"Boneshaker" is the first in a series of novels by Cherie Priest. It came out in 2009 and promptly won a bunch of awards and became a bestseller. The relatively short work postulates a Civil War-era Seattle where a horrific industrial accident has released a naturally-occuring toxic gas that renders the entire city uninhabitable. The gas also zombie-fies people it kills. In response, the city is walled off and left to decay. There's money to be made in looting the city (and other ways), so criminal societies develop within the walls using gas masks and sealed buildings to survive.

So yeah, zombie steampunk that rips off "Escape from New York"'s central "walled city" setting. It sounds like a tiresome combination of some of the most cliched hipster tropes around, but Cherie Priest's "Boneshaker" is actually one of the best books I've read in a while. It's tightly constructed, relentlessly paced, well written, mature and exciting. The steampunk trappings are believable, genuinely add to the atmosphere of the book and are integral to the story. The zombies are truly terrifying and the lead characters are continually placed in deviously constructed mortal danger. I recommend it highly.

Long story short, they're making a movie of the book:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118046797

I predict the film will either slide into development hell or be seriously diluted when it comes out. However, there is a slight chance it could be great: the source material tells a tight, linear story that would be easy to translate to the screen and cinema is ripe for a good steampunk tale. Anything could happen.

Well, as it was the novel already read like a brainless Hollywood blockbuster. It's perfect for them.

There's no chance this movie could be great unless they improved on the book, btw. One of the worst Hugo nominees in years, and that's saying something.

OK, I'm wrong about everything. Nice threadcrap.

It's what he does.

I've had Boneshaker in my to-read pile for a looonnng time. With Halloween coming up, it seems like a good time to give it a try.

Grow up. It's called a dissenting opinion.

If you enjoyed this terrible, cliche-ridden book and look forward to the thoroughly substandard movie that will no doubt be created from it, all the more power to you.

Yea. I never understood threadcrapping.

Let's all have a Boneshaker circle jerk!