Steamlust

Wright’s anthology of sizzling steampunk romance is a sensual, passionate, and humorous collection of alternate histories, fantastical worlds, and time travel romps. The heroines are strong-willed, intelligent, technologically savvy, and elegant in their fashionable corsets. Some are attracted to men who are half-machine, as in Sylvia Day’s “Iron Hard,” Christine d’Abo’s “The Undeciphered Heart,” and Nikki Magennis’s “Make Your Own Miracles.” Others are seduced by the wonders of flying airships and robots in Saskia Walker’s “Heart of the Daedalus” and Sacchi Green’s “Fog, Flight and Moonlight.” There are same-sex affairs aplenty; the best is Anya Richards’s powerful “Rescue My Heart.” Not content to titillate, these passionate vignettes will also satisfy steampunk fans intellectually with nuanced discussions of self-sufficient women and the roles that machines play in our lives. (Nov.)