The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk

by Sean Wallace

Dieselpunk is an aesthetic within steampunk that explores the decadence of the Roaring 20s, the excitement of the World's Fairs, and the dystopian struggle for survival of the World Wars. Dieselpunk keeps all the adventure and eccentric inventions of steampunk while blending a 20th century past with a fantastic future. In this new collection, Sean Wallace presents a new collection of exciting stories by established and upcoming steampunk authors.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Anthologies, Short Stories, Alternate History, Fiction

512 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2015

About the author

Sean A. Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an award-winning American science fiction and fantasy anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for his work on Prime Books and for co-editing two magazines, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Fantasy Magazine. He has been nominated a number of times by both the Hugo Awards and the World Fantasy Awards, won two Hugo Awards and one World Fantasy Award, and has served as a World Fantasy Award judge.

Reviews

[Bogdan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this for the story of the Romanian writer, Costi Gurgu, (with Toni Pi), Cosmobotica. Even if the story itself wasn`t something that blowed my mind away, I found it quite interesting to read. Especially because the romanian characters and for the, quite, absurd of the situation. You know there was a time when romanians really where in front of a lot of things but today we don`t get anymore on this train, for a lot of motives, that I will not discuss here, so this is indeed a good subject.
I guess you have to know a little romanian history to understand much more of the connections but still is a good read even if you don`t know anything about us. The story follows the efforts of a robotic romanian team to land in good condition on the Moon. But the mission has some unexpected complications.

There are 21 tales in this volume but I don`t know if I liked about a half of them. I observed that the long the story is the more boring it gets. There are five or six stories that I really enjoyed and I consider them to be real gems and the interesting thing about them is that two of them are with some crazy scientists that are trying to break some boundaries. Very good efforts.

Overall, I don`t regret at all that I bought and read this. Because it`s true that this isn`t so far from the usual Anthology that has a lot of misses and a few Hits…

For the record I liked a lot these stories:
Don Quixote – Carrie Vaughn
The Little Dog Ohory – Anatoly Belilovski
Instead of a Loving Heart – Jeremiah Tolbert – the mad scientist is at bay
Tunnel Visions – Rachel Nussbam
In a Lieu of aThank You – Gwynne Garfinkle - the second mad scientist take
Cosmobotica - Costi Gurgu & Toni Pi
Blood and Gold – Erin M. Hartshorn – a tremendous dark story about an evil and strange dragon
The Wings The Lungs The Engine The Heart – Laurie Tom – another lab man but this time it`s kind of a sane person….

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it hard to rate anthologies because there are so many different authors and writing styles. I suppose a good anthology carries an over-arching theme that ties all the stories together in some fashion - and in this case, this anthology did so. I just personally was not really drawn in to the subject matter and theme.

"Dieselpunk" can encompass a lot of different kinds of stories, and this anthology was mostly the gritty grease'n'gears of the World Wars, with some alternate history thrown in. Not bad, just not my personal preference. Honestly, I skimmed through a lot of the stories, because they started to feel a bit samey to me.

I would recommend this anthology to anyone who likes alternate history of WWI and WWII, or post-apocalyptic retro-futurism.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are nearly always a mixed bag. The first story in the book, "Rolling Steel: A Pre-Apocalyptic Love Story" by Jay Lake and Shannon Page, didn't really do much for me. It wasn't horrible, but it definitely wasn't great. Very meh. I recall thinking that this didn't bode well for the anthology. The next few stories were better, though. One, "The Little Dog Ohori" by Anatoly Belilovsky, was positively brilliant, and darn near made me cry. It's not my intention to go through story by story in this review. Suffice to say that there were high and low points. Some stories seemed like possible first chapters of novels. The term, "Dieselpunk", seems rather klunky to me. Basically, these types of stories have been around, but were usually called "Alternate History" if anyone needed a name for them. Some of Howard Waldrop's work, and Aaron Allston's excellent Doc Sidhe (Doc Savage crossed with fairies) novels spring immediately to mind. Perhaps what might work better is calling these "Historical SF"?

[Rachel-RN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dieselpunk: think steampunk, but set (mostly) in between WW1 and WW2 (and maybe more gritty/dark).

Like any anthologies some stories are better than others. Here are the ones I liked:

Don Quixote:

I actually got this anthology for this story (Carrie Vaughn) since I liked her Kitty series. This is completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) different. It was pretty dark. 3*

Steel Dragons of a Luminous Sky:

Takes place during WW2. This was dark, had treachery, and (spoiler alert) everyone.......dies. It was both interesting.....and depressing. 3*

Tunnelvision:

Easily my favorite. Lloyd, a miner, finds himself in an interesting situation. I wouldn't have minded more! 4*

[L. M. Ransom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories were good, some were okay, and some were very blah with no taste. I read this book primarily because I thought about writing a diesel punk story; while still entertaining that thought, I have yet to read any one story in this genre that really shines. I think this is one of those genres that there is so few work in that those who love it will read anything, just to have something to read.
If you like diesel punk, give it a try. If not, I'd probably spend my reading time on something else.

[Sebastianizer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk was definitely one of the most interesting books I have read. Dieselpunk is a genre that I have found a new liking in because of this book. It deals with everything from women’s rights to Nazi Robots, making it thought provoking and entertaining. I would highly recommend this even though I am not a big short story reader.

