Steampunk Thursday #4: Then and Now - Steampunk in Popular Culture

Steampunk has - both self-consciously and unselfconsciously - been present in literature for over 100 years now! Being, by definition, speculative fiction set in the Victorian era, the Victorians themselves naturally penned some of the best known novels/novellas with a steampunk feel.

The Time Machine by HG Wells is one of the best known examples, with Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth and The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle also featuring strongly. Nothing says steampunk like a sense of adventure and occasionally some bizarre machinery!

Recent years have seen an explosion in steampunk fiction - and a lot of it is pretty awesome! China Miéville's fictional steampunk world of Bas-Lag features in three of his novels; Iron Council, The Scar and Perdido Street Station - all of which have won prestigious awards.

Moving cities have become a prevalent theme, with Philip Reeve's excellent Mortal Engines leading the charge, most recently followed by Richard Harland's Worldshaker.

Many people consider William Gibson's The Difference Engine to be the precursor to the current steampunk movement, and with good reason - it's a fantastic book!

There are innumerable other novels springing up in the genre, both straight steampunk - such as Cherie Priest's Boneshaker and The Affinity Bridge by George Mann - and others which are more borderline, such as Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding. In fact, the author himself affectionately refers to it as bucklepunk. Pirates = awesome. Pirates who raid airships = incredibly awesome.

A lot of movies in recent years have embraced the steampunk style; Wild Wild West (while considerably rubbish in almost every other regard, even though I remember the theme song 11 years later) featured quite a lot of steampunk technology and turn of the century fashion. The Prestige and Sherlock Holmes also had definite steampunk style! The latter made a conscious effort to be so; hence the various modern twists on traditional Victorian style.

Gaming is an even more fun and exciting genre that is starting to make use of steampunk elements. Bioshock is probably the most famous to have done so recently; bathyspheres and Victorian-style diving suits in the form of Big Daddys abound, and the trailer for Bioshock Infinite reveals Colombia; a city in the sky complete with airships and Victoriana galore.

I have become a little bit intrigued by Echo Bazaar; a free online game that links to your Twitter account. It essentially allows you to roleplay your way through a mysterious Victorian London - but there's definitely something amiss, which reveals itself slowly as you play your way through! It got itself straight into my good books from the start by having a non-specified option for gender, in addition to male and female. Steampunk folks is good people, I'm telling you!

Hope you enjoy playing, reading and watching your way further into the steampunk world!