A light review of the first book in the Jupiter Chronicles series by Leonardo Ramirez. The Secret o... Read More..
Our own Emilie P. Bush gives us her review of the new Poe film, the Raven. Read More..
New correspondent Dwayne DeBardelaben reviews the Kerlack Anthology Dreams of Steam II Read More..
Author and correspondent Emilie P. Bush gives us a sneak peek at The Mechanical Grave ! Read More..
Correspondent and author Beth Dolgner reviews Wrath of Fate by Abney Park frontman Cpt. Robert Brow... Read More..
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Senior correspondent Prof. Upsidasium reviews the latest from the Ministry of Peculiar Occurances, ... Read More..
New correspondent Delilah S. Dawson reviews the new Children's Book written by our own Emilie P. Bu... Read More..
Our good Professor returns to the writers chair and pens a review of the transmedia experience of t... Read More..
Chicago musician & DJ Mister M reviews the avant-guarde album from the Tiger Lillies, “Rime of the ... Read More..
Professor Upsidasium gives us a follow-up interview with Nick Harkaway, author of Angelmaker. Read More..
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Our music correspondent and columnist Liesel Hindmann reviews The Antikythera Mechanism by Strange ... Read More..
The good Professor Upsidasium returns to give us a review of the new paranormal romance "Wicked as ... Read More..
Correspondent and Chicago personality Mister M reviews Eliza Rickman's first full length album, "O,... Read More..
In our new feature, "From the Bookshelf Of...", Steampunk Chronicle editors and writers review book... Read More..
Mister M returns, this time with an insight into Ranchand Robbie and the Wasteland Rangers' "Off th... Read More..
Editrix de Mode, Wilhelmina Frame reviews No One, from British / German rock trio BB Black Dog and ... Read More..
Mark Rossmore of Escape the Clouds returns to review Eli August's latest EP Read More..
Lisel Hindmann is at it again, this time lending her ear to review the latest Beats Antique album, ... Read More..
Chicago DJ and new correspondent Lord Baron Joseph C.R.. Vourteque IV reviews Eli August & the Dave... Read More..
Editrix de Mode Wilhelmina Frame reviews the new album by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothi... Read More..
New correspondent and Chicago DJ Mr. M reviews the latest Two Man Gentlemen Band album, "Two at a T... Read More..
Veteran correspondent Professor Upsidasium gives us his take on John Carter, the Disney film based ... Read More..
Doctor Geof delivers all this and more in the somewhat erroneously titled The Steampunk Literary Re... Read More..
Contributor Mark Rossmore of Escape the Coulds gives us a look at Piracy & it's effect on the Indep... Read More..
New correspondent Kimberly Richardson reviews Birdeatsbaby's latest release "Feast of Hammers" Read More..
New contributor Mark Rossmore of Escape the Coulds gives us a look at Piracy & it's effect on the I... Read More..
M. Gabriel Colbaugh sits with the cast & crew of the League of S.T.E.A.M. as they discuss the launc... Read More..
Doctor Q has tea with Brian Kesinger & they discuss the world of the Tea Girls in the Chronicle's c... Read More..
New contributor Mark Rossmore of Escape the Coulds fame gives us a look at Piracy and it's effects ... Read More..
New non-fiction correspondent Teodore Birchard shows us a look into the real life of James A. Garfi... Read More..
Professor Upsidasium gives us a review of the upcoming novel "Angelmaker" by Nick Harkaway. Read More..
Doctor Q, with the help of correspondent Catherine Barson, tackles GD Falksen's Blood in the Skies ... Read More..
Correspondent Lisel Hindmann reviews Freerunners , the dystopian horror novel from Joseph Chandler ... Read More..
Send a steamy Valentine's Day greeting to your sweetie courtesy of Steampunk Chronicle! Read More..
British steamrockers The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing in kerfuffle with EMI over album t... Read More..
Beth Dolger continues her look at the Parsol Protectorate series with the latest book, Heartless . Read More..
Press Release: The Extraordinary Contraptions Welcome New Drummer Read More..
Extraordinary Contraption Bassist Prof. Dimitri gives us his review of the new Ghostfire album! Read More..
New correspondent Beth Dolger gives us an overview of Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series. Read More..
Chronicle Media Correspondent Zora E. Sternbilt reviews the latest novel from Monica Marier. Read More..
Editrix de Mode, Wilhelmina Frame reviews Rayguns in Aspic: Steampunk Comedy Show. Read More..
Our music correspondent Liesel Hindmann covers two EP releases in the Hip Hop world and inspects it... Read More..
Correspondent Professor Upsidasium once again returns to Mark Hodder's alternate England in the lat... Read More..
Correspondent Professor Upsidasium is back on the case with a review of the diesel-powered short fi... Read More..
Editrix de Mode, Wilhelmina Frame interviews The Extraordinary Contraptions about their upcoming re... Read More..
Correspondent Professor Upsidasium both reviews Steampunk Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos: A Maker's Guid... Read More..
Correspondent Emilie P. Bush reviews and offers commentary on the latest installment of the new She... Read More..
New correspondent Allan Gilbreath reviews the latest album from the Peculiar Pretzlemen, the Innume... Read More..
Our musical correspondent Liesel Hindmann reviews the latest album from Escape the Clouds, Until th... Read More..
Doctor Q along with many of the Chronicle Editors and Correspondents present to you our picks for t... Read More..
