Steampunk Horror

Verily… tis the night of Friday the 13^th… 

Nikola Tesla and the Horror from Mars

A long time before the invent of the steam beast and the gibus on Black Friday, the day the French King greedily wiped out the secretive Knights Templar from most of Europe. As he roasted on the flames of *heresy* before church and king, the grandmaster of the knights cursed his former benefactors and a legend was born. While not the only myth surrounding Friday the 13th - the myth of the Templars has endured and inspired mysticism still popular in steampunk today. On that note, let us talk of one of the greats of the genre...

Frankenstein

Marty Feldman - from the comical
Young Frankenstein. The eyes!

I can think of no greater example of horror steampunk that the legendary story of Frankenstein, one of the most famous of all time. First written by Mary Shelley on a dare (oh to belong to those writing clubs of old), the story of Frankenstein and his monster has endure through generations, paralleled only (perhaps) be Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde or the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Though not strictly steampunk, Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde certainly foreshadowed some of the popular themes that would emerge in steampunk’s future, as explored by League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

By aruarian-dancer - an beautiful example of the
amazing art you can find on Deviantart

One of the post powerful concepts driving the Frankenstein story is that it is not just about creating life, but creating a person. The title character Dr Frankenstein himself overlooks this detail himself. We start with the creation of Frankenstein’s monster (remember… Frankenstein himself is the inventor, not the guy with the bolt through his neck). Frankenstein’s maniacal desire is to create life, but in doing so neglects the greater question of what is life – an obsession both he and his creation will both have to pay for. This is what makes Frankenstein a true masterpiece that has endured over the years since ints creation. What at first repels us as monstrous soon demands our empathy as we watch the monster’s struggle. Like any child, the monster rebels against its “father” and his ideals to discover what life means for itself (himself?). It soon learns a hard lesson about the darker aspects of human nature as fear and prejudice drive the pitchfork-posse against him.

Steampunk Horror Artists - check out some of the great artists on Deviantart.

Black Beast - horror fiction by R.S. Guthrie

And its not hexed! (I think...) 

Though not steampunk I wanted to do a special mention in honor of the day. As of this day it appears this copy is free on amazon, though the author has promised a whopping 50% of sales revenue to a young man, Ben, who has autism and Down Syndrome, so you should definitely check it out.

Even if you're not into supernatural horror, Rob maintains an excellent website with interesting insights on writing - a good resource if you're an indie writer or just interested in the industry. 

See it here on Rob on writing.

on Amazon