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      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJun 25th 2010
     

    So I’ve never written any steampunk, and I’ve only read a little, but what I’ve read, I liked. So… let’s talk about steampunk! Anyone else like it? The last thing I read in steampunk (and, I’ll admit, the thing that made me like it so much) was Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan, which I picked up at the library on a whim and adored.

    If we need a more definite discussion topic, how about this: what do you feel are the defining characteristics of steampunk (and if anyone says “steam”, I’ll knife you)? Alternate history? Brass fittings? Mecha?

  1.  

    If we need a more definite discussion topic, how about this: what do you feel are the defining characteristics of steampunk (and if anyone says “steam”, I’ll knife you)? Alternate history? Brass fittings? Mecha?

    You need pipes with steam in them. Lots of pipes with steam in them.

    Aaaaand that’s pretty much it. You can dress it up with faux-Victorian aesthetics, but it’s the omnipresent steam power that makes it.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeJun 25th 2010
     

    If we need a more definite discussion topic, how about this: what do you feel are the defining characteristics of steampunk (and if anyone says “steam”, I’ll knife you)? Alternate history? Brass fittings? Mecha?

    When I think of steampunk I think Industrial Revolution time period, lots and lots of crazy airships. Mostly just a style of writing where you go wild with different crazy new tech that is almost always related with the sky. And of course, lots of steam tech. I’ve tried writing it a bit before, but nothing serious really. I got into steampunk after watching Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle.

    •  
      CommentAuthorarska
    • CommentTimeJun 25th 2010
     

    Watch SteamBoy. It’s the BOMB.

    I must say, steampunk is badassery. It’s my favorite :3

  2.  
    I personally am not a huge steam punk fan. I prefer diesel punk or good old violent fantasy with lots of heavy cavalry.

    However when I think of diesel punk I think of some kind of tech that we don't have yet that existed back then, like a short mech.
  3.  

    If we need a more definite discussion topic, how about this: what do you feel are the defining characteristics of steampunk (and if anyone says “steam”, I’ll knife you)? Alternate history? Brass fittings? Mecha?

    Victorian-era science fiction is not enough to make something steampunk, in my opinion. Such a definition ignores the other part of the name, the “punk.” A story about the glories of Victorian-era style imperialism, for example, will never be steampunk no matter how many goggles and airships are thrown on top of it. To me, steampunk is about rebellion, particularly against the commonly excepted views of technology: that it is a tool, that it exists purely to cheapen the cost of labor, that it must constantly be improved and made more efficient. Steampunk takes an entirely different stance. It looks at the aesthetic and artistic value of technology, challenging the assumption that machines only exist to streamline work. In addition, there is an anti-authoritarian factor involved. The exploitation of machinery goes hand-in-hand with the exploitation of people. Steampunk is sympathetic to the plight of those negatively affected by imperialism and industrialization, whether they be factory workers turned anarchists, indigenous peoples seeing their homelands raped for resources, or eccentric inventors whose contraptions are turned into tools of war.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJun 25th 2010
     

    So what’s the difference between steampunk and dieselpunk? Simply that dieselpunk is more advanced? If so, how would you classify Leviathan? (World War I with giant mecha, if you haven’t read it. Not sure what they use for fuel—kerosene, possibly?)

  4.  

    Victorian-era science fiction is not enough to make something steampunk, in my opinion. Such a definition ignores the other part of the name, the “punk.”

    See, I think that the name does it a disservice. What happened was that “cyberpunk” – computer-focused science fiction with punk ideals – became popular in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and William Gibson (who essentially founded the genre, by the way, with his book Neromancer, although cyberpunk elements are certainly present in the earlier 1980 story Cyberpunks, which lent the genre its name) co-wrote a cyberpunk story with steam-based technology (_The Difference Engine_). (In related news, BBCode is far, far superior to Textile.) As such settings became more popular, people called this steam-powered aesthetic “steampunk” in order to differentiate it from the computer-orientedness of cyberpunk, completely forgetting why “punk” was in the older genre’s name in the first place. What we’ve ended up with is a misnomer, entrenched by almost two decades’ worth of misapplication. Hence, steampunk fiction does not necessarily include punk elements. The strongly steampunk webcomic Girl Genius avoids this by referring to its setting as “Gaslamp Fantasy”, but it’s honestly too close to Magitek to really be applicable to the aesthetic in general – I don’t think that we’ll really see a good name for the aesthetic for some time, if ever.

  5.  
    @ Swenson, Hope this helps
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieselpunk#Dieselpunk
  6.  

    I haven’t read any bona fide steampunk, but I think that my current project is verging in that direction. Basically, it’s the intersection of magic and Industrial Revolution era technology. I kind of imagine the kingdom it’s set in as Victorian England, except it’s more like revolutionary France.

    But does anyone have any recommendations for really good steampunk? I would love to read some examples.

  7.  

    But does anyone have any recommendations for really good steampunk? I would love to read some examples.

    The Difference Engine

    Girl Genius (webcomic) (borderline)

    The Affinity Bridge (borderline)

    Larklight (borderline)

    Mortal Engines (actually dieselpunk, but with many steampunk elements)

    Some more which I’ve forgotten at the moment. :P

  8.  

    Boneshaker (though it’s set in Civil War-era America rather than Victorian England)

  9.  

    I think I’ve read Mortal Engines, but it was a long time ago. Wasn’t it about cities eating other cities?

  10.  

    I think I’ve read Mortal Engines, but it was a long time ago. Wasn’t it about cities eating other cities?

    Yeah. There were also three sequels.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSMARTALIENQT
    • CommentTimeJun 26th 2010 edited
     

    Love Larklight and Girl Genius. What are the other two about?

  11.  

    Love Larklight and Girl Genius. What are the other two about?

    The Difference Engine is basically a typical RISE UP AGAINST THE MAN cyberpunk story with Babbage-style clockwork computers instead of virtual reality and hacking. The Affinity Bridge is about mechanically-reanimated zombies (or something like that; it’s been a while since I last read it).

  12.  

    Yeah. There were also three sequels.

    Really? My library had only the first book so I had no idea. But I don’t even remember the first one, so I guess I have to start over.