Correspondent Prof. Dimitri von Stadberg of the Extraordinary Contraptions takes a moment away from... Read More..
Our media correspondent Zora Sternbilt reviews the steampunk comedic adventure, Across the Stonewin... Read More..
Correspondent Emilie P. Bush reviews the Scorsese adaption of the The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Read More..
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New correspondent Liesel Hindmann reviews Emerald Rose's Celtic-infused CD release, Verdant Read More..
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ROK Comics, Britain's dedicated mobile comics publisher, is pleased to announce the launch of a dig... Read More..
Mark Hodder's premiere novel takes time travel, known historical figures, unlikely alliances and su... Read More..
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Correspondent Emilie P. Bush reviews the new Quasi-Steampunk Installment of yet another Three Muske... Read More..
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Doctor Q returns to his Artist Spotlight Series with the works of product designer and illustrator ... Read More..
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Catherine Barson reviews GD Falksen's new novel, "Blood in the Skies" Read More..
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Zora E. Sternbilt reviews the new novella, Look Homeward, Clockwork Angel. Read More..
Doctor Q reviews the french steampunk album, Carnival Symposium . Read More..
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Doctor Q reviews Nathaniel Johnstone's recent EP The Heart Unwound and speaks with the artist as we... Read More..
Talloolah Love returns to the Chronicle to review the erotic anthology Innocent's Progress by Peter... Read More..
Correspondant Catherine Barson covers an upcoming Steampunk TV series in need of our support. Read More..
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Doctor Q reviews Tom Slatter's first solo album "Spinning the Compass" Read More..
Short review of short movie "The Anachronism" by Matthew Long Read More..
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Short review of the Bioshock Infinite trailers Read More..
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Ramon Leon del Mar reviews Kevin Eslinger's acclaimed short film, Nickel Children. Read More..
Doctor Q reviews the dark sounds of Mr. Eli August and his new LP, Let This House Burn Slowly. Read More..
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Doctor Q reviews Abney Park's latest release. Read More..
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As you can imagine, we got a lot requests to review books here at The Steampunk Chronicle. At any given time there are usually a dozen or so books spread out amongst our correspondents. Occasionally an editor gets a chance to pick up one of these books when there is no one available to review it. As editor of the Crafts and Mods section, we don't get a lot of books as you can imagine so the opportunity to review something was sort of a treat. As fate would have it its a children's book, a chapter book in fact. Despite being accused of a childlike sense of wonder from time to time, I would have to say this would not be my first choice for a book review by far. I had been chomping at the bit to review Dreams of Steam II by Kimberly Richardson but alas, my teaching duties as of late have kept the good professor quite busy. Which is quite fine, one of our fine correspondents did a quite adequate job of reviewing it in the last issue. So first and foremost, I discovered that I had a bit ignorant of exactly what a chapter book was. So like any good academic, I decided to research it. What I found was that chapter books were intended to be books consisting of short chapters of prose. The length of a chapter is supposedly designed for younger readers that might not have the patience to continue through a longer chapter. It also tends to use prose rather than pictures to tell the majority of its story. With that in mind, I dove into the book. Its worth noting that this is the first in an intended series of books called The Jupiter Chronicles. Despite the use of the word "chronicle" in its name, It has no relation to the Steampunk Chronicle itself. If I had to summarize, I would say that this story is a simplistic mashup of A Wrinkle In Time and A Princess of Mars. The heroes of the story are a brother sister pair, Callie and Ian, that have lost their father through mysterious circumstances. Callie is spunk and courageous and Ian is a tinkerer of sorts. They manage to stumble upon a telescope of their fathers which is able to turn into a spaceship and transport them to Jupiter. They in short order discover that they there father is actually a prince of the Royal Family of Jupiter and has been imprisoned by an Evil Martian Overlord. Through clever thinking, bravery, and a little help from a clockwork man called Stinky Frank, they are able to find their father, overthrow the Evil Martian Overlord and return home to reunite their loving mother and father. All in the span of 55 pages spread out of 14 chapters. Yes, as you might have guessed, it moves quite fast. But again, that is how its designed! A reader of 6-9 years old would find this quite fascinating and with that in mind, I think its of appropriate length and pacing. I especially liked the one page of science facts that served as occasionally served as intermissions between the chapters. They give the reader a bit of historical fact on some aspect of the story such as the inventor of the Telescope of the size of Jupiter and its number of moons. The writer, Leonardo Ramirez even manages to tip his hat to the Patron Scientist of Steampunk, Nikola Tesla long the way. The book does feel like it needs a slight bit of polish though. But that could easily be explained by the fact that the book is written to a substantially lower reading level than I am accustomed too. But don't let that deter you from picking this up for you kids. I actually find myself quite curious as to the sequel. The book has sparked my childlike sense of wonder again it seems.
All in all, its quite an entertaining little book and I encourage parents to pick it up for their kids once its released. As always, though, I recommend that you read whatever you are going to put in front of your kids to make sure it meets your approval.
You can get more information on the release schedule for this book at the authors blog located at http://leonardoverse.com
Vernard Martin, aka The Professor, is Crafts editor for the Steampunk Chronicle and co-Cogspinner for the SPC website. He spends his day time hours pondering the mysteries of the Aether at the Emory Center for Comprehensive Informatics. His night time hours are dedicated to the enlightenment of students at local universities.
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