The following is a guest post by author Joshua Stanton, discussing one of my favorite subjects, alternate steampunk worlds or story types. Enjoy!

Traditional Steampunk

More often than not you will encounter traditional steampunk. Goggles, airships, mad scientists, crazy steam powered inventions. All set in good ol’ Victorian London, usually at the dawn of the industrial revolution.

This is, after all where steampunk started. The fathers of steampunk, K. W Jeter, Tim Powers and James P. Blaylock all feature Victorian London. So, no surprise that many books are also set there or at least in England.

There’s nothing wrong with this. Some of my favourite steampunk adventures are set on my shores, like Mark Hodder’s ‘Burton and Swinburne’ series, and Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris’ ‘The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences.’ And yet, when I look at my read and to read pile, most of my steampunk adventures are set here, and not anywhere or anytime else. Continue reading →