Steam-Powered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories

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Steam-Powered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories (Steam-Powered #2)

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 26 ratings · 13 reviews

These fifteen thrilling and ingenious tales take the familiar genre of steampunk in exciting new directions, following women from across the globe and through pasts that never were (but could have been) on their search for money, adventure, prestige, freedom--and the love of another woman. Here you'll meet a Moroccan airship engineer and an English diplomat who receive a c...more

Paperback, First, 438 pages

Published October 26th 2011 by Torquere Press (first published September 2011)

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Nov 03, 2011 Oreotalpa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I received an eArc from Zen Cho ("The Terracotta Bride").

So...I like stories about women! I like stories about queer women! I'm ambivalent about steampunk, because I'm not so into Victorian England or colonialist nostalgia, both of which seem to abound.

Happily, this is an anthology about mostly working class queer woman, many of color, and not one story is set in Victorian England or drenched with the "romance" of colonization. Granted, I'm not sure all the stories are steampunk, which doesn't b...more

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Jan 20, 2012 Noelle Walsh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, short-story

It's very rare than I actually get the opportunity to read steam punk novels. The same goes for novels based in the LGBT world. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading this novel. It was worth reading! I always enjoy being exposed to new worlds through books and this was no exception to the enjoyment factor. I'd love to be exposed more to novels like this, whether the novel is full of short stories, like this one, or whether it's a single story told in novel form, like Knight...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Lindsey Thompson rated it 4 of 5 stars

I won a copy of this book from the giveaways on Goodreads. I wasn't sure at first what to think about winning it and I was skeptical about how good it would be because I sort of hate romance stories. However, I'm the type of person that if a book is stuck in front of my face, I'm going to give it a shot. Also, I thought, this book was supposed to be lesbian romance and, therefore, not likely to be typical romance.

I was VERY pleasantly surprised. While there are elements of romance (in varying de...more I won a copy of this book from the giveaways on Goodreads. I wasn't sure at first what to think about winning it and I was skeptical about how good it would be because I sort of hate romance stories. However, I'm the type of person that if a book is stuck in front of my face, I'm going to give it a shot. Also, I thought, this book was supposed to be lesbian romance and, therefore, not likely to be typical romance.

I was VERY pleasantly surprised. While there are elements of romance (in varying degrees) in the stories in this book, the romance is of much less importance than the lives of the women and their circumstances. The stories in this book are about courageous women who want to live and just so happen to be lesbian. The stories really get to know these women and how they feel about their lives and circumstances. The stories highlight different cultures and different areas of the world. The stories aren't even typical "steampunk" much like the essay at the end of the book points out- it's more like technologically inclined fantasy than run of the mill "steampunk". What you come back with is a medley of stories that show you strong, interesting women in every size, shape, age, ethnicity, and color in many different settings and places facing interesting (and entertaining or moving) situations.

Particularly, I found "Journey's End", "Dark Horse" and "In the Heart of Yellow Mountain" to be excellent adventure stories with interesting and motivating plots. "Selin That Has Grown in the Desert", "Fruit Jar Drinkin', Cheatin' Heart Blues" and "Deal" had rich scenery and feeling that really made the womens' worlds really come to life. "Not the Moon But the Stars" made use of thought provoking philosophical and spiritual imagery. The stories were entertaining, thought provoking and rich.

Even though there were a couple of stories in the book that I didn't like, I would recommend that anyone who likes reading about strong women, interesting settings, and adventures pick up this book and give it a try.(less)

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Jan 22, 2012 Lianne (The Towering Pile) Lavoie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-copy, currently-own, short-stories, steampunk, read-in-2012, lgbt

This review is copied from my book review blog, The Towering Pile. Original review: http://thetoweringpile.blogspot.com/2...

First off, let me just say that it is so amazing to read 400 pages of steampunk with no male main characters. That alone makes this book worth reading for anyone who's feeling a little under-represented in the genre. Similarly, the stories take place all over the world, not just in Victorian England, so there's a lot more cultural diversity than is typical. Yay!

As for the i...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Wolverina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books, on-kobo

An interesting anthology, if a little uneven. Some stories are five stars worth, others one or two. Some the effects of a changing steampunk society on lesbian relationship were explored, others the lesbian relationship seemed tokenistic, a chance to get a story in a more unusual book.

To be fair though, I did have a good friend "edit" the ebook so I could avoid the uncomfortable associations had with one of the writers in particular. While I would not have otherwise read the book, I can't guaran...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Crowinator rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Crowinator by: Shveta Thakrar

Shelves: short-stories, queer-characters, books-i-own-kindle, 2012-reads, steampunk-clockwork, historical, adult

Update 2/22/12: I finally finished all of the stories in this volume, so I'll update my review asap with my thoughts on the rest of them.

I haven’t read the first volume in this series of steampunk lesbian tales, but I intend to look for it as soon as I’ve finished this one so that I can compare. I plan on updating my review as I read the stories, rather than wait until I’ve finished the whole thing. As of December 31, I’ve read five out of 15 stories.

So far, the stories in this book are notable...more Update 2/22/12: I finally finished all of the stories in this volume, so I'll update my review asap with my thoughts on the rest of them.

I haven’t read the first volume in this series of steampunk lesbian tales, but I intend to look for it as soon as I’ve finished this one so that I can compare. I plan on updating my review as I read the stories, rather than wait until I’ve finished the whole thing. As of December 31, I’ve read five out of 15 stories.

