The Essential Steampunk?

[Ahriman238]

I was having a conversation with my brother earlier and he said I'd ruined steampunk for him by introducing him to Girl Genius. He's incredibly picky about entertainment and I usually have to twist his arm for a couple weeks to get him to try anything new. Now he says anything else just wouldn't measure up, and we had a fairly interesting discussion about the genre/aesthetic, where it came from and what it means to us, and I realized I knew precious little else to show him there, so perhaps it's no great loss if he means to be stubborn about future Steampunk.

But discussing meaning and coming against my own limitations of knowledge made me think. What is the essential steampunk? What best captures the heart and soul of the genre, what would you recommend to someone who'd never experienced it before but was curious?


I'll start.

H.G Wells & Jules Verne- pretty much wrote what all other steampunk is imitation of.

Girl Genius- is just tons of fun, also free online which is a major plus.

And, that's pretty much my library dried up. Unless you count a web series called Amare or possibly the Ember books?

[Elheru Aran]

Part of the problem is that the genre is both a.) fairly new and b.) somewhat difficult to define.

I would definitely throw out The Difference Engine, though. William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.

Stephenson's Diamond Age is also steampunk-ish, although it's a very different take on it; definitely YMMV as to whether it constitutes steam or not.

[Vendetta]

H.G Wells & Jules Verne- pretty much wrote what all other steampunk is imitation of.

Not exactly.

The heart of the Steampunk genre was originally based around introducing specific modern concepts particularly computing and the grimy sensibilities of the cyberpunk genre into the steam age. Wells and Verne were just writing sf/f of their own era.

Which is why it's so hard to classify, most things sold as Steampunk are fantasy with polished brass knobs on (the Foglios even specifically deny that Girl Genius is steampunk, preferring to call it Gaslamp Fantasy instead).

If you see the word "steampunk" now you're more likely to just find straight Vernian sci-fi written a hundred years later than what Steampunk originally meant.

[Kingmaker]

As Vendetta said, "Steampunk"* is more than just Victorian retrofuturistic SF/F. It has a lot of the same attitudes as cyberpunk, though I'd argue it's less about computing technology and more about technology in general (especially industrialization). On the other hand, steampunk tends to be more optimistic than cyberpunk and the protagonists are a lot less likely to be alienated criminals.

(I think it was originally used to refer pretty much exclusively to stuff by Tim Powers, James Blaylock, and Kevin Jeter, though it's obviously moved beyond that).

--

Perdido Street Station (China Mieville) is commonly considered a shining example of steampunk, though it's a tad self-indulgent.

Iron Council, by the same guy and set in the same universe a centuryish later is as well, though it's extremely self-indulgent.

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers sometimes gets floated, though it's less techish.

72 Letters, by Ted Chiang, is one of the finest works of Steampunk I've ever read. It's short on steam, but it's Victoriana fantasy about industrialized Qabalah and has most of the thematic components.
--

Stephenson's Diamond Age is also steampunk-ish, although it's a very different take on it; definitely YMMV as to whether it constitutes steam or not.

Diamond Age is more anti-cyberpunk (or postcyberpunk if you prefer) than anything.


*I'm being a hipster about this. For the vast majority of people, Steampunk absolutely is Victorian retrofuturism.

[Elheru Aran]

Part of the problem is that steampunk is a new enough genre that everybody still has pretty much their own idea what constitutes it. Some people think it means pasting redundant gears on everything. Other people think it means everybody wears goggles. Silliness like that.

Then you've got folks who take it more seriously. Difference Engine is a good example-- apart from the 'engines' and a divergence into more 'modern' materials earlier on and such like plastics with a dose of working-class agitation, it's really not all that different from what the Victorian era really was like.

Essentially (this is *my* interpretation) steampunk is alt-hist where technology develops differently than it does here, with the resulting social and cultural implications being explored in the process. This means that good steampunk is hardly about the technology to start with. Rather than lavish descriptions of pistons and cylinders and brass-bound dials, or ridiculously adjectival claptrap like "Lady Edith Fotheringay-Pomertwit twiddled the oscilliating gear-divider upon the rim of her revolving tea-flask while her steam-monocle hissed and sphericulated", it's more about an actual plot to which the technological changes are background.

So as such, steampunk isn't so much a genre as it is an environment which can be accommodating to quite a few genres. Detective mystery stories, adventure stories, sci-fi, etcetera.

There's always got to be a monocle somewhere, though. And a top hat.

[xthetenth]

For one end of the genre, I'd have to float Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter, it's got a good smattering of the fantastic end of steampunk but explored by someone who's a bit of a fish out of water when he goes into the unusual. It's very atmospheric and portrays a great contrast between the feel of the Victorian society the protagonist is familiar with and the bizarre he gets thrown into.

[madd0ct0r]

ohh, and the Mortal Engines quartet - where giant motorised cities wander the planet, eating each other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Engines

[LadyTevar]

I suggest The Infinity Bridge by George Mann. It is the start of his "Newbury & Hobbes Investigation" series.

[K. A. Pital]

China Mieville, Bas-Lag cycle. Railsea is also very nice, it's just pure fun for me.

[Ultonius]

SM Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers, while mainly being a pastiche/homage to 19th century Imperial adventure fiction, does have some steampunk elements, in the form of huge mechanical Analytical Engines and airships.

[Elheru Aran]

Oh yeah, that reminds me. I wouldn't necessarily call it 'steampunk' as much as it is alt-hist, but Moorcock had some books that do have steampunkish elements. 'Warlord of the Air', for example, is an alt-hist of a British Empire with zepplins and all; it's the first book of a trilogy.

[Bedlam]

Although the Parasol protectorate novels are mostly about the werewolf vs vampire thing they also have some steampunk stuff in them a lot of the James bond style spy gadgets as well as the zeppelins particularly, it seems that the air ships actually travel through some sort of warp space although it doesn't seem to boost their speed all that much London to Edinburgh is still about 2 days.

[LadyTevar]

OF course, for movies there's the Classics "20000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Jouney to the Center of the Earth", etc.
But I think a really good SteamPunk movie is Will Smith's "Wild Wild West". Yeah, it's a solid B-movie, but the tech they use is seriously funny

[madd0ct0r]

Yup, loved it too, and it's one of a few cases I can think of where steampunk find it's second natural home with the american railroad period.

[Lord Insanity]

When I hear steampunk I think of the short lived TV series Legend, starring Richard Dean Anderson and John de Lancie. Back in 1995 when the network UPN first started up that was one of the handful of awesome single season shows that didn't catch on.

It's set in the "old west". RDA plays a writer by the name of Earnest Pratt who is constantly mistaken for his fictional character Nicodemus Legend. JdL plays a crazy inventor/professor (clearly based on Tesla) that invents a few gizmos and gets Earnest Pratt to actually take up the mantle of "Legend". Though he does it reluctantly and hilariously "wrong". It's one of those shows that has a good mix of action and comedy. It was steampunk before steampunk was cool.

It's on Youtube although clearly an original broadcast fuzzy VHS recording. It's not bad by old analog TV standards on a smaller screen but it will make your eyes bleed on a large HDTV. I really wish this would come to DVD already. It's still better than not watching it.