Steampunk Anyone?

Alternate historical fantasy with a post-modern point of view on a Victorian setting

Steampunk is both a genre and an aesthetic, based in 19th century adventure novels and early science fiction, ala H. Rider Haggard, Jules Verne, H.P. Lovecraft and H. G. Wells. The time period was one of great invention and enthusiasm, at least for Euro-centered cultures, and people thought ingenuity and science could solve all problems.

Add to that a postmodern worldview, and you have steampunk. The word was coined by author K. W. Jeter, who suggested it to describe writers of “gonzo-historical” “Victorian fantasies” of the early 1990s, including himself, Tim Powers and James Blalock. An earlier writer of proto-steampunk was Michael Moorcock from 1974.

Steampunk generally features airships powered by steam or æther, werewolves, vampires, zombies, mechanical people, magic, time travel, mystery, often set in Victorian London. A sub-genre is “weird wild west” set in places similar to the American west of the 1880s. Otherworld settings are also possible, with various alternate histories, as in Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

African-American writers have developed a sub-genre, SteamFunk, based on narratives of the slave experiences and other alternative histories, such as a Confederacy governed by former slaves.

Various genre conventions based on steampunk are held around the world, and steampunk cosplayers show up at nearly any science fiction convention. Simplicity patterns offer several steampunk costume designs for men and women: corsets, bustles, frock coats, top hats, and other pseudo-Victorian gear, and Halloween stores carry more costume accessories.

How does one go about writing such a story?

1. Research the adventure novels of the time...they are free on gutenberg.org and can be read online or downloaded to any ereader.

2. Research a particular place during that time, or make up a place where steam and similar 19th century technology exists, but electronics and gasoline engines do not. Similar stories set post WWI are called Diesel-punk, and tend to overlap with film noir detective type stories.

3. Choose an event, character (real or urban legend) and change a few details. Decide what else changes.

● Suppose that the American Revolution failed. Why would that have happened?

● Suppose that American slave revolts succeeded, as they did in Haiti? What effect would that have had?

● What if the Chinese had settled in the American Northwest and developed a colony there before the Spanish arrived?

● Where can real history be tweaked, or what other sort of world could be steampunked?

● Some themes explored by some writers are colonialism, as the British Empire was at its height during that time, man vs. machine, or man vs. eldritch horrors

● Archaeology began as a science, especially in Egypt as unrobbed graves of pharaohs were discovered. With a modern perspective, the Silk Road, Lawrence of Arabia, the Boxer Rebellion, and other historical events not set in Europe or America are full of ideas.

It is fascinating to read history with the idea of “What if”? I wanted to write about the mid-century America but not about the American Civil War (1860-1864) . As I was doing research for 20 Hours to Charles Town, with the idea that the American Revolution failed, I found more than a dozen battles that might have easily gone the other way.

I did promise a friend that none of the ones in South Carolina would be changed, especially not King’s Mountain or Cowpens, although those were turning points.

My North American map looked much different from the real one with the Native nations between the Appalachians and the Mississippi, Florida was Spanish, Texas and California recently seceded from Mexico, much of middle America was still French or Indian.

If you like historical fantasy adventures with goggles on, try a bit of steampunk.