Carnal Machines - book by Cleis Press Inc. - review by Lady Dream Kitten

I am a long time steampunk. For those of you that don't know what steampunk is; in short it is victorian era science fiction, but is coming out in modern times. Good mainstream points of reference for steampunk are the TV show and the film Wild Wild West, the third Back To The Future film, Trigun, Tin Man, and even one of the new Panic! At The Disco videos is very steam. But the base of all of this would be Jules Verne and his classic writings.

Over the last few years, steampunk has become more and more mainstream. I have seen steampunk gear in Hot Topic and at the Spirit costume shops that pop up once a year. Hells, even Victoria's Secret did a comic book that is only of steampunk pin-ups, both real and drawn. So it was only a matter of time before there was an erotica that came out in this world.

Carnal Machines came out in 2011 to much fan fair. It is a collection of short erotic stories that are based in the steampunk world. There is fourteen stories that are in this collection. It's edited by D.L. King.

I wasn't expecting very much at all from Carnal Machines. Most modern steampunk books and writing is more than a bit lack luster lately. I was pleasantly surprised to find that ever one of the stories was very well written. There is a lot of depth to the characters and the writers actually bother to give them personalities and well thought out background stories. Ever singles story creates a rich world that is also very very sexy in it's technology.

A few of the writers even write just like the real Victorian erotica from back in the day. They spent the time to use the language that was a part of that time. And naturally, the sex is very very hot for the reader. It was a serious turn on for me.

Even if you aren't into steampunk or the neo-Victorian movement, Carnal Machines is one hell of a hot book for anyone with a love of science fiction.