[Fantasy Literature]

3.5 stars from Marion: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall rating 3.75
.
This was a decent collection, though personally I wouldn't classify everything in it as Dieselpunk. It was interesting to get a mix of different stories, but like all anthologies, some are much better than others.
.
Individual ratings:
1. "Rolling Steel: A Pre-Apocalyptic Love Story" by Jay Lake and Shannon Page - 2/5
2. "Don Quixote" by Carrie Vaughn - 3/5
3. "The Little Dog Ohori" by Anatoly Belilovsky - 4/5
4. "Vast Wings Across Felonious Skies" by E. Catherine Tobler - 5/5
5. "Instead of a Loving Heart" by Jeremiah Tolbert - 3/5
6. "Steel Dragons of a Luminous Sky" by Brian Trent - 3.5/5
7. "Tunnel Vision" by Rachel Nussbaum - 5/5
8. "Thief of Hearts" by Trent Hergenrader - 4.5/5
9. "In Lieu of a Thank You" by Gwynne Garfinkle - 4/5
10. "This Evening's Performance" by Genevieve Valentine - 4/5
11. "Into the Sky" by Joseph Ng - 3.5/5
12. "The Double Blind" by A. C. Wise - 4/5
13. "Black Sunday" by Kim Lakin-Smith - 3/5
14. "We Never Sleep" by Nick Mamatas - 2/5
15. "Cosmobotica" by Costi Gurgu and Tony Pi - 3/5
16. "Act of Extermination" by Cirilo S. Lemos - 4/5
17. "Blood and Gold" by Erin M. Hartshorn - 5/5
18. "Floodgate" by Dan Rabarts - 4/5
19. "Dragonfire is Brighter than the Ten Thousand Stars" by Mark Robert Philps - 3.5/5
20. "Mountains of Green" by Catherine Schaff-Stump - 4.5/5
21. "The Wings The Lungs, The Engine The Heart" by Laurie Tom - 4.5/5

[Skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

For individual reviews, head to: https://earthandskye.org/the-mammoth-...

[C.C. Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

So 500 pages later, and I'd say it was a middling experience. Some stories are much more exciting than others. Some bear similarities in terms of style and tone while others differ themselves greatly and wouldn't be out of place in, say, a fantasy anthology.

I know there are arguments about exactly what Dieselpunk is, and I've read that some people just see this more as historical fiction as opposed to its own thing .

For every good story, there were a few that became a chore to get through. The criticism online is mostly valid, it seems, and I understand the readers' frustrations. Anthology books can be a tricky read at times, especially when the stories shift in pace. Some are overly long. At least one of later ones had the decency to have chapters and felt like the framework to a decent spy thriller

I'd love to recommend this more, and if you're devoted to the genre, there are probably stories in it you'd find enjoyable.

[Rhys Causon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personally I guess I prefer the Steampunk style over Dieselpunk because I found myself zoning in and out of these stories more than I thought I would.

Could be because I didn’t really enjoy a lot of the stories in this collection compared to other “Mammoth book of...” collections or assorted short story books I have.

I did enjoy the stories “Steel Dragons of a Luminous Sky” by Brian Trent and “Tunnel Vision” by Rachel Nussbaum but out of 21 stories only remembering the details of two, for me, isn’t a good thing.

[Erik Hallberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

❌️DNF

Denna novellsamling började starkt med några bra texter, men det dröjer inte länge innan det går utför...

Bra noveller varvas med essäliknande infodumpar, skivna på ett onödigt komplext sätt och med alldeles för långa meningar. När en mening blir 5-6 rader börjar man tappa vad den handlade om. Efter otaliga omläsningar utan att bli något smartare gav jag upp. Kul tanke men med ett fruktansvärt utförande.

Det enda som räddar den från ett sämre betyg är att den hade några bra noveller.

⚙️⚙️/5
Rekommenderas inte!

[Rowena Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this one because I was interested on seeing the difference between Dieselpunk and Steampunk, and I think after reading this collection that I prefer the latter. It's always difficult with anthologies to decide how to rate the collection over all, but while this was an interesting collection with no really terrible stories, it also wasn't outstanding. It was an enjoyable enough read, and if you want to dip your toes into Dieselpunk I would certainly recommend it.

[Matthew Hockey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think we can all agree that multi-author anthologies can be very mixed affairs. That being said this is probably the most consistent I have ever read. There is only one really awful story in the 21 on offer. However the remaining 20 are all uniformly ok. There's not really anything more to say about them.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the entire anthology a good turn of writing. Thankfully, no poetry.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very hit and miss.

[Timothy Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of stories.

[Unwisely · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so intrigued by the cover of book I checked it out twice. Like, two copies of the same book, on separate trips to the library. But I started reading it and remembered how often short story collections annoy me. I put it down for a while and read 1.5 other books, but finally finished it once the final library deadline loomed.

As usual in multi-author collections, it was a pretty mixed bag. A few stories I liked a lot, most were fine, I only gave up entirely on one story.

[Phu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of solid, but rather unspectacular dieselpunk short stories. Most short stories seems written for the sake of being dieselpunk, rather than with any goal in mind. With different settings and plots, the anthology's selection seems to emphasize the staleness of -punk novels, rather than their true potentials.

Don't get me wrong, the stories aren't bad. But on a whole I would say they lack vision.

[Lori Alden Holuta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven selection of stories. Some are good, others I just skimmed. Your mileage may vary.