

Not surprisingly then, Steampunk has a distinctive visual aesthetic. The Victorians would not have encased everything in plastic as we do today. They would’ve built computers out of mahogany and brass, all riveted together. You would have pulled levers, read gauges, spun dials, and watched gears turn. And, let's not forget the punk part of the equation. Like punk rock, Steampunk (or cyberpunk or any other literary punk) has an anti-authoritarian streak.

The aesthetic and attitude of Steampunk appeal to many people--so much so that an entire subculture has grown up around the genre. Afficiandos design Steampunk clothes, toys, art, role playing games, and machines. A museum in Oxford even dedicated an exhibit to Steampunk art:



Steampunk is making inroads in the YA/MG world—thanks to Scott Westerfeld. If you haven’t read LEVIATHAN yet, go do it now. It’s a rousing adventure set in an alternate 1914 Europe. Here, instead of me telling you about it, check out this trailer:



Isn't that one of the best book trailers ever?

If you read Westerfeld’s blog, you’ll see how his readers have embraced the DIY ethic of Steampunk. Fans submit their own art work, and Westerfeld features steam-powered mechanical creations on Walker Wednesday:



So, back to the question. Is Steampunk dystopian? Most of the time: no. But, it can be. At the end of THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE, we do get a glimpse of the present day world (at least the 1990’s) in this alternate time line. It’s depicted as a dystopia. Other Steampunk writers who extrapolate that past to the future may end up with a dystopia, too. However, most Steampunk—at least that I’ve read—focuses on the alternate past—the past as we wished it had been—and embraces the brash confidence and optimism of the Victorians. It was an age when Brittania ruled its empire, the Wild West was still wild, and technology and reason could solve anything. In a dystopia, the characters fight against the world—whether it’s an oppressive government or a post-apocalyptic landscape. In Steampunk, the characters (in general) revel in their world, using technology, ingenuity, a bit of whimsy, and attitude to conquer it. Sooner or later, though, the world may catch up to the Steampunks. (World War I, after all, crushed the Victorian / Edwardian optimism and faith in technology.) Or the Steampunks may just kick the world's a*s.

What kind of dystopia could you create out of a Steampunk past? Discuss.

Seems like I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah. You probably want a CLUE for the Scavenger Hunt, don't you? Hehe. Click here for today's clue.

When you figure out the title of the Secret Book, click here to enter the drawing for the whole series!

Hope and Endings

Have you guys seen the mega hype surrounding Justin Cronin's The Passage? Every review seems to be raving and since it's a post-apocalyptic vampire novel, though one written for adults, I thought I should check it out. I'm about halfway through it now (It's good so far! I'll post a little review as as soon as I'm done) and I got to thinking how what we're doing as YA authors is different from what Cronin is doing.

What's the difference between a post-apocalyptic vampire story written for adults and one written for teens?

Focusing on a teen voice is probably key, right? Violent and sexual content is likely toned down a bit.  (Of course, these days, maybe not so much)

But the thing that really got me thinking was endings.

See, I can envision a post-apocalyptic novel for adults that has a completely down ending, that says we're all screwed, we're all going to die and that's just life. Tough luck, buddy. The vampires win. I can see that as a valid, though gloomy, artistic statement.

I have a harder time imagining that in a novel for teens though. This made me wonder, when we're writing for teens, be it post-apocalyptic or otherwise, do we ultimately owe our readers a hopeful ending?  Personally,  I have a tendency to end things on a hopeful note but it seems strange to say that this is the only valid statement to make.

What do you guys think? Writing for teens, are there artistic statements that are best avoided? Can you think of YA novels that end on a completely down note?

Oh! And here's your scavenger hunt clue!  Good luck!

I've got a secret!

In the 1950s & '60s, one of the most popular game shows on TV was "I've Got a Secret."  Ordinary people would come on the show and try to stump a celebrity panel who tried to guess the person's secret. Aside from the moderator, Garry Moore and the host, the inimitable Steve Allen, and the cleverness of the panelists. I think this show owed its long-running success (1952-1967) to the facts that 1) people love to have secrets, and 2) people love to guess other people's secrets.

In dystopian novels, often the antagonist (be it person or government or whatever entity) has a secret they (or it) are trying to keep from the general populous. And, the protagonist suspects there is a secret (or knows there is one) and sets out to discover it or make it known to everyone. This is - of course - not only true in dystopia, but in many, many novels & genres, i.e. there's always a secret to be discovered. As many authors have stated "all novels are mysteries." (google that quote & there are a ton!) There is always something hidden that needs to be revealed.

So, along these lines, I got to thinking about those "Oh, Wow!" moments in novels and movies, that point where the secret (one you were, hopefully, not expecting) is revealed. My examples below are not all dystopia, or novels, but they were certainly "Oh, Wow!" moments for me...

