The SEA Is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia

Steampunk as a genre is best described by “p-words”: privileged, problematic, preposterous. Much of it is about sticking brass gears on a top hat and having rollicking anachronistic adventures that recapitulate and glorify the worst excesses of Victorian imperialism, when men had mustaches, women wore corsets, and the “lesser races” knew their place. It’s fantasy, not science fiction, and mostly set dressing to replace magic with Babbage engines, knights with engineers, and give everybody an excuse for a hot water show. I don’t like it much.

But I’m also interested in other visions of how the world could be, and The Sea is Ours asks authors from South East Asia to mash up their own culture and mythology with Steampunk set dressing. In this case it works, as a fantasy of much more successful resistance to colonialism, as a way to honor craftsmanship and natural spirits. I can’t say that any of the stories stuck out to me, but this is a richly textured collection that scores above its genre, and is exactly what it says on the tin.