Why am I passionate about this?

I find joy in niches and steampunk is not cut from the ordinary cloth. I was originally challenged to produce a story that incorporated magic into steampunk. The resulting character, Kassandra Leyden who can speak to the dead, brought to life an alternate history where a deadly plague made the British Empire emigrate to the Americas and begin anew. The style and fashion of steampunk in modifying the ordinary appeals to the maker in me. I am an avid renfaire attendee and create and sell garb, which now includes steampunk elements. I hope you enjoy these choices and discover what steampunk has to offer as a genre. 


I wrote

Spirit Seeker: The Kassandra Leyden Adventures

By Jeff Young,

Book cover of Spirit Seeker: The Kassandra Leyden Adventures

What is my book about?

Kassandra Leyden was the daughter of extraordinary parents. Her father, a well-known adventurer until his wife vanished without a trace,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of Soulless

Jeff Young Why did I love this book?

When your soul affects how you deal with paranormal creatures such as vampires and werewolves that inhabit the world, the absence of one could be a benefit. Alexia Tarabotti is going to use that completely to her advantage. Delightfully detailed, humorous, and full of Victorian fashion and decorum, Soulless is merely the first installment in a series to explore.

By Gail Carriger,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Soulless as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Alexia Tarabotti is labouring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high…


Book cover of A Master of Djinn

Jeff Young Why did I love this book?

Fatma el-Sha’arawi of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities is on the case when a mysterious dark figure causes a mass murder. Could it truly be the same person who once brought the Djinn into the world or is there something more afoot? Full of wonderful characters in a fully developed world of Arabic Mythology and steam-powered glory set in an alternate Cairo. 

By P. Djèlí Clark,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked A Master of Djinn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Included in NPR’s Favorite Sci-Fi And Fantasy Books Of The Past Decade (2011-2021)
A Nebula Award Winner
A Ignyte Award Winner
A Compton Crook Award for Best New Novel Winner
A Locus First Novel Award Winner
A RUSA Reading List: Fantasy Winner
A Hugo Award Finalist
A World Fantasy Award Finalist
A NEIBA Book Award Finalist
A Mythopoeic Award Finalist
A Dragon Award Finalist
A Best of 2021 Pick in SFF for Amazon
A Best of 2021 Pick in SFF for Kobo

Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark goes full-length for the first time in his dazzling debut…


Book cover of Boneshaker

Jeff Young Why did I love this book?

Briar Wilkes will brave the warrens of a steampunk Seattle in order to find her runaway son. Twisting passages are full of the undead animated by a mysterious gas liberated by a drilling machine created by her deceased husband. But Seattle is a city that doesn't give up its secrets or those who venture within easily. 

By Cherie Priest,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Boneshaker as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At the start of the Civil War, a Russian mining company commissions a great machine to pave the way from Seattle to Alaska and speed up the gold rush that is beating a path to the frozen north. Inventor Leviticus Blue creates the machine, but on its first test run it malfunctions, decimating Seattle's banking district and uncovering a vein of Blight Gas that turns everyone who breathes it into the living dead. Sixteen years later Briar, Blue's widow, lives in the poor neighborhood outside the wall that's been built around the uninhabitable city. Life is tough with a ruined…


Book cover of Infernal Devices

Jeff Young Why did I love this book?

The subtitle to the work, “a Mad Victorian Fantasy” goes a long way to explaining the style of Infernal Devices which follows George Dower inheritor of his father’s clockwork business. Dower bumbles where his father was a genius but that doesn’t stop him from getting involved with time travelers, automaton doppelgangers, and fish people selkies. A romp full of purple prose from one of the progenitors of the term “steampunk.”

By K.W. Jeter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Infernal Devices as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The classic Steampunk novel from the creator of the term itself - thirty years ago this month.

When George Dower's father died, he left George his watchmaker's shop - and more. But George has little talent for watches and other infernal devices. When someone tries to steal an old device from the premises, George finds himself embroiled in a mystery of time travel, music and sexual intrigue.

File Under: Steampunk


Book cover of The Affinity Bridge

Jeff Young Why did I love this book?

The first in the Newbury and Hobbs series finds our intrepid pair of investigators trying to tie together an airship crash, a mysterious plague among the less fortunate of London, a spate of murders that leaves Scotland Yard clueless and the reappearing ghost of a police officer. A London on the verge of a technological leap forward provides a backdrop for a Holmesian investigation. There’s plenty more ahead in the series for those who enjoy this one. 

By George Mann,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Affinity Bridge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Get ready to follow dazzling young writer George Mann to a London unlike any you've ever seen and into an adventure you will never forget, in The Affinity Bridge.

Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by unfamiliar inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, while ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen, and journalists.

But beneath this shiny…


Explore my book 😀

Spirit Seeker: The Kassandra Leyden Adventures

By Jeff Young,

Book cover of Spirit Seeker: The Kassandra Leyden Adventures

What is my book about?

Kassandra Leyden was the daughter of extraordinary parents. Her father, a well-known adventurer until his wife vanished without a trace, now drinks his life away, while his daughter grows up. But the abilities that made her mother so valuable to the government of New Britain are the inheritance Kassandra never expected. Only a rare few can hear past the walls that separate the living from those who have passed on. Together with unlikely allies, Kassandra will defend both the living and the departed against exploiters of spirits, makers of killer automatons, megalomaniacal bomb builders, and more.

Book cover of Soulless
Book cover of A Master of Djinn
Book cover of Boneshaker

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,489

readers submitted
so far, will you?

You might also like...

Magical Disinformation

By Lachlan Page,

Book cover of Magical Disinformation

Ad
Lachlan Page Author Of Magical Disinformation

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I lived in Latin America for six years, working as a red cross volunteer, a volcano hiking guide, a teacher, and an extra in a Russian TV series (in Panama). Having travelled throughout the region and returning regularly, I’m endlessly fascinated by the culture, history, politics, languages, and geography. Parallel to this, I enjoy reading and writing about the world of international espionage. Combining the two, and based on my own experience, I wrote my novel, Magical Disinformation, a spy novel set in Colombia. While there is not a huge depth of spy novels set in Latin America, I’ve chosen five of my favourites spy books set in the region.

Lachlan's book list on spy books set in Latin America

What is my book about?

This book is a spy novel with a satirical edge which will take you on a heart-pumping journey through the streets, mountains, jungles, and beaches of Colombia. Our Man in Havana meets A Clear and Present Danger.

Magical Disinformation

By Lachlan Page,

What is this book about?

In the era of ‘fake news’ in the land of magical realism, fiction can be just as dangerous as the truth... Discover Lachlan Page’s Magical Disinformation: a spy novel with a satirical edge set amongst the Colombian peace process. Described by one reviewer as “Our Man in Havana meets A Clear and Present Danger.”

Oliver Jardine is a spy in Colombia, enamoured with local woman Veronica Velasco.

As the Colombian government signs a peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas, Her Majesty’s Government decides a transfer is in order to focus on more pertinent theatres of operation.

In a desperate attempt…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in steampunk, the Pacific Northwest, and murder?

Steampunk 102 books
Murder 1,077 books