Had a 3 1/2 day weekend. Man, those kill me! It’s like my Saturday/Sunday slothfulness starts taking over the rest of the week and I end up getting really behind.

I’ve been difficult to please lately with my reading. I’ve picked up a little bit of Steampunk — 2 YA/straight Steampunk and 1 Steampunk Romance, plus I’ve flipped through a couple of others with this marketing gimmick, so I’m by no means well-read in this area — but I have to say that the cross-over stuff isn’t doing it for me.

Repeat after me: Steampunk is not set dressing. It’s in the world-building. It’s intrinsic. It moves the story, the plot and the characters. If it’s used only as set dressing, then the book is a historical paranormal, NOT Steampunk.

I was talking it over with some friends at my last RWA chapter meeting and one is very firmly of the opinion that Steampunk Romance is a rapidly passing fad, rather than a cross-over genre with staying power.

I can’t tell yet. I CAN tell you that if the current crop of what passes for SPR is what’s on offer, then she’ll be right.

So where does that leave me? I’m not even working on mine right now. I’m trying to finish up either the Victorian historical (sorry, no Steampunk in that one) or the Gorgon para-rom-com. With my luck, by the time I actually finish the Steampunk, no one will touch it!

In any case, don’t forget that the Steampunk Workshop at Romance Divas is starting this week. I’m looking forward to some interesting discussions on what it takes for a story to be truly Steampunk.