Dieselpunk + Steampunk Culture
Dieselpunk novels + my project
Hello fellow dieselheads,
Though I've always had ideas and a love for things that we would call dieselpunk, I didn't realize there was an entire community devoted to it, and when I learned about it a few years ago, I was instantly sucked into it.
I love the whole idea, the concepts, the clothing, the machinery, the adventurous themes and whatnot. And while I've seen a lot of dieselpunk art (and yet not enough), I haven't really heard or seen much dieselpunk novels out there. Does anyone have any dieselpunk novels that could recommend as a 'first'?
That being said, I'm right now I'm working towards writing my first full novel (whether or not it is to be published is another matter, but either way I'm making it available online), and it's the first novel I'm writing in my original setting. The story is about a bomber crew sent on a mission to assassinate a high-ranking officer in a top-secret mission, with air-pirates and secret weapons and all that jazz; it helps that the crew are a bunch of misfits, too, ranging from pranksters to borderline criminally insane.
So anyone got any recommendations.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lord_k on -
I can recommend an article from Dieselpunk Encyclopedia. It's only a brief review. At least two titles should be added - Pandora Driver (described as "ePulp" by the author, no other than our own John Picha) and Empire State by Adam Christopher (described by the publisher as "superhero-noir fantasy thriller").
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Permalink Reply by Dan G. on -
ALWAYS hungry for more Diesel Fired Sci-Fi /Pulp. Look forward to your contribution!
Besides a number of the older military themed Pulp classics I would venture to add a couple of newer series. =
The Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding and the short story collections published under the Crimson Skies banner. Both are darn good and seem to be right up your alley. (Mine too!!! LOL)
I would also throw in The Ghost series by George Mann. More very good Pulp adventures.
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Permalink Reply by Salim Farhat on -
Thank you for your recommendations. :) I'll grab those later.
Also if anyone wants a sort of 'back of the book' synopsis of my story, I'll be glad to give it.
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Permalink Reply by lord_k on
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Of course I want it. Go ahead, Salim!
Salim Farhat said:Also if anyone wants a sort of 'back of the book' synopsis of my story, I'll be glad to give it.
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Permalink Reply by Salim Farhat on
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OK, here goes.
"4 years into the deadliest conflict the world has ever known, a glimmer of hope of turning the tide in a single corner of the war emerges. For one brief moment, the leader of the Molsarian forces could expose himself to attack. It would take an extraordinary effort of the finest men in the entire Fierland Air Force to pull off this feat.
And much to the chagrin of the general staff, the only crew capable of this are also the biggest misfits in the air force, kept there only due to the desperation of war time needs and their uncanny ability to achieve their goals, no matter what."
At least that's how it would if I got in book form. I'll give a bigger explanation of the story. The world is 100% fantasy: Fantasy geography, races, nations, etc collided with Dieselpunk. I created it specifically to have a giant World War 2 scenario without having to deal with real world geography, history, and other aspects. Oh and it allows me to have fantasy races and even include a bit of magic and the supernatural.
Of course I limited magic greatly. In my world there was a massive event that occured in antiquity that resulted in magic being severely weakened. It exists in pockets where it does weird things (think of the Bermuda Triangle. In my world that would a magic hotspot), and people who 'use' it would be not be your typical wizards, but rather its that magic is a passive ability that just affects them and how they interact with the world, and it varies wildly between individuals.
To give a pair of examples, in my story there's the bombardier, Gordy, who is incredibly perceptive and is able to capable of hitting a target with massive accuracy almost every time. In training, he literally put a bomb through a pickle barrel at 30,000 feet with a faulty bombsight (if you've heard of the Norden bombsight, you'll get this one). Another character, Carlos the Radio/radar operator, can hear and see radio and television waves in his head, when using radio equipment, he can make them do things far beyond the capacity of any mundane individual. Also with a device he built, he can completely jam incoming radar.
That's just to spice it up and make it more fun for me to write. :)
The story is basically them having to go on a secret bombing mission with a new kind of fire bomb in an attempt to kill the Molsarian Head of Staff. They're supposed to be refueled by allied air pirates but another pirate gang gets the drop on them and tricks them, after getting captured, they escape, get back in the air, have to figure out a way to get their target with whatever fuel they have left, they get into more aerial trouble with the enemy, manage to kill their target despite their bombing being botched, and fly back home alone while being targeted by every single flak cannon and fighter in the theater.
The bomber is the HB-41 'Brazen Brawler' (based heavily on the B-41 bomber, which is an escort variant of the B-24 in RL), and its 14 man crew is a bunch of misfits, all of which joined the air force either because they given a choice by the courts or had to in order to escape from gangsters and the like in their home towns. They range from the juvenile delinquents to borderline criminally insane, but regardless of how much some of their superiors hate them, they do a damn good job and have on more than one occasion saved the lives of many of their fellow bomber crews.
So what do you think?
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Seibel on
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Sounds awsome! It's right up my alley , as I love me some fantasy & war stories..WH40K novels of Dan Abnett are a favorite of mine.
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Permalink Reply by lord_k on
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My kind of story, that's what I think. Thank you and good luck.
Salim Farhat said:OK, here goes.
So what do you think?
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Permalink Reply by Dan G. on
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Sounds GREAT!
I like the WWII that ain't OUR WWII. (close, but not quite = less historical nit-piks. LOL) Being a Mil-Sci-Fi junkie I would certainly like to see more Diesel works that focus on the Warfare rather than just more alternate mystery/ conspiracy novels.
"Magik" seems to have become pretty much a staple of Diesel these days. Fun and often interesting to see different authors takes on it.
Yeah, this sounds like a BLAST! Can't wait!
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Permalink Reply by BandNerd 51 on
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When dealing with alternate reality, I like to look at our current friends ,the Russians. The fantastic KAMOV counter-rotation helicoptors,The TU-95 Bear D bomber with thr giant Tumanski engined counter-roataion turbo props or even the Jules Verne like Vostok rocket. Could you imagine a B-36/TU-95 (BTU-3695?)
Also, there is an online publication called English Russia that you may find insperational.
have fun
bandnerd 51
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Permalink Reply by Salim Farhat on
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Well it isn't so much an alternate reality as it is a fantasy world, and yeah, that does sound like an interesting concept, I'll be sure to check it out. :)
BandNerd 51 said:When dealing with alternate reality, I like to look at our current friends ,the Russians. The fantastic KAMOV counter-rotation helicoptors,The TU-95 Bear D bomber with thr giant Tumanski engined counter-roataion turbo props or even the Jules Verne like Vostok rocket. Could you imagine a B-36/TU-95 (BTU-3695?)
Also, there is an online publication called English Russia that you may find insperational.
have fun
bandnerd 51
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Permalink Reply by Eldritch Engines on -
Don't know that I'd recommend it as a first, but I've got one being published in the next few months. :) Working on the second one, which coincidentally involves air pirates, too.
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Permalink Reply by Salim Farhat on
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Ha! I'll read it if you read mine... why does that sound so dirty! :p
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