I've seen it in the market place, gallery, etc -- what exactly does Steampunk consist of for art work?  I still find that genre confusing.

Hope some good explanations coming -- really trying to understand it

simplier to point you in the right direction.

watch the movies here - http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,13126.0.html considered to be Steampunk.

also if you read - always a good idea - you want books such as The Difference Engine, A Transatlantic Tunnel, HURRAH!

you'll get a better feel than us telling you.

oh. and whatever your told... putting on a pair of goggles with cogs glued to whatever your holding, is not steampunk.

Attached Link: Just Glue Some Gears on It and Call it Steampunk

The single most over used and IMO tedious, predictable and downright fucking awful sub genre ever.

The Difference Engine is a good book - not great, good - but the subsequent bandwagon jumping by all and sundry made the idea a collossal pain in the arse.

Not even Sturgeon's Law applies here because 99.999999999999999% of Steampunk is absolute, unmitigated shite. 

Waits for flames and doesn't care.

I get to BBQ sam for free!?!? where's me parrafin and flamethrower...

Thanks danidh, that was a hoot :))

Steampunk, in a nutshell, is a Victorian era mechanical thing. Normally over the top and steam powered ;). Think Wild Wild West (TV show, not movie) and some of their gadgets. It can also be considered a style of dress.

Laurie

Not the movie! well. not the story! the hardwares good......

Quote - Not the movie! well. not the story! the hardwares good......

LOL..true. The movie was dreadful ;).

Laurie

Quote - I get to BBQ sam for free!?!? where's me parrafin and flamethrower...

Paraffin ain't too flammable mate.  Better try petrol.

And... You ain't big enough.  And when you're big enough, you'll be too old.  ;) 

 Damn! I can't come up with any flames cuz I agree!

Wild Wild West- fun series. Difference Engine- pretty good book. "Steam Punk"- not my cup of Tea. But then-neither are the big eyed anime characters. But I will defend to the death others rights to like that stuff-well, not really. :-) Not sure if it's the most awful sub genre ever though.

Quote - The single most over used and IMO tedious, predictable and downright fucking awful sub genre ever.

The Difference Engine is a good book - not great, good - but the subsequent bandwagon jumping by all and sundry made the idea a collossal pain in the arse.

Not even Sturgeon's Law applies here because 99.999999999999999% of Steampunk is absolute, unmitigated shite. 

Waits for flames and doesn't care.

That was brilliant! Loved it. If it was in the Renderosity Gallery-I'd have to give it 20 Stars since 5 is no longer enough.

Quote - ...and for a chuckle.

 

I've always been told it's Victorian science fiction.

"A transatlantic tunnel" is steampunk? I think I have to read it again, it's been ages since I read it and I forgot completely what the story was about.

I think the stories of Jules Verne are also very steampunk.

Bopper.

yup.. see you have the idea in Transatlantic that the US failed to break away from the UK and the Victorian Empire survived, leading to powdered coal powered seaplanes, nuclear powered steam trains, difference engine computers, butane powered helicopters....

As with Eric, I will happily defend other people's right to like it, even though I consider them to be poor deluded fools with very poor taste and even less sense. ;)

There are/were some good ideas but the "stick gears on everything and make 'em steam powered" got very fucking old very fucking fast.

The genre is awful, but I do like what Lady LittleFox did with some of the fashion statements.

actually I don't think the genre is awful. you've got a lot of good work in there... the Time Machine, War of the Worlds, the Difference Engine, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the First Men in the Moon, etc.

problem is, the gems - eg Datamancer's Keyboards (god I love those), the 2002 Time Machine (I drool over that), etc are buried in the idea that steam (nope. electrics are permitted guys...!), gears everywhere, goggles (where the fuck did that come from?), rayguns (yeah! lets all copy WETA) and Airships (erm.....) are Steampunk.

the song is more pointed that most realise.. the idea that developed at first was, what if some mad inventor built "X" in a victorian setting. a good example (tho it predicted actually) was the Nautilus built by Captain Nemo... which wan'nt steam powered btw. it was Electrical...

Thanks for the list of movies.  A couple were on there that I wanted to see but never got a chance to, I'll have to look for those.  

That will explain it really well to me, best to experience first hand. 

Thanks for the explanation LaurieA, but I still want to see the movie now that it's on the list, LOL

Khai, I fully agree with you but - as you probably know by now - I love to push buttons, hence my signature.

Not too sure about Time Machine and War of the Worlds being Steampunk, though.  That's a big fat retcon if ever there was one.  Far as anyone knew, they were SF, straightforward.  Contemporary with their times, which was close to if not actually in the Victorian era.  By extension, any contemporary SF written now will be called Early 21st Century Techpunk.  See?  Silly, ain't it?

FWIW, I bought the Oddputer from the MP some time back, long before people started coming out with Steampunk plane/dog/cat/knickers/sex aids.  That's more like a "What if the PC had been invented in the 1950s", though.

Finally, a really good take on the genre is Luther Arkwright, which isn't set entirely in Victorian times.  Some is in the here and now and most of it happens in alternate universes. 

actually I'd argue that the Time Machine and WotW are, as well as the birth of Science Fiction in general, where the Victorian SF (steampunk) meme started as well.

the idea that we started to reverse engineered Martian tech is mentioned in WotW and you can't get more out there than the Time Machine.. specially the 2002 Brass, Glass and Wood beauty....

"By extension, any contemporary SF written now will be called Early 21st Century Techpunk.  See?  Silly, ain't it?"

well. you know there's Cyberpunk, Dieselpunk.....

It's an interesting point.  

BTW, The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter is a very good sequel to the Time Machine.  Worth a read and an intelligent continuation. 