So far, the stories in this book are notable for not being the kind of steampunk I expected (i.e., taking place in Victorian London and involving plucky English ladies or mad scientists, for example). The settings and people are extremely varied -- Persian, Moroccan, Malaysian, and so on – as are the steampunk elements, but the actual lesbian relationships are underplayed compared with the backdrop of the stories: war, politics, class, etc. Maybe because it’s necessary to do a certain amount of world building in alternate histories, but with a short story, there’s less room to do it coherently without sacrificing something else. My favorite stories right now balance the world-building details with character/relationship development.

I received the ebook version of this from Shveta Thakrar.

"Journey's End," by Elizabeth Porter Birdsall – I liked the idea of the sentient airships, the way they communicate and bond with their crew, and the way the story explores the meaning of death/dying rituals, including what would cause a person to volunteer to “go down with the ship”, to make that sacrifice. I couldn’t really emotionally invest in the character’s journey – the narrative felt too distant and the main character too melancholy – but I found it a thoughtful, well-paced story.

"Amphitrite," by S.L. Knapp – From women piloting sentient airships to submarines! I’m not sure how I feel about this story. Sirens/mermaids causing the men piloting submarines to wreck themselves is a fine idea, as is some countries therefore requiring women to pilot the submarines. But I don’t see why the sirens cannot affect women the same way they lure men if the woman in question is a lesbian; it stands to reason the siren’s voice should be able to manipulate her as well. It’s all about sexual desire, right? Maybe I just missed the point. Otherwise, the details of this alternate history (time period, place, political situation) just didn’t feel clear to me.

"In the Heart of Yellow Mountain," by Jaymee Goh – This was a Lara Croft-style adventure story, with two women who distrust each other ending up navigating a booby-trapped maze through a mountain in order to gain political influence with their country’s new ruler. I enjoyed the women’s back-and-forth relationship and like that it didn’t go exactly where I expected, and I liked how they used their various strengths to survive. The Asian-inspired setting was particularly well-done.

"Playing Chess in New Persepolis," by Sean Holland – I loved the whole idea behind this mechanized chess competition, whereby the participants build their own pieces to move across the board on command and destroy their opponent’s. It’s a cool mix of chess strategy and geeky scientific/robotic engineering. The parts of the story that concentrated on the chess stuff were excellent, but the romance between opponents felt rushed, like most of it happened off the page.

"A Thousand Mill Lofts Gray," by Jeannelle Ferreira – This was the first of the stories to really concentrate, and show, the romance, with a little of the sexy bits thrown in, so I really wanted to like it. Yet too much of the love story between a wealthy photojournalist and the poor seamstress happened off page. I had trouble keeping track of the order of events, because the narrative jumped time without any cues and rarely covered what happened in the interim. At least the ending was happy.

"Dark Horse," by A.M. Tuomala – So far, this was my favorite story, even though the ending lost me. (I have no idea what happened or what it means, and I will have to read the story again to see if it’s me being obtuse or the story being cryptic.) The romance is pretty hot and the plot, involving political intrigue from a mercenary standpoint, has a lot of action and drama. It’s a sort of Moroccan spy story and was the most fun to read.
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Dec 16, 2011 branewurms rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, queer-fic, short-fiction, sci-fi-fantasy, poc-characters, poc-authors, read-2011

ARC from Alex.

Finished! This was a solid collection, and in many ways seemed more professional than the previous installment, but overall it lacked some of the... idk, the exuberance of the previous and didn't fill me with the same level of squeeful feelings.

There were exceptions, of course - I loved Zen Cho's bittersweet vision of the afterlife with automatons in Terracotta Bride and Alex Dally MacFarlane's story of a young Turkish woman's dilemma as she realizes she has no interest in marriag...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Aleksandr Voinov marked it as to-read

Huge fan of Tuomala's, so very curious about this. Hope to pick it up once I have a moment's breath.

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Apr 23, 2013 Izilen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Some stories great, some stories not so great! Overall, yes good I would like more of this.

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Oct 26, 2011 Sonj marked it as to-read

Oh Hell Yes!

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Aug 27, 2012 Ercsi91 rated it 2 of 5 stars

I should say that I love steampunk cause well its sci-fi and its awesome.
Some stories which this book contained really had some descriptions which I loved, the details, the world how it is written was awesome. But the characters in many ways just couldn't catch me...don't know why...there was only one.
In the Playing Chess in New Persepolis by Sean Holland-probably cause I too love to play this game..and the character were very fit for the whole story and atmoshpere...

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Nov 15, 2012 Louise Walsh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

Great book, would recommend this book to others.

*Won on GoodReads First Reads*

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Oct 03, 2011 Mely rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance, science-fiction, fantasy, galley, to-blog, 2011-read, bechdelpass

ARC from Zen.

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Shelves: steam-punk

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About JoSelle Vanderhooft

A dramaturg and something of a lapsed playwright, Vanderhooft works as a freelance journalist, poet and fiction writer. Her work has appeared or will soon appear in print and online in such venues as Aofie’s Kiss, Byzarium, Cabinet des Fées, Jabberwocky, Not One of Us, MYTHIC, Mythic Delirium, Reflections Edge, Star*Line and several others.

To date, she has published seven poetry books: 10,000 Seve...more

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Books by JoSelle Vanderhooft

Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories

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Steam-Powered 2: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories (Steam-Powered #2)

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