What does a Victorian world look like? Science fiction and fantasy authors have created a rich variety, from Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate to Mark Hodder’s Burton & Swinburne series, just a couple random picks from that great range of steampunk offerings. Here is a glimpse of my own Victorian world, in A Thousand Perfect Things. On the other hand . . . not all is so calm. England’s men of science are so enthralled by logic and engineering that they condemn an alternati