| CthulhuPunk | 23 Apr 2007 3:08 p.m. PST |
Hi all.
I am hoping that some of you luverly gamers out there can recommend some Victorian Sci-Fi themed fiction; for flavour and inspiration.
I'll start with the obvious: War Of The Worlds by H.G.Wells.
Many thanks :) |
| willthepiper | 23 Apr 2007 3:31 p.m. PST |
Jules Verne, of course: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, et al. More of a children's story, but full of great visuals, is The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois (lots of examples of steam-based technology, although in this case the steam is geothermal rather than coal-fired). |
| willthepiper | 23 Apr 2007 3:32 p.m. PST |
Oh, and don't forget Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger! |
Hundvig  | 23 Apr 2007 3:36 p.m. PST |
Everything by George Griffith: link |
| TheMackster | 23 Apr 2007 3:45 p.m. PST |
The "Peshwar Lancers" by SM Stirling. |
| Ambassador | 23 Apr 2007 3:55 p.m. PST |
Wells' "The War in the Air" |
| Meiczyslaw | 23 Apr 2007 4:18 p.m. PST |
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| Lee Brilleaux | 23 Apr 2007 4:22 p.m. PST |
A thread from 2003 on this subject: TMP link I'd add K.W. Jeter's "Infernal Devices" (1980-ish) and Jame's P. Blaylock's "Homunculus" and "Lord Kelvin's Machine." More recent stuff I'd include is Philip Reeve's "Larkspur", his whole 'Mortal engines' series, and my own "The Strictest School in the World". |
| Ivan DBA | 23 Apr 2007 4:25 p.m. PST |
'The Difference Engine', I forget the author, its about a world where Babbage's non-electronic computer was built and worked wonders. |
| Henrix | 23 Apr 2007 4:32 p.m. PST |
Ivan, it's by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. |
| Black Cavalier | 23 Apr 2007 5:01 p.m. PST |
Try "The Martian War" by Gabriel Mesta (psuedonym for someone else I can't remember). The premise is that everything Wells wrote about was actual fact & he learned about it by working with a secret British governmental organization led by Thomas Huxley. Most of Wells' major stories are included in the plot. The mix of Wells' fictional characters with actual historical personages like Huxley & Percival Lowell (Lowell Observatory) is a neat twist. |
| Sumo Boy | 23 Apr 2007 8:25 p.m. PST |
"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" comics are very good. |
| Ironmammoth | 24 Apr 2007 12:59 a.m. PST |
I second The Peshawar Lancers by Sterling! |
| streetline | 24 Apr 2007 1:39 a.m. PST |
Nomad of the Time Streams (collection) by Moorcock. Not strictly VSF but would fit nicely. |
| bsrlee | 24 Apr 2007 2:13 a.m. PST |
The 'Lord Darcy' dectective stories by Randall Garrett – a not-quite Victorian world where magic works – you have an odd cross over where some things are accomplished by 'magic' and some by steam/conventional means. Peshawar Lancers |
| Thunderchicken | 24 Apr 2007 6:24 a.m. PST |
'Science Fiction by the Rivals of H G Wells' (Castle Books, edited by A K Russell). Great collection of 30+ stories reproduced from original illustrated magazines around the turn of the 19th century such as Last Stand of the Decapods, The Thames Valley Catastrophe and The Man Who Meddled with Eternity. If you can get your hands on it you'll love it. TC |
| The Gray Ghost | 24 Apr 2007 7:59 a.m. PST |
Larklight, a VSF set in space.
Adventures fighting off a invasion of hat wearing giant spiders. |
| The Gray Ghost | 24 Apr 2007 8:03 a.m. PST |
Vampire Plagues By Sebastion Rook.
3 volumes London, Paris and Mexico.
Battle a aztec blood god released from his prison. |
| The Game Crafter | 24 Apr 2007 8:51 p.m. PST |
"Into the Aether" By Richard Lupoff great stuff!! link |
| Mysterioso | 25 Apr 2007 9:16 a.m. PST |
Anno Dracula (Kim Newman) is a well done. Anti-Ice (Stephen Baxter) looks neat. (I have not read it yet.) War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches (Kevin Anderson, ed.) has some good stories. "Night of the Cooters" with Texans versus Martians is great. Dark Horse comics has done two stories that extrapolate a British Emipire that has taken left behind Martian technology. (I'll be ordering these soon.) |
| Gluteus Maximus | 26 Apr 2007 2:33 a.m. PST |
"The Strictest School in the World: Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken (Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones)" by Howard Whitehouse (Author), Bill Slavin (Illustrator) For older children, but a huge amount of fun for adults too! |
| Lee Brilleaux | 28 Apr 2007 5:15 p.m. PST |
For those interested in my book, "The Strictest School in Te World", here's the first chapter, with illustrations, from the Kids Can press website: PDF link |
Andy Skinner  | 28 Apr 2007 6:28 p.m. PST |
I'm reading Howard's book to my wife now. By the way, does the heroine's name rhyme with "magazine" or "combine"? thanks
andy |
| Mysterioso | 30 Apr 2007 7:20 a.m. PST |
The Death Collector by Justin Richards
Marketed as a YA book, I am finding I am really enjoying it. (Note: I am listening to it on Audio Book and the reader is pretty good.) |
| Lee Brilleaux | 01 May 2007 10:08 a.m. PST |
Emmaline is pronounced 'Emma-lyne' rather than 'Emma-leen'. At least, mine is. She's named after a cat we used to have. |
| CthulhuPunk | 02 May 2007 12:43 p.m. PST |
Manyt thanks for all these great suggestions. I've been offline with poota problems for the past week so it was a nice surprise to get back on here and see this fab list.
Now I have some reading to do… :[) |