1. "No, I am your father." (Darth Vader to Luke Skywalker) Were you expecting it? I know I wasn't! Neither did I expect Princess Leia to be Luke's sister!

2. "It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people." Detective Thorn's reveal in the movie, Soylent Green, based on Harry Harrison's novel, Make Room! Make Room!

3. When Anne drops Malcom's ring at the end of "The Sixth Sense." Well... I'd suspended enough disbelief and I was totally taken by surprise that Malcom was dead.

4. The reveal of the Statue of Liberty in Planet of the Apes, also based on a French novel of the same name. Totally surprised me that they were on earth!

5. And, the end of When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Masterful! Brilliant! And, I did not see it coming at all.

What are your favorite (and most shocking/startling) reveals?

And - continuing this month's Scavenger Hunt!!!  If you'd like your next clue, to reveal what is hidden... go HERE!  After you've figured out the title of the book, go HERE to enter!

Scavenger Hunt for Prizes Made of WIN!

It's that time again! The time to give you awesome new books!

I can't tell you which books you're going to be getting, but I will give you some hints:

• The prize is brand new copies of an entire series of books. Yup--you're getting the whole series.
• The books are well known dystopian works.
• Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to guess the title of the first book in the series.
• Everyone who correctly guesses the title gets entered into a drawing to win the whole series!

But we're not going to make you just blindly guess! Each day this week, a League member is going to post a link that will take you to a clue. You'll have to READ BETWEEN THE LINES to piece together what the clues add up to, and what the title of the book is.

Once you've figured out what the title is, go to this webpage and enter your guess. You can guess as many times are you want, but only correct guesses will be entered into the drawing. DO NOT POST GUESSES IN THE COMMENT SECTION!

You must enter a correct guess by Sunday, June 20th, at noon (EST) to be considered for the drawing.

And, as an added incentive...the Secret Book will be the Book of the Month selection for July--so, in addition to giving away the series, we're also going to feature this title all next month, and have roundtable discussions and chats!

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Oh, you want a CLUE for the Scavenger Hunt?

Click here for the first clue!

When you figure out the title of the Secret Book, click here to enter the drawing for the whole series!

Humans are Humans...Right?

This week, I blogged on YAHighway about creating a dystopian society. I wanted to expand a little, but I think you need a tiny bit of background in case you didn't read that post (gasp!).

Here's what I said about creating futures: Creating futures for young adults in a novel is a challenging task. I mean, no one knows what life will be like. And the future has to stem from something that does exist in this time, something that teens are familiar enough with that they can envision your future evolving from their present.

So with that in mind, how do we shape the characters that are living in that futuristic society? Will they feel the same things? Love? Abandonment? Will teens struggle with the same issues they do now?

That's what I'm going to explore a bit today.

I think the human need for love remains constant no matter what world you live in. Sure, the teens living in my brainwashed society may not have the same hopes and desires as the teens today (I mean, when someone else tells you want to wear and what to eat, your hopes are skewed a little), but they still crave acceptance. They still have to carve their own way in life. Those fundamentals don’t change too much. The road toward love, happiness and success might look different, but the desire to achieve those things is deeply rooted in humanness.

I believe that young adults like stories where they can see themselves. Their own struggles. Be that a coming-of-age story, or a battle with addictions, or a need to thrash their own path. In a dystopian society, these themes can still be explored. And, I believe, in a "safe" way, in a society that is clearly not real. I think those same things that we struggle with as humans now, should be present in humans then.

And that’s why all stories are born with believable, likeable, three-dimensional characters. Someone who could be us, living in a future we can imagine, fighting similar battles we've fought.

After all, humans are going to continue to be human.

Do you agree? Disagree? If so, what do you think humans will be like in the future?

Whither Utopia?

A couple of weeks ago, Julia mentioned a great bit of history about utopia—the opposite of dystopia. That got me thinking about fictional examples where an author has created an ideal world. They are harder to come by than dystopias. And often what you think is a utopia, turns out to be not so much. For instance, Scott Westerfeld’s UGLIES series starts out sounding utopian (well, sort of) but quickly turns out not to be. Ditto with Lois Lowry's THE GIVER. They're both false utopias. So, what about a genuine utopia in recent science fiction?

One of the best examples I can think of—at least that I’ve read in the past few years—is the alternate Earth in Robert Sawyer’s HOMINIDS series. (Sawyer, BTW, also wrote FLASH FORWARD, the novel the TV show is based on.) In the first book, present day scientists on our Earth stumble across a dimensional rift created by scientists of the parallel Earth. That Earth has no wars, no famines, no climate crisis. Age is revered, and religion is non-existent. Men and women are equal in all respects. And each adult has two partners—one male, one female. In this parallel universe, Neanderthals inherited the Earth. They became the predominant primate species on the planet.

