Karen Memory - Elizabeth Bear

"Bear pumps fresh energy in the steampunk genre with a light touch on the gadgetry and a vivid sense of place . . . Karen and the ladies kick ass." —Library Journal (starred review)
Set in the late nineteenth century—when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen Memery ("like memory only spelt with an e") is a young woman on her own, making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable's high-quality bordello. Through Karen's eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, begging for sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyone's mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.
Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper yarn of the old west with a light touch in Karen's own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science.
"[A] rollicking, suspenseful, and sentimental steampunk novel . . . [Karen's] story is a timeless one: a woman doing what is needed to get by while dreaming and fighting for great things to come." —Publishers Weekly