Ever since THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY was released, one of my favorite things is seeing how people (readers, reviewers, bloggers, etc.) classify the book to others. Popular early descriptors were that it was slightly dystopian or dystopia geared to a younger audience. This was enlightening and fascinating to me because, I must confess, I had never thought of the book as being at all dystopian.
To me, it was always steampunk.
Or steampunk fantasy.
Or steampunk fantasy where the Industrial Revolution meets the Age of Exploration. You know, if you want to be really specific.
But hearing those descriptions batted around got me thinking about the difference between steampunk and dystopia and where my book might fall on that spectrum. Merriam-Webster Online defines “dystopia” as “an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives.” That’s a pretty broad description. When applied to my own reading, I usually think of that dehumanization and fear as something that applies to the whole world of the story, which may be why some readers see my world of Solace as dystopian.
At the beginning of THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY, the reader is immediately introduced to Piper’s scrap-town existence, where people are reduced to scavenging in dangerous meteor fields for objects they can fix up and sell at the trade markets in order to piece together a living. It’s a harsh environment, and life is certainly cheap. But this isn’t a condition that pervades the entire world. There are cities that thrive and prosper—such as the sarnun city of Tevshal, sparkling with night eye flowers. Pockets of happiness exist despite an overall sense that world leaders are obsessively pursuing resources at the expense of the people.
That’s where the steampunk comes into play.
Solace is a world with limited land and limited resources, and its two major nations are dealing with the problem in different yet equally damaging ways. One king dreams of replacing his steam-powered trains with wondrous airships, manned by crews that can chart and claim undiscovered lands. Expansion and technological innovation are the keys—and no cost is too great. The other king dreams only of weapons, and of taking. And the people, especially Piper, Anna, and Gee, are caught in the middle and made to suffer.
We could probably debate terms forever, but in the end, whether THE MARK OF THE DRAGONFLY is middle grade steampunk, light dystopia, pure fantasy, or some combination of all three, my hope is that it’s foremost a rousing adventure story that kids and adults can lose themselves in.
If that isn’t enough, people are coming up with with even *more* sub-genre terms. Try Googling”Dieselpunk” for example. I’ve also seen the words “cyber-macabre” here or there.
It kind of reminds me of the 90’s in which the masses were brainstorming up these incredibly eclectic genre names for music. It could not just be “rock” or “pop,” it had to be instead: Sci-Fi Pop, Industrial Glam, Indo-Glam Pop-Rocks, (you get the idea).
I would say we are blessed with such a broad scope of literature that we can argue over minute classification. A similar phenomenon occurs in academics; it serves to create an in-crowd.
Anyway, the additional classification helps. I am not so familiar with Steam punk, so knowing it has dystopian elements interests me. However, I might be disappointed if I read the story and found it did not meet my expectations for the genre.