Since there is not much dramatic tension in a perfect world, Sawyer plays our world against the utopian society of the Neanderthals. It does have its faults, and our world has its virtues, but the story comes from this juxtaposition. (Otherwise, a story set solely in utopia might be a little boring.) One of the Neanderthal scientists comes to our world—and falls in love. And what he brings back to his world from ours upsets the balance of his society.

What about other utopian fiction, though? Feminist utopias—like Joanna Russ’ FEMALE MAN and Marge Piercy’s WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF TIME—were popular in the 1970’s, but the science fiction genre as a whole hasn’t really favored utopian visions since then—with a few exceptions. Can you guys think of any recent utopian science fiction, particularly in the young adult / middle grade market?

If there aren't any, why not? Is it more than lack of dramatic tension? Do we just not believe in the possibilities of Utopia anymore (if we ever did)? Do we think all so-called perfect worlds are highly suspect? Discuss.

BTW, Robert Sawyer has written a YA series (WAKE, WATCH, and WONDER), although I don't think they're being marketed as such. I must confess, though, I haven't read them. Have any of you? Would you consider them utopian?

The Rapture for Nerds

Been thinking about the Singularity recently. If you aren't familiar with the concept, the idea revolves around a technological advance so profound that it transforms society into something that we, here on this side of the Singularity, would see as completely alien. Politics change. Personal relationships change. Relations between countries change. Our notion of humanity changes. Think of the changes wrought by the rise of farming, language, money etc, and you get an idea of the kind of technology-driven cultural shift we're talking about.

So what kind of changes could bring about the Singularity? There are a few common scenarios.

The AI Scenario - In short, this is Terminator/Matrix land. We create machines that are self-aware and smarter than we are and then they in turn create even smarter machines and even more advanced technologies. In both of the movie scenarios the result is catastrophic, but there's no need to assume that. Even if the machines were benign imagine how much society would change, how much we would change, if we were were no longer the smartest beings on the planet.

The IA Scenario - Short for Intelligence Amplification. We enhance human intelligence to super human levels through direct brain/computer interfaces, turning us all into human/computer hybrids. Ever read MT Anderson's Feed? (If you haven't, then get on it. It's awesome.) This is similar to what he's getting at. All of the stored knowledge and analytical and computational power of the internet hardwired right into everyone's brain. If this happens are we even human anymore?

The Bio Medical Scenario - What if we took a pill that made us immortal? Or removed our need to eat or drink or breathe? Or one that made us superhumanly intelligent without the need for computers?  What then?

In a way, the Singularity is alot like the apocalypse we talk about here so often, just without the negative connotation. It's not the literal end of the world but it's definitely the end of the world as we know it and can understand it. Maybe it's good. Maybe it's bad. Maybe it's neither. We don't know.

So how is this idea interesting to us as writers? If we can't conceive of or understand life after the singularity is it possible to depict a post-singularity world? Depict it realistically? Maybe not. After all, if you could realistically depict a world formed by a superhuman intelligence you would need to be super-humanly intelligent yourself, in which case you'd probably have better things to do than write YA novels.

Whether we can write realistic post-Singularity novels or not, I think the idea makes two interesting and useful demands of writers of speculative fiction:

First, it makes us take the consequences of the technological advancements used in Sci-Fi seriously. Think about Star Trek. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some Star Trek, but it doesn't really take its tech very seriously, does it? Here's a culture that has faster than light travel, teleportation, self aware super smart robots, holodecks and, occasionally, time travel, and yet somehow this is still a culture more or less like our own. Wouldn't Star Trek's idea of perfectly realistic physical holograms in the holodeck radically change how people live their lives and interact with others? Wouldn't the way teleportation erases the concept of distance change how we see ourselves and our relation to others in a similar way to how moving from horse-powered transport to jet planes did?  Wouldn't engaging these ideas make for a show that is more complex and more interesting?

If we want to create a post-Singularity novel we also have to consider what is irreducible in human nature. After this tidal wave of change what, if anything, will stay the same? I think the Singularity can lead us into thinking and writing about our essential nature and that's something great literature has always done and should do. Ultimately, thinking about the "post human" world may lead us to write work that is more human, more grounded in characters and relationships and how we interact with each other and our society.

I'd love to hear what you guys think of all of this. Is it something you'd like to write about? Could it work for teens?  Is the Singularity the next Vampires? Are there other developments that might bring about the Singularity?

Also, I know writers like Cory Doctorow, Vernor Vinge and Neal Stephenson sometimes work in this area but I'm no expert on the current literature of the Singularity so if you guys have book picks I'd love to hear them!