Subgenre Deep Dive: Steampunk (the start of a new guest column!)

Here is an excerpt from my new guest column on the  British Fantasy Society's website .

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Genre definitions and designations can be both helpful and somewhat harmful to writers. They help because they give us training wheels when writing and reading; we know what we like, it has this label, and we can find—or write—more of it. Despite these being marketing labels, genres can come with their own “rules” and guidelines. The problem, however, is when the “rules” get twisted and are used to gatekeep, ...