Dieselpunk + Steampunk Culture
Ghosts Of Manhattan, steamy dieselpulp novel
This new one called "Ghosts of Manhattan" though labelled as steampunk, too, is actually more diesel than steam. the only steam thing being cars and weapons run by coals etc. But the overall setting is very much bleak and dark dieselpunkish.
In one or the other review the setting was often compared to Gotham City. I haven't read the book myself and regarding the reviews it seems like it isn't worth the time but I wanted at least present it here. I guess if I have some money left I will give this a try. maybe it's not that good but who knows, it could at least be short and light entertainement.
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quote from io9.com:
"Ghosts of Manhattan" introduces the Ghost, a millionaire-playboy ex-army pilot and engineer turned vigilante. He haunts the streets of an alternate 1920s Manhattan, in which all the cars are coal-powered, everyone has a holographic telephone, and apparently the whole place is run by mobsters. The worst of the mobsters, and enigmatic figure called the Roman, has been performing enigmatic murders which may or may not be connected to some inscrutable, enigmatic plan to destroy the city, and requires the kidnapping of the Ghost's girlfriend....
sample chapters can be read here. http://pyrsamples.blogspot.com/2010/04/ghosts-of-manhattan-by-georg...
Tags: Gotham, Novel, Pulp, Superhero
Views: 13
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tome Wilson on -
It's a good read. I recommend it, and it's rated pretty highly if you're into pulp-style adventure.
http://astore.amazon.com/dieselpunks-20/detail/1616141948
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Permalink Reply by Beauregard on -
oh, ok. Those reviews sound better. The ones I read at amazon.de and amazon.co.uk gave it only 2/5 and the people there seemd to generally being into that kind of novels. Anyway - I'm going (as usual) to build myself an opinion and spend the few bucks for it ;-)
Tome Wilson said:It's a good read. I recommend it, and it's rated pretty highly if you're into pulp-style adventure.
http://astore.amazon.com/dieselpunks-20/detail/1616141948
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Permalink Reply by Tome Wilson on
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There wasn't a lot of "smart" pulp back in the day, and this follows the trends from those early years.
But, if you can turn off your brain for a bit and get into the book, it's not as bad as everyone says.
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Permalink Reply by Beauregard on
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Tome Wilson said:But, if you can turn off your brain for a bit and get into the book, it's not as bad as everyone says.
Yes, I can do that quite good, haha. This short "review" of yours is everything I need to know to buy it ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Trubetskoy on -
To be honest, I did not like this book. My problem was that it ran into the classic problem of writing self-consciously retro material: you can ape the past, but you can't write now the way people wrote then. Violence that would've been acceptable in a pulp novel in 1920 seems horrifically cruel and sociopathic in 2010. Characters that were wooden then become stick figures nowadays. I like visiting the past for a laugh, but I want my tour guide to remember I'm not from that time.
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