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As for Carriger and Archer, I agree with one of the comments that they are not strictly steampunk but more alternate universe fantasy. However, I think the publishers tried very hard to market them as steampunk. The first Carriger books was cute but the rest were forgettable, and both writers seem to put a lot of tropes, as if they wanted to point out in capital letters ‘oh, look, I’m a steampunk book! Check out my umbrellas and widgets!’. Rather sad I got suckered in by their lovely covers. I tried reading all four of the Archer books, and my interest died out 3/5 of the way in.

Still, looking forward to more from Brook and Hobson!

I love The Iron Duke and all of Zoe Archer’s books – but my steampunk is a bit more… boring, I guess. I put the influence down to my spending so much time in Second Life, a virtual world where I hang out with a lot of steampunk people where magic isn’t really the norm.

Having said that, let me note that I have a steampunk romance out with Samhain Publishing!

(blatant plug)

Wild Cards and Iron Horses

Their love rides on a spring and a prayer…
During the recent Civil War, a soldier risked his life to save Jonathan Handleston—and lost. With the help of an advanced metal brace on his crippled hand, Jon now travels from one poker tournament to the next, determined to earn enough money to repay the man’s debt.

Prosperity Ridge is supposed to be the last stop on his quest, but his brace is broken and he needs an engineer to repair the delicate mechanisms. The only one available is Samantha Weatherly, a beautiful anomaly in a world ruled by men.

Sam is no fool. Jon is no different from any other gambler—except for his amazing prosthetic. Despite a demanding project to win a critical contract to develop an iron horse, she succumbs to the lure of working on the delicate mechanisms. And working with the handsome Englishman.

Like a spring being coiled, Samantha and Jon are inexorably drawn together. Sam begins to realize honor wears many faces, and she becomes the light at the end of Jon’s journey to redemption. The only monkey wrench is Victor, a rival gambler who will stop at nothing to make sure Jon misses the tournament. Even destroy Jon’s and Sam’s lives.

Available as an ebook from Amazon, B&N, etc. Coming out in paperback in July 2011!

http://store.samhainpublishing.com/wild-cards-iron-horses-p-6042.html

To define a very complex subgenre in a simple way that hardly does it justice, core elements of steampunk include:

* Steam power
* Alternate history settings (mostly Victorian/Edwardian era England)
* SF/Fantasy elements
* Devices that reflect the period but are ahead of their time (e.g., difference engines, airships, etc.)

Steampunk also involves lots of thought-provoking themes.

I’ve read many of the steampunk romances currently available, and am working my way through more of them. I can’t get enough.

Here’s a list of the steampunk romances (those based on science rather than magic) currently available to the best of my knowledge:

CLOCKWORK HEART (Dru Pagliassotti)
FULL STEAM AHEAD (Nathalie Gray)
MECHANICAL ROSE (Nathalie Gray)
WILD CARDS AND IRON HORSES (the only western steampunk romance I’ve come across so far)
HERE THERE BE MONSTERS (Meljean Brook, from the BURNING UP anthology)
THE IRON DUKE (Meljean Brook)
SKY RAT (Angelia Sparrow)
STEAMED (Katie MacAlister)
ISLAND OF ICARUS (Christine Danse)
THE MIRACULOUS LADY LAW (Robert Appleton; steampunk mystery w/ romantic elements)
SILK, STEELE AND STEAM (steampunk romance anthology from Samhain)
LIKE CLOCKWORK (Bonnie Dee)
TANGLED IN TIME (Pauline Baird Jones, part of her KEY series)
CLOCKWORKS AND CORSETS by Regina Riley

Having read SOULLESS, I consider it paranormal romance with steampunk elements. Gail Dayton’s NEW BLOOD, to me, read like alternate historical fantasy with steampunk elements.

In forthcoming steampunk romance news, DAW Books will release a steampunk romance anthology in 2011. Titled HOT AND STEAMY: TALES OF STEAMPUNK ROMANCE, it’s edited by Jean Rabe and contains stories by authors such as Tobias Buckell.

L&L Dreamspell has a call for submissions for a steampunk anthology and my sources tell me that one of them will be a steampunk romance. I also heard that one of the stories from their forthcoming erotic anthology will also be steampunk flavored. Here’s the link to the submission guidelines:

http://www.lldreamspell.com/DreamspellSteampunkVol1.htm

Some of my favorite non-romantic steampunks are:

THE AFFINITY BRIDGE and its sequel, THE OSIRIS RITUAL by George Mann (both contain very understated romantic elements that I’m hoping will develop more as the series continues. THE AFFINITY BRIDGE is also a great intro to steampunk if you’ve never read it before—lots of mystery, fun action-adventure, and a *great* heroine).
WHITECHAPEL GODS (S.M. Peters)
MAINSPRING (Jay Lake
THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN (Alan Moore)
THE NARROWS (Alexander Irvine)
MORTAL ENGINES (Philip Reeve)

Also, Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer have edited two steampunk anthologies, STEAMPUNK and STEAMPUNK II. I enjoyed the first one very much; the second is currently on my nightstand.

You can also read the immensely popular GIRL GENIUS online for free:

http://girlgeniusonline.com/

Also, Luc Besson’s Les Aventures Extraordinaires D’Adèle Blanc-Sec is a film with steampunk elements (see trailer here: http://www.thegalaxyexpress.net/2010/07/steampunk-is-in-air.html)

Hope that helps!

Carrie: There are many steampunk novels, but most would not fit the romance genre because of a lack of HEA.

I agree, there’s lots of steampunk books but few of them are romances. Definitely Meljean Brooke’s The Iron Duke is the one that comes to mind. The Blades of the Rose series are not steampunk in my opinion. For non romance I’d try Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker – great story. But bring on more steampunk romance!