Like a Wisp of Steam

“Like a Wisp of Steam”, edited by C. Tan and J. Blackmore, is a collection of five short stories which explore the as-yet widely untapped world of steampunk erotica. Following a trend started by Steamy Punk, “Like a Wisp of Steam” is the first of two volumes which pioneer a new sub-subgenre of speculative fiction.

The first story, “The Innocent’s Progress” by Peter Tupper, follows the stage-acting career of Miss Alwyx, as told through the eyes of her employer, Ricar. The actors of the playhouse perform erotic plays which symbolically reenact human sexual emotions. Alwyx is frustrated when she doesn’t get to the role she wanted and Ricar struggles inwardly with himself as he tries to convince Alwyx to play a different role. Aside from a bit of light S&M, this story wasn’t very steamy, in terms of both erotica and steampunk. Only slightly Victorian and not very mechanical at all, this story would better fit the broader term of Speculative Fiction.

The next story, “An Extempore Romance” by Jason Rubis, follows a couple of days in the life of an author by the name of Amelia as she visits a daguerrographer and plays with her chimera, a type of machine created to look and act human. With little plot, the three main scenes of this episode seem more like a snapshot of someone’s life than a self-contained story.

“Hysterical Friction” by Thomas S. Roche is the first story in the set I enjoyed completely. Playing on the fact that the first vibrators were used as a medical device to treat hysteria in women, this story is about Victoria Barker, a sexually-frustrated wife who is taken to the doctor by her husband. Following some teasing by an overtly sexual nurse, Victoria is then strapped down and “treated” by Dr Charles Frizmartin with a vibrating device. Being quite well-written and with a satisfying amount of erotic content, this is one of the best stories in the book.

Next we have “In the Flask” by Vanessa Vaughn, a homo-erotic work about two scientists working on an experiment which goes horribly awry. One can only guess what happens when Dr Aubrey, working on a solution intended to repress sexual urges, drops a flask of this solution after his assistant Nicholas adds the wrong mixture to it. Leaving nothing to be wanted, this story will satisfy all readers of homo-erotica.

Finally we have “Steam and Iron, Musk and Flesh” by Kaysee Renee Robichaud, rounding out the collection with a bit of lesbian erotica. This was also the most steampunk of the stories presented. “Distracted” by her friend, Trista crashes an airship into her University. After being kicked out, Trista travels west and joins up with a traveling Wild West Show as a steam-engineer. As she grows close to Maggie, the show’s sharpshooter, Trista gets caught up in a plot by a group of criminals to rob a bank using the Wild West Show’s own steam-powered cogwork man. The most well-written of the set, this story balances perfect amounts of steampunk, eroticism, and adventure.

After being disappointed by the first couple of stories, “Like a Wisp of Steam” began to pick up momentum mid-way through, ending with a strong finish. Readers of erotic fiction will find that the later stories more than make up for the first couple, though the average reader of steampunk may be disappointed by the overall lack of steampunk content, especially in the first half of the book. Available online in an electronic format through Fictionwise, Amazon, and the book’s publisher, Circlet Press, the affordability of this work makes it worth the download. Hopefully, the trend of each story being better than the last will continue into the next book, “Like Clockwork,” due to be published later this summer. All in all, if you like erotica and love steampunk, and have been waiting for a combination of the two, this book will be for you.