Scifi and fantasy publisher Tor is celebrating the fledgling mainstream success of steampunk by dedicating a week to the genre at their website, with articles by popular bloggers and writers, as well as sweepstakes and contests.

They’re also offering a week-long deal on their steampunk titles for $2.99 on e-book formats, including Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (pictured), The Affinity Bridge by George Mann, and Mainspring by Jay Lake. I can recommend Boneshaker as a great read. Mad scientists! Zeppelins! Pirates! Zombies!

Or if Tor’s celebration just gets you in a steampunk kind of mood, two other great series are the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld and the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger. Westerfeld’s is a young adult alternate history of World War I where the opposing powers are “darwinists” who create living airships and “clankers” who build giant war machines; the first book is Leviathan and the third book in the trilogy just came out last month.

The first book in Carriger’s five-book series is Soulless, and the last book will be coming out in February. The story is set in an alternate Victorian London where werewolves and vampires are out in society and explained scientifically. No zombies or warships in this one, just a lot of tea and parasols and neat gadgets. You can also get the first three books as a bundle on Kindle!

Anyone else have steampunk recommendations of your own?

Image: Cherie Priest / Diana / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0