This month saw the U.S. release of The Inexplicables, the latest in Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century series, out in the U.K. on Valentine’s Day 2013. High time we caught up with the Queen of Steampunk herself to ask a few whys and wherefores regarding her world. You can see the insights we gathered below. Cherie has also put together a wonderful collection of steampunk images for us here. If you haven’t seen it yet, it comes highly recommended. And now on to those questions....
1.) Why did you call your first Clockwork Century novel “Boneshaker”?
Because it’s a fun word. I saw it in passing, attached to a .gif of a friend of mine riding an old-fashioned bicycle—a “boneshaker” as they were called, for they were so hard on the rider. And I thought…man, if you didn’t know it was a bicycle, that word could reference all kinds of things! A weapon, a vehicle, a blend of coffee. And that’s when I realized what the name for Dr. Minnericht’s mining device ought to be. It was perfect! And even though the device itself barely appears in the book, everything that happens—to Briar or Zeke alike—happens because of it. So it only seemed right and fair to name my story after it.
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