Story Bundle: Fantasy Steampunk

The Fantasy Steampunk Bundle – Curated by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

I had a great time assembling this bundle. The inspiration was my own book for the bundle, The Reflection on Mount Vitaki, a standalone book in my Fey universe.

Regular Fey readers were shocked: they expected traditional fantasy, and they got something with steampunk elements. I’d been planning that little surprise for nearly 20 years and finally got a chance to write it.

Mount Vitaki got me thinking about other fantastic stories that feel like steampunk but might not follow the strict definition.

Here’s how I think of it:

The best steampunk gives us fantasy with an attitude and weird mechanical somethings or other. When we expect magic, we get machines. When we expect machines, we get magic. Sometimes we get both at the same time.

We called this Storybundle Fantasy Steampunk because most of the stories here are either steampunk, fantasy with steampunk elements, or fantasy that feels like steampunk.

The bundle includes three books exclusive to the bundle, all of them brand-new. The Victorians make a big appearance here, although we also have a story set in the Old West during the Victorian Era. A touch of H.G. Wells (the original steampunk writer) and some Orcs working in the Motor City, which, even though it’s set during Prohibition, feels steampunk to me.

The featured writers are all amazing, award-winning, and bestselling. For as little as $20, you’ll get books from Anthea Sharp, Robert Jeschonek, Leslie Claire Walker, Kari Kilgore, Brigid Collins, and Dean Wesley Smith. You’ll also get two anthologies filled with steampunky goodness.

Then we add our charity, Able Gamers.

— StoryBundle newsletter, feb 2023