Jeff VanderMeer tells Australia about Steampunk

Jeff VanderMeer, co-editor of Tachyon's new Steampunk, was interviewed by Ramona Koval yesterday on her program The Book Show on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National. The interview is available on-line at this link (VanderMeer's portion starts at about the middle of the program, following an interview with author Isabel Allende).

Koval says by way of introduction: "Thomas Pynchon, Jules Verne, or H.G. Wells as punk icons, or punk authors for that matter? It sounds bizarre, but steam punk enthusiasts have embraced their work as part of the genre. Steam punk is a subgenre of science fiction. It usually takes place in a Victorian setting, involving industrial inventions such as steam-powered engines. It's a writing subculture that, in the view of award winning fantasy writer Jeff VanderMeer, was once on the fantasy fringe but is now entering the mainstream."

Radio National is broadcast on 260 frequencies across Australia, and is the largest single network in the country.