Steamy Vocab

Do you know what I've known for a while in the back of my mind, but never really thought about until I was discussing it with my second-string beta?

Steampunk has its own vocabulary.

I was talking to my beta because she and I both want to write a steampunk novel (help!) and we were lamenting our lack of understanding of the technology. I mean, some steam-powered stuff, like the locomotive, is fine. But let's take a look real quick at the Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge. The Iron Thorn, although a fantasy novel about the fae based on the works of HP Lovecraft, is also a steampunk novel. Aoife, the main character, lives in a city where everything is powered by the incredible steam-and-aether fueled/producing Lovecraft Engine. In tIT, they have things like:

- jitneys

- chronometers

- aethervoxes

- difference engines

What are those? Subway trams, watches, old-fashioned radios, and computers. I was like, "Snaps. Steam-powered subways and computers? An aether-powered radio? I'm screwed." So, what does this teach us about steampunk and clockpunk works, children? To be very careful and pay strict attention to the rules of the universe. Remember, in steampunk, things are steam-powered. Keep that in mind as you write. For me, I think I'm gonna give the steampunk thing a shot. It'll just take longer than normal.

Now I wanna go read that book about rats and gargoyles. I can't remember what it's called. I read about it in an essay; it's a clockpunk thingie. Anywho, toodles.

- LA Knight

PS - Go read the Girl in the Steel Corset. It's book 1 of the Steampunk Chronicles. My husband finds that title morally offensive, for some reason, but whatever. I have it on hold at the library. =D