Steampunk

Steampunk is a branch of science fiction that blends retro-futuristic technology with the look and feel of 19th-century steam-powered industry. Its stories usually take place in an alternate version of the Victorian era or the American frontier where steam engines never faded away, or in a fantasy world built around similar steam-based machinery. The genre imagines inventions as people from the 1800s might have dreamed them up—think steam cannons, airships, and mechanical computers like Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine—which sets it apart from Neo-Victorianism. It also draws heavily on the fashion, culture, architecture, and art of that period. Steampunk often mixes in elements from fantasy, horror, historical fiction, alternate history, or other speculative genres, making it a hybrid form. As speculative fiction, it can explore alternative futures or pasts while also tackling real-world social issues. The term “steampunk” first appeared in 1987, though it has since been applied retroactively to works from the 1950s and earlier. A notable offshoot is Japanese steampunk, found in manga and anime. Beyond fiction, steampunk describes artistic styles, clothing fashions, and subcultures that grew out of its aesthetic, along with Victorian-era fiction, art nouveau design, and mid-20th-century films. Artisans often modify everyday objects into pseudo-Victorian mechanical creations, and many visual and musical artists have been labeled steampunk. **History**

**Precursors**

Steampunk draws on the 19th-century scientific romances of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and Edward S. Ellis’s *The Steam Man of the Prairies*. Several important works appeared before the genre had a name. Mervyn Peake’s *Titus Alone* (1959) is often considered the first true steampunk novel, while others point to Michael Moorcock’s *The Warlord of the Air* (1971), which was heavily influenced by Peake. The film *Brazil* (1985) was an early cinematic influence, though it also foreshadows the steampunk offshoot dieselpunk. *The Adventures of Luther Arkwright*, a 1970s comic, followed Moorcock’s style of a traveler moving between timelines. In fine art, Remedios Varo’s paintings mix Victorian dress, fantasy, and techno-fantasy imagery. On television, *The Wild Wild West* (1965–69) was one of the first mainstream examples of the steampunk ethos, later inspiring a film. **Origin of the term**

Though many key works appeared in the 1960s and 1970s, the term “steampunk” was coined in the 1980s as a playful twist on “cyberpunk.” Science fiction author K. W. Jeter created it while looking for a label for works by Tim Powers (*The Anubis Gates*, 1983), James Blaylock (*Homunculus*, 1986), and himself (*Morlock Night*, 1979, and *Infernal Devices*, 1987). These novels were set in the 19th century (usually Victorian) and mimicked the conventions of Victorian speculative fiction like H. G. Wells’s *The Time Machine*. In a letter to *Locus* magazine, printed in April 1987, Jeter wrote: “Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like ‘steam-punks,’ perhaps....”

**Modern steampunk**

Jeter, Powers, and Blaylock didn’t give the term much thought at first, but their novels were the first to receive it. Earlier writers had already speculated on steam-based technology, alternative histories, or science-fiction fantasies set in the 1800s—for example, Keith Laumer’s *Worlds of the Imperium* (1962), Ronald W. Clark’s *Queen Victoria’s Bomb* (1967), and Michael Moorcock’s *Warlord of the Air* (1971). Harry Harrison’s *A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!* (1973) depicted an alternative 1973 Britain with atomic locomotives, coal-powered flying boats, ornate submarines, and Victorian dialogue. *The Adventures of Luther Arkwright* (mid-1970s) was an early steampunk comic, and in February 1980, Richard A. Lupoff and Steve Stiles began their 10-part comic strip *The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle and His Incredible Aether Flyer*.