I recently talked with my friend Alana about steampunk. Alana is an avid reader, and I always enjoy getting her recommendations and discussing our current reads. If you were here yesterday, you know I'm listening to the audiobook for Boneshaker by Cherie Priest.  Alana remarked that she knew about steampunk fashion but not about the fiction genre. I recommended that she read Soulless by Gail Carriger. I enjoyed Carriger's witty dialogue and her turn of a phrase.  Although my friend Alana is not a fan of vampire and werewolf books, I felt that the paranormal aspect was all very secondary to the interaction between the characters in a steampunk Victorian England.  I've inserted a trailer at the bottom that is fan-made. I've read that Carriger liked it and placed it on her website. She has a lot on her website, so I could not verify that. 

So, what is steampunk? It's an attitude mixed with lots of adventure and steam technology.  That is MY definition. And it really doesn't encompass all that steampunk can be.  I took a class on writing steampunk where I could prepare myself for the YA steampunk novel I have in my head. The class was taught by Suzanne Lazear and was very lively. My classmates already knew a lot about steampunk. Here is an old blog post by Suzanne on the definition of steampunk:  http://www.castlesandguns.com/2010/11/guest-blogger-suzanne-lazear.html 

If you want to know more about steampunk, I highly recommend that you visit one of these blogs:  http://ageofsteam.wordpress.com/writing-steampunk/  or  http://steampunk-links.blogspot.com/ .  Also, don't forget to watch the very short but entertaining trailer for Soulless.