Genre Fiction - Hard to come by...

[cssmythe3]

One thing I did upon getting dragonmech was look for 'genre fiction' - and to my dismay my local bookstore didn't have a fantasy-post-apocolyptic-steam-powered-savior-of-civilization section.

Most 'steam-punk' stuff out there is too victorian-centric for my tastes. However, I stumbled across an author named China Miéville who comes as close to dragonmech as I have found.

The books are well written, but uses rather dense language (my wife is an English major, and a couple of times _she_ needed a dictionary!). No elves or dwarves, but lots of interesting races, and cool steam-punk ideas. For instance in "Bas Lag" (name of the world) steamborgs are the result of the PRISON SYSTEM. Instead of being executed for a crime, you can 'volunteer' to go under the knife for scientific experimentation. These 'borgs form a slave cast and are shunned by most of society.

Here's an amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/searc ... 50-8908823

PS Anyone else know of good dragon-mechy fiction?

[mythfish]

No, but if someone wants to publish a Dragonmech novel, I'd be happy to write one.

[goodmangames]

Interesting! I haven't heard of China Miéville. I just ordered Perdido Street Station. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Mr. Author]

I still recommend Visions of Escaflowne; you say in the book these things aren't "the advanced mecha of Japanese anime," but Escaflowne's large, lumbering Guymelefs have just as much maintenance concerns and piloting capability as the lumbering beasts depicted in Dragonmech, but in Dragonmech's terms, they're only Huge sized. The titular machine is perhaps the most limber of them all, and it still stomps around the battlefield using its forward momentum to even keep moving (it sort of falls forward while moving in a single direction).

Recommendation: watch the TV series. The movie, while incredibly epic, retells the story and depicts only two "guymelefs"; however, they're referred to as dragons (and they're biological for some reason).

[Reese]

maybe they're undead mechs using blood engines that attatch to the pilots?

hmm, yeah, the mechs in escaflowne are steam powered (more or less) though they get thier power from special crystals that form inside of dragons, so there's a fair bit of magic involved in thier opperation as well as the steam power

plus, the controls are a full body direct motion capture whereas DM mechs are operated by levers moved in tandem

still, very close, yes

[Mr. Author]

Urge to use black and white dragon clans and create mechs that use the hearts of lunar dragons as a steam power supply..... rising.......

[Vaya Enkashi]

Im a big fan of the dragonmech setting, and the similar locales an' stuff, and have been working a real long time on producing pictures and material centered around steampunk-ish theme stuff. At the forefront is a Novella Ive been tinkering with called the "Rogue Eighth Paralell"... should be readable sooner or later. Ive not posted jack to my website just yet, but when I DO, I'd appreciate feedback...

http://www.vaya-enkashi.deviantart.com
Im a D&D monkey... expect me to post such crazy things like core classes, prestige classes, weapons, steam powers, pictures of things, and all kinds of neat stuff for everyone.

[MagusRogue]

as do i

[MagusRogue]

in fact, i wouldn't mind writing a dragonmech novel either. I am, after all, a creative writing minor in college right now, just bout to finish up.

[spyderalien]

No, but if someone wants to publish a Dragonmech novel, I'd be happy to write one.

They should deffinently make a dragonmech novel

[goodmangames]

I just finished reading Perdido Street Station, by the above-mentioned China Mieville. Wow! It's an extremely interesting world rife with adventure... it would make a great setting for an RPG. I'm pretty sure the author must be familiar with D&D, too, because there are a few chapters where "freelance adventurers" enter the plot and their behavior and appearances seem straight out of D&D.

Now I'm going to pick up The Scar, which is set in the same world, and I think there's another Bas Lag book by Mieville, too. This is great reading... I highly recommend it. Thanks for the recommendation.