Quote - Thanks danidh, that was a hoot :))

That was brilliant! Loved it. If it was in the Renderosity Gallery-I'd have to give it 20 Stars since 5 is no longer enough.

Quote - "
...and for a chuckle."

Glad you both enjoyed it.  smile  Dani

Gothic Lolita!!!

Steampunk:  Imagine if society and technology developed as it currently has, but maintaining the asthetics and mechanisms of the Victorian Era/Industrial revolution.  Steampunk style/asthetics may go all the way into 30's art-deco style.

So, cars, for example, have steam engines.  TVs still look like World Fair Prototypes and connect to the internet via copper pipes.  All hospitals look like Turn-of-the-century Asylums and all mental-patients have metal cages on their heads.

Some movies for your consideration:  "Brazil"  "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"  "Sucker Punch" 

"Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" = considered DieselPunk / Golden Age. (more the 1930/40/50's asthetic that one... I love it...)

Steampunk.

The site is owned by Sony and is a hulu style one it seems.

Ah, I see, so any era can have a "Punk" thrown on to be it's own genre.  I assumed that "Steampunk" covered all eras of old style as a catch-all.

What's the 70's?  Punk Punk?

well it all started in the 80's with Cyberpunk... from there you've got Steampunk, DieselPunk, ClockPunk, Splatterpunk (think movies like Saw, also known as torture porn)....

those at the "punks" I know of off hand...

edit

here we go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_derivatives there's a good list here...

personally I moved on from steam to Diesel.. more fun with the Indy movies, Skycaptian, the Shadow, the Mummies... etc....

Quote - Ah, I see, so any era can have a "Punk" thrown on to be it's own genre.  I assumed that "Steampunk" covered all eras of old style as a catch-all.

What's the 70's?  Punk Punk?

Nah.  Steampunk is pretty specific.  But then you've got things like the earlier FF games which were fantasy crossed with steampunk. 

As for the 70s, I don't think they have a punk.  Not niche enough.

Problem:  Some movies are just "Period", No?  Indy is a period piece.

I think where the "Punk" comes in is where the environment is arrested in some way, stalled in a certain place/time even though similar advancements to what we currently have are evident.

the Indy's are set between 1900 and 1950 so fall into the Dieselpunk era... as do the Shadow, the Rocketeer, the Mummies, Skycaptain... tho I tend to just use it as a quick label on my shelf...

I wouldn't call the shadow or rocketeer dieselpunk.  I know that the shadow's creation predates the invention of cyberpunk... it was a contemproary setting when it was created.  The rocketeer is closer in origin to cyberpunk, 1982, but was more of an homage to the age, which in a way sets it apart.

IMO for anything to be punk it has to be at least be done in cyberpunk or newer time. 

Quote -
I think where the "Punk" comes in is where the environment is arrested in some way, stalled in a certain place/time even though similar advancements to what we currently have are evident.

No, I don't think it being a piece set in a certain time qualifies it as punk.  There has to be something more, it needs to feel punk.  I could write a story set in 1930 and it wouldn't necessarily be any form of punk.

For example cyberpunk needs to be focused on things like high technology, the question of what is human, either by human augmentations or andriods, and often needs some sort of dystopic goings on, though this isn't always necessary.

Quote - I wouldn't call the shadow or rocketeer dieselpunk.  I know that the shadow's creation predates the invention of cyberpunk... it was a contemproary setting when it was created.  The rocketeer is closer in origin to cyberpunk, 1982, but was more of an homage to the age, which in a way sets it apart.

 

IMO for anything to be punk it has to be at least be done in cyberpunk or newer time. 

no no. not when it's made. when it's set. huge difference.

Think about the derivation of the term Steampunk.  It was merely a back formation from Cyberpunk, the specific niche of SF which Winterclaw described above.  Steampunk, therefore, shares similar scenarios but as if the computer revolution happened during Victorian times.  There also seems to be a certain quality to the characters which is common to both genres; for want of a better description, nobody is black and white, everyone seems to have an agenda and the heroes are often as bad as the villains.

So I still don't think The Time Machine qualifies, since it has nothing of the computer tech background.  It has the old favourite of the lone - possibly borderline insane - inventor creating some wonderful gadget or other.  Incidentally, that's exactly the setting for the Doctor Who movies, which separates them from the TV show.

For those who are of the list making and set creating inclination, I guess you could make some kind of diagram to show the overlaps between WOTW, TTM and Steampunk but although they share several broad themes and concepts they ain't cut from the same cloth.

Of course, the term has been so widely used and abused that it bears as much relationship to the real thing as Punk Rock nowadays does to the 1970s version.  Think of bands like Discharge, Dead Kennedys and Crass, then think of the middle class mall rats who call themselves punks now.  Avril Lavigne?  Oh dearie fucking me. 

What in War of the Worlds is Steampunk?  Just because the invasion takes place in Victorian England doesn't make it Steampunk.  The only ones with death rays were the Martians. 

We all liked it Dani!

Hi

I recently read Morlock Nights by K.W. Jeter.

In the forward it says that Jeter coined the term Steampunk in 1987, to discribe books he and James Blaylock were writing.

Morlock Nights published in 1979 is atributed with being the first true Steampunk novel.

The book is basicly a sequal to H.G. Wells the time machine.

Mike

You crack me up, Sam, but whatever you say: there's room for steam punk goodies in the MP.  I rather like Smay's stuff for Gosha.

No flame here, your're entitled to your op.  Still ...

Rªnce

@ Mike.  Oh well that completely knackers my theory then.  Arse.  

@ Rance.  I completely agree.  To each their own.

I really don't see the use for a steampunk lemon squeezer though.  Or a cyberpunk one for that matter.