A Writer’s Guide to Steam Punk

Filed under Get Published.

steampunk-dalekI sent out a link to a blog post last week that suggested Steam Punk may be the next ‘big thing’ in publishing. I received a number of replies asking – “what is Steam Punk”?

So…

Steam Punk is a sub-genre of well…Science fiction/Fantasy/Speculative Fiction/Cyber Punk. The aspect of the story that sets it aside is the use of technology. Typically technology will play a key part in the narrative, though its use and application will be almost mythical. The name Steam Punk comes from the idea that steam could be used to provide power for machines beyond the technological ability of the period. Think steam powered computer! If you are looking for an archetypical story it would take place in an alternative universe (close to reality), probably in Victorian England.

The first real Steam Punk novels are often considered to be those of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, in which technology plays a part in a future society. It is often this technology that determines either the utopian or dystopian theme of the novel. In modern literature it is Gibson and Sterling’s 1990 novel The Difference Engine that is credited with defining the genre.

Here’s a list of books that will serve as an introduction into the world of Steam Punk:

  1. The Difference Engine by Gibson and Sterling
  2. His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman
  3. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

  4. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

More Steam Punk novels can be found here.

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  • http://nothingist.blogspot.com Bob

    ooh, I forgot about Perdido Steet Station. Great story. Also worth checking out, though not 100% steampunk is Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.

  • http://gregfreed.wordpress.com Greg Freed

    Steam would be ideal for discussing technology directly not only because of its previous use is books and movies but also because of the many ways in which it invades/pervade the environment, as opposed to electricity. With elec, you could hear an alternator buzzing or talk about the beauty/tracklines of power lines against the sky, but steam is always hissing out of tubes (insidiously or like a sing-song), clicking organically, burning or warming whatever is can touch, and fogging up/moistening a room. Because of it’s ability to interact openly with its environment and the opportunities presented to an author therein, steam is far superior at least to electricity. What other options are available, though, that haven’t been used very creatively by authors before us?

  • http://www.bonnieadamson.net Bonnie Adamson

    I’ve been obsessed with this topic lately, as my Twitter friends can tell you–trying to get a handle on it. The breakthrough came with mention of Jules Verne: I was a Jules Verne junkie as a child, maybe 12 years old. I’ve been collecting recommendations and looking forward to revisiting this genre.

    My take on its appeal: steam-powered gadgetry is simply more accessible. Gears, pulleys, pistons and other mechanical contrivances are easy to wrap your head around. You think you might be able to get inside and tinker successfully if something were to go wrong. There’s delight in building the machine yourself (often from found parts–every kid’s soap-box-derby dream) and the awe of setting it in motion. When the magic takes place on a molecular level, it’s certainly awe-inspiring, but a much more remote accomplishment.

    Great post–thanks!

  • http://mruttan.ca Jack Ruttan

    Please note comics and graphic novels are great for steampunk stories – lots of marvelous machinery to show off in pictures, and budgets are low. Online you can check out the Foglios’ “Girl Genius” stories, and also look at Alan Moore “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” (the books, not the movie!) But there’s also a lot of steampunk in Manga and anime, which I haven’t checked out as much. Though you might want to look at Nausicaa and the movie adaptation by Miyazki.

  • http://www.smallstories.co.uk Small Stories

    I was going to mention The Extraordinary league … But Jack got in there before me. I see steam punk as part of a wider ‘mashup genre’ where the name of the game is fusing different genres and having fun with history and locations and historical characters – another mashup could be horror and classics for example. These sort of playful genre mutations have been around for a while in fan fiction, etc.

    There’s often a play between retro and tech In this sort of thing … It’s an appealing paradox.

  • http://westpierwords.blogspot.com/ David O’Connor Thompson

    This sounds so much like a conversation with Michel Foucault, I wonder where the need to catorgrise, classify, compartmentalise, and pigeonhole all our efforts will end. I want, with the rest of today’s youth, to spray it up the wall and for someone to tell me where that came from.

  • Ross

    The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson is also well worth a read in this genre. It doesn’t appear on the Wikipedia list however, and I assume this is because it is possibly a bit skewed towards Sci-fi with the Victoriana being more in evidence with the political and cultural background to the story, rather than the technological.

  • Gary Smailes

    Thanks Bob – just wanted to give those unfamiliar with the genre a taster.

  • Gary Smailes

    Great comment. I wonder if the next modification to Steam Punk will be an examination of energy sources. H.G. Wells was obsessed about the ways technology could corrupt society. I wonder if a bit more ‘intelligence’ in the genre would give it a re-birth?

  • Gary Smailes

    For me it goes back to my first experience of H.G. Wells. He was the first writer of his kind that I connected with as a young reader. I loved, and still do love his work. Glad you enjoyed the post.

  • Gary Smailes

    Jack – thanks for adding this. I think anyone serious about getting into Steam Punk needs to consider the other forms of media.

  • Joe Willmon

    It could definitely do with a bit of an intellectual renaissance; China Mieville’s definitely leading the charge, but his politics often seep into–and overshadow–the story itself, generally to its detriment. The problem as I see it is that people always seem to get the mechanical bits right about steam-powered this-and-thats and an oppressive ruling class, but what few seem to notice is that the Victorian voice–scientifically astute, bitterly sarcastic, and extravagantly wordy–is a key factor in infusing in one’s Steampunk tale an actual sense of the times, and not just having a fantasy story with gears in.

    We could also benefit from more stories that explore the deity-like feeling civilization was experiencing as we began to create technology that gave us the real ability to control our environment . . . instead of the current trend of “oh no! technology can be bad!” stories that seem to permeate the genre.

    All in due time I suppose :)

  • Gary Smailes

    I think publishers are often the driving force behind the classification. The creation of genre, sub-genre and sub-sub-genre just make their lives easier.