Starred Steampunk PW Review--and Rennie Interview re NW

Publishers Weekly likes Steampunk:The VanderMeers (The New Weird) have assembled another outstanding theme anthology, this one featuring stories set in alternate Victorian eras. Michael Moorcock, the godfather of steampunk, is represented by an excerpt from his classic novel The Warlord of the Air. In “Lord Kelvin's Machine,” a fine tale from prolific steampunk author James P. Blaylock, mad scientists plot to throw the Earth into the path of a passing comet, declaring that “science will save us this time, gentlemen, if it doesn't kill us first.” Michael Chabon's vivid and moving “The Martian Agent, a Planetary Romance” recounts the lives of two young brothers in the aftermath of George Custer's mutiny against Queen Victoria, while historical fantasist Mary Gentle describes a classic struggle between safety and progress in “A Sun in the Attic.” This is a superb introduction to one of the most popular and inventive subgenres in science fiction. And Alistair Rennie is interviewed, including some talk of New Weird, whatever that is:People are enjoying it for different reasons. Reviews have been full of praise but differ widely in terms of where they give it. And there's wide-ranging opinion about the stories, which is exemplified by reactions to mine, as it happens. My story's taken a couple of slaps but also some praise. And then there's the reaction to the whole notion of the New Weird as a movement/subgenre, which seems to combine an aura of scepticism with a sheer desire for it to happen--or a sheer desire for it not to happen with a reluctant suspicion that maybe it is. There are all kinds of gradations of enthusiasm and denial. It's strange to think that there are sceptics casting aspersions on the validity of a subgenre that casts aspersions on itself. But it's weird, after all, so it all makes sense (in the relative sense of not making any).