Horror in the Age of Steam

Horror in the Age of Steam PDF Author: Carroll Clayton Savant
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000349721
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 390

Get Book

Book Description
Change is terrifying, and rapid change, within a small amount of time, is destabilizing to any culture. England, under the tutelage of Queen Victoria, witnessed precipitous change the likes of which it had not encountered in generations. Wholesale swaths of the economy and the social structure underwent complete recalibration, through the hands of economic progress, industrial innovation, scientific discovery, and social cohesiveness. Faced with such change, Britons had to redefine the concept of work, belief, and even what it meant to be English. Victorians relied on many methods to attempt to release the steam from the anxieties incurred through change, and one of those methods was the horror story of everyday existence during an age of transition. This book is a study of how authors Elizabeth Gaskell, Emily Brontë, and Anne Brontë turned to horrifying representations of everyday reality to illustrate the psychological-traumatic terrors of an age of transition

Steampunk Cthulhu

Steampunk Cthulhu PDF Author: Brian M. Sammons
Publisher: Chaosium Fiction Series
ISBN: 9781568823942
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Get Book

Book Description
"We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." So said H.P. Lovecraft in the first chapter of his most famous story, "The Call of Cthulhu" (1926). This is also the perfect introduction to Steampunk Cthulhu, for within these stories mankind has indeed voyaged too far, and scientific innovations have opened terrifying vistas of reality, with insanity and worse as the only reward. The Steampunk genre has always incorporated elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror and alternative history, and certainly the Cthulhu Mythos has not been a stranger to Steampunk. But until now there has never been a Steampunk Cthulhu collection, so here are 18 tales unbound from the tethers of mere airships, goggles, clockwork, and tightly bound corsets; stories of horror, sci-fi, fantasy and alternative realities tainted with the Lovecraftian and the Cthulhu Mythos. Here you will discover Victorian Britain, the Wild West era United States, and many other varied locations filled with anachronistic and sometimes alien technology, airships, submersibles and Babbage engines. But the Victorian era here is not only one of innovation and exploration, but of destruction and dread.

Dead Iron

Dead Iron PDF Author: Devon Monk
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101516461
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Get Book

Book Description
Welcome to a new America that is built on blood, sweat, and gears... In steam age America, men, monsters, machines, and magic battle for the same scrap of earth and sky. In this chaos, bounty hunter Cedar Hunt rides, cursed by lycanthropy and carrying the guilt of his brother's death. Then he's offered hope that his brother may yet survive. All he has to do is find the Holder: a powerful device created by mad devisers-and now in the hands of an ancient Strange who was banished to walk this Earth. In a land shaped by magic, steam, and iron, where the only things a man can count on are his guns, gears, and grit, Cedar will have to depend on all three if he's going to save his brother and reclaim his soul once and for all...

A Brief History of the Age of Steam

A Brief History of the Age of Steam PDF Author: Thomas Crump
Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

Get Book

Book Description
In 1710 an obscure Devon ironmonger Thomas Newcomen invented a machine with a pump driven by coal, used to extract water from mines. Over the next two hundred years the steam engine would be at the heart of the industrial revolution that changed the fortunes of nations. Passionately written and insightful, A Brief History of the Age of Steam reveals not just the lives of the great inventors such as Watts, Stephenson and Brunel but also tells a narrative that reaches from the US to the expansion of China, India, and South America and shows how the steam engine changed the world.

The Palgrave Handbook of Steam Age Gothic

The Palgrave Handbook of Steam Age Gothic PDF Author: Clive Bloom
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030408663
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 867

Get Book

Book Description
By the early 1830s the old school of Gothic literature was exhausted. Late Romanticism, emphasising as it did the uncertainties of personality and imagination, gave it a new lease of life. Gothic—the literature of disturbance and uncertainty—now produced works that reflected domestic fears, sexual crimes, drug filled hallucinations, the terrible secrets of middle class marriage, imperial horror at alien invasion, occult demonism and the insanity of psychopaths. It was from the 1830s onwards that the old gothic castle gave way to the country house drawing room, the dungeon was displaced by the sewers of the city and the villains of early novels became the familiar figures of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dracula, Dorian Grey and Jack the Ripper. After the death of Prince Albert (1861), the Gothic became darker, more morbid, obsessed with demonic lovers, blood sucking ghouls, blood stained murderers and deranged doctors. Whilst the gothic architecture of the Houses of Parliament and the new Puginesque churches upheld a Victorian ideal of sobriety, Christianity and imperial destiny, Gothic literature filed these new spaces with a dread that spread like a plague to America, France, Germany and even Russia. From 1830 to 1914, the period covered by this volume, we saw the emergence of the greats of Gothic literature and the supernatural from Edgar Allan Poe to Emily Bronte, from Sheridan Le Fanu to Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson. Contributors also examine the fin-de-siècle dreamers of decadence such as Arthur Machen, M P Shiel and Vernon Lee and their obsession with the occult, folklore, spiritualism, revenants, ghostly apparitions and cosmic annihilation. This volume explores the period through the prism of architectural history, urban studies, feminism, 'hauntology' and much more. 'Horror', as Poe teaches us, 'is the soul of the plot'.

