Today, I am *super* excited to welcome the author of Innocent Darkness, Suzanne Lazear, to the blog as part of the awesome Innocent Darkness Blog Tour hosted by Mundie Moms.
For my stop on the blog tour, I asked Suzanne to tell me what she thought Steampunk's place in YA's future might be, and she came up with a great answer!!
Steampunk's place in YA's future
By Suzanne Lazear
Young Adult books push boundaries. That’s what many teens do, why shouldn’t some books do the same? When someone says “you can’t do that in YA”, much like a teen, it juts out its jaw, meets the challenger’s gaze defiantly, and mutters “watch me.”
Steampunk, by its very definition is respectfully defiant. Is roots in innovation (and rebellion), Steampunk, especially as a written genre, it is constantly changing, discovering, seeing if it is possible to go places no Steampunk has gone before.
That’s partially why all of these discussions on what Steampunk isn’t or shouldn’t be irk me. This seems adverse to the very ideals of Steampunk itself. Sure, like all genres, there are establishing parameters, but Steampunk, like YA, is a genre grounded in exploration. Perhaps we should focus more on what Steampunk is. After all, we do that in YA, focusing on all the great and wonderful things the genre is instead of nitpicking and compartmentalizing.
So much about the very nature of Steampunk (rebellion, identity, hope, innovation, adventure) lend itself quite naturally to young adult stories. YA steampunk writers aren’t afraid to stretch the limits, borrowing and mashing up genres until perhaps it’s not even steampunk anymore yet still has that spark and spirit that make steampunk such an attractive genre to writers. INNOCENT DARKNESS is “fairytale steampunk”, a mashup of faeries, fairytales, and steampunk. Jay Kristoff’s upcoming novel STORMDANCER is set in Japan, and SHADOW AND BONE, by Leigh Bardugo is what she coins “Tsarpunk.”
I foresee Steampunk and Steampunkian tales (or those with Steampunkatude) as becoming a mainstay of YA. Because both genres have similar guiding principles. Because in both genres, when someone says “you can’t do that”, we say “why not?”
Because YA and Steampunk is.
I think Suzanne absolutely nailed it with this one! I love steampunk for its adventurousness, its outlandishness, the imagination it takes to imagine the possibilities, and beyond "traditional" steampunk, authors like Suzanne are pushing the envelope even further. I LOVE IT!!
If you haven't checked out Innocent Darkness, yet, you can read my review here, you can check out Suzanne's blog here, and you can check out the list of all the other blog tour stops here! Once again, I just want to thank Mundie Moms for letting me participate in this awesome tour and I want to thank Suzanne for not only writing an awesome book, but also for taking the time to stop by my blog!!!
Yes. This.
ReplyDeleteI love that the the Steampunkatude can be woven into [dare I say it?] ANY other genre. I'm personally working on a novel which infuses a contemp fantasy with 'green' steampunk technology. Take that, naysayers! ;)