I confess I hadn’t heard of the term steampunk until a week or so ago, and when I hear it I could only vaguely grasp what it was. I understood it was a genre of literature, but I didn’t realise it extended into film, music, fashion, art and design and other areas of culture. Apparently it is “a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. It could be described by the slogan “What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner.” It includes fiction with science fiction, fantasy or horror themes.” (Urban Dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=steampunk) … and includes Medieval Steampunk, Victorian Steampunk, Western Steampunk and Industrial/Modern Steampunk. It is a whole fashion and lifestyle choice for some people, and I think some of this has drifted into the mainstream including choosing or modifying by modifying modern appliances and gadgets to make them look old and out-of-date.
It sounds weird but strangely fascinating; I read Jules Verne and H.G. Wells as a child, I read Philip Pullman when I was an adult, and Mervyn Peake in between. I like the imaginative quality, the inventiveness, the impossible transposition of different technologies between different ages and cultures, the blurring of time, present past and future. I haven’t read any of the current novels, and wonder where to start… I’ll let you know, but I somehow don’t think I will be writing any of it… I think that might be a creative step too far for me!
Steampunk fashion news:
How steampunk works:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/steampunk.htm
Lois Elsden 