Cold Copper

Cold Copper PDF Author: Devon Monk
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0451418611
Category : Bounty hunters
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book

Book Description
In the Steampunk America of the 1800's, where strange creatures, machines and magic all aim to claim some scrap of land and sky, Ceder Hunt, a cursed bounty hunter who is also a werewolf, must fight to hold on to what is left of his humanity. Sent on a mission to track down all the pieces of a deadly weapon, he lands in a town where no one is safe from the mythical creatures who hunt there. A glorious mix of steampunk, sci-fi and Western.

The Steam Man

The Steam Man PDF Author: Joe R. Lansdale
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 1616559624
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 131

Get Book

Book Description
On the great plains of the old American west, enormous steam-powered robots march across the countryside. Their mission: to defend the populace against invading Martians and armies of killer albino apes! The Steam Man, a giant metal man operated by a team of monster hunters, seems to have the defense of the West well in hand, until a crazed and powerful vampire comes to town with the intention of bringing forth the apocalypse!

The Terrible Old Man

The Terrible Old Man PDF Author: H. P. Lovecraft
Publisher: Lindhardt og Ringhof
ISBN: 8726596865
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 8

Get Book

Book Description
He talks to bottles, collects strange stones and only "few know his real name". If the title of the short story is not enough, these facts about 'The Terrible Old Man' make it clear that he is not really approachable. But he is rumoured to have made a fortune while captaining East India Company clipper ships. Three robbers decide to ignore the unsettling aspects and head to his house to turn it over. Two of them go inside, with the third man waiting in the getaway car. Suddenly, the driver hears horrendous screaming coming from the house and the old man opens the gate, "smiling hideously". The getaway man goes to investigate and comes face-to-face with blood-soaked terror beyond his darkest nightmares. This short story is perfect for those already familiar with the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, or those simply looking for a quick scare. Howard Phillips (H.P.) Lovecraft (1890-1937) was an American author famed for his horror and fantasy fiction. Born in Rhode Island, he became a pioneer of ‘cosmic horror’, conjuring up the lore of supernatural creatures who exist beyond our understanding. His best-known stories include "The Call of Cthulhu", "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Colour Out of Space". While he was a mainstay of pulp magazines, Lovecraft never achieved wider literary recognition in his lifetime. But his posthumous influence has been profound. It can be found in everything from the fiction of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman to the HBO series "Lovecraft Country".

Book of Heroic Races

Book of Heroic Races PDF Author: Jon Brazer Enterprises
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781973881094
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 254

Get Book

Book Description
Heroes Assemble! From the seas below to the skies above, from the land to the stars, heroes are all around us, and they come in many different forms. Now you can go beyond the common races and play a member of these 12 imaginative races in your game. Delve into each race's culture and see the world from their unique point of view. Play a character that you have always dreamed of playing, with all-new specific character options tailored to each race's flavor. Expand your horizons and your gaming experience with these Advanced Races today! The Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium is the essential guide for playing untold numbers of characters. This 252-page supplement features: Racial Traits to play 12 different races, plus 60 Alternate Racial Traits and 49 Character Traits to customize your character for your desired unique play experience 125 New Character Class Options, including archetypes, sorcerer and bloodrager bloodlines, oracle mysteries and shaman spirits, cavalier orders, cleric domains and subdomains, rogue talents, alchemist discoveries, familiars and animal companions, time thief temporal talents, soulknife blade skills, and much more 93 New Feats, including martial arts styles, metamagic feats, combat feats, and feats to enhance your chosen racial traits 84 New Magic Items, Mundane Items, and Technological Items 61 New Spells and Psionic Powers 23 New Deities and Philosophies, reflecting the unique viewpoints and values of each race Details for crafting your unique adventurer, as well as suggestions for GMs on how to incorporate each of these races into your campaign world Be Heroic With These Advanced Races Today!

Dance of the Damned

Dance of the Damned PDF Author: Alan Bligh
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
ISBN: 9781589949706
Category : Bounty hunters
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book

Book Description
"A grim dance has begun... and for Miskatonic University librarian Daisy Walker, its song has awakened a long-forgotten nightmare. When a letter from an estranged friend arrives, Daisy must face her dark past to solve a terrifying mystery. But her fate will soon intertwine with that of Tony Morgan, a bounty hunter forced into a dangerous job by a secretive employer. As a growing cult seeks to awaken ancient powers and a shady corporation works to cover its twisted agenda, these two unlikely heroes must search for truth in the midst of eldritch horror."--Publisher's description.