Those of us familiar with Genre fiction such as Romance,
Sci-Fi, Fantasy, etc, we know our sub-genres, where things may be shelved, how
they might be tagged, and how they're "supposed" to look from one
genre to the next. Sometimes we might even label things too much. But in my
particular sub-sub-genre they're helpful. Because if a reader wants one thing
and they get another, I'll have an unhappy reader. So I'm here to talk briefly
about what makes what I write, Gaslight Fantasy, different from Steampunk.
First, my overbroad one-sentence explanation:
What's Steampunk? Very, very broadly, it's a blending
of 19th century (typically Victorian) steam-powered technology with Science
Fiction elements into a narrative. Steampunk is gadget and world-building driven.
Gaslight Fantasy? A blending of the same 19th century
aesthetics with Fantasy elements into the narrative.
Example: If my Victorian "ghost-busting" Guard in
the Strangely Beautiful saga were in a Steampunk novel, they'd be stopping
ghosts with Aether-Packs on their back, gadgets and devices galore. But my
Guard of spectral police use ancient powers pulled from Greek Mythology; holy
fire and the powers of the Muses, and follow a prophecy. We know those latter
tropes from Fantasy novels, not Science Fiction.
The world-building is no less intricate in either case.
Gaslight Fantasy novelists must create a viable magical / fantastical system,
Steampunk authors must do the same with their scientific devices and choices
about the world's technology. A lot of alternate history can be involved.
The term Steampunk derives loosely from the already
established "Cyberpunk" (Think artist H. R. Giger and The Matrix) and
highlights the steam-powered historical aesthetic rather than a
modern/futuristic one, the term Gaslight or Gaslamp Fantasy has origins in the
already established Gaslamp Romance. Gaslamp Romance focuses more on
atmosphere, characters and relationships rather than fantastical and/or
paranormal worlds and their tropes. My work falls quite squarely within both
fantasy and romance.
And yes, I write Gothic romance as strongly into my books as
anything, so I'm really a Gothic Fantasy Romance hybrid. The only thing you
can't really confuse my work with is Sci-Fi. I love Sci-Fi but I just default
to the fantastical, the Gothic and the paranormal. So yes, I'm difficult to
shelve. But it's being able to have tags, labels, identifiers like these so
that I can find my best audience and not alienate anyone along the way who
might be looking for an airship or complex gadgetry. I appreciate said things,
I just don't write them. I'm drawn to the sweeping and atmospheric, Gothic
leanings you can put onto Gaslight Fantasy. The magic and mystery inherent to
this genre is what keeps me coming back for more.
There's a great Wikipedia article on Gaslight Fantasy, by
the way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslight_fantasy
Hopefully this whets your appetite and interest, please
contact me if you've questions, I'm available on all social medias,
particularly Twitter: http://twitter.com/leannarenee and please check out all
my latest projects on my website http://leannareneehieber.com and on FB
http://facebook.com/lrhieber - I hope you'll check out the latest installment
in my Magic Most Foul saga, THE TWISTED TRAGEDY OF MISS NATALIE STEWART,
releasing this November, available for pre-order now!
Cheers!
Thanks for the awesome guest post, Leanna!
Today, I'm giving away a signed copy of Book 2 in the Strangely Beautiful series, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker. (You may remember my review of Book 1 of the Strangely Beautiful series and my gushy love post for Alexi.) Just leave a comment on this post by 12 midnight, and I'll let random.org do the rest!
4 comments:
Oh nice! I might just have to buy this book for myself!
Loved Darker Still! Can't wait to read the next one!
Great book!! Can't wait until the next one!!
The clothing alone is to die for!
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