steampunk

The retro version of "cyberpunk" (a futuristic, online delinquent). Coined by science fiction author K.W. Jeter, steampunk novels combine high-tech fantasy with Victorian era surroundings. In addition, people like to use the steampunk theme with modern electronics, making them look like they were built in the 19th century. See cyberpunk.

Your Average Desktop Computer

This creation from Jake von Slatt's Steampunk Workshop looks like a computer from 1870. Steampunk enthusiasts delight in retrofitting old designs onto new equipment, and von Slatt is a master at it (visit www.steampunkworkshop.com). (Image courtesy of Jake von Slatt.)

The Telecalculograph

Starting with a standard PC case, Jake Hildebrandt's Telecalculograph is a very realistic computer from the 1800s! The LEDs on the "furnace" door at the bottom simulate fire, but are, in fact, working performance indicators. The mouse (top) is priceless. (Images courtesy of Jake W. Hildebrandt, www.jakeofalltrades.wordpress.com)

Steampunk in the Real Victorian Era

Actually drawn in the late 1800s, this depiction of highly automated dining was quite imaginative (artist unknown). (Image courtesy of Rosemont Engineering.)

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(n.)
[by analogy to cyberpunk] a genre of science fiction with a historical setting in the nineteenth century characterized by technologies extrapolated from the science of that era, but which were not invented at that time. Hence steampunker, steampunkish.

• 1987 K. W. Jeter Locus (letter) (Apr.) № 57/2: 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 that era; like "steam-punks," perhaps.
• 1987 J. Blaylock Locus (May) № 57/1: There's railroad trains, a lot of steam-driven stuff, but that's about it. More "steam punk," I suppose.
• 1991 Locus (May) № 66/3: The Difference Engine is not steampunk, because it is a work of hard sf.
• 1995 M. Dirda Bound to Please (2005) № 124: In a scene that could make a steam-punk short story, the master of nonsense even visits Charles Babbage, the great pioneer of the computer.
• 2001 Interzone (Sept.) № 64/3: Kirkus Reviews said of his previous book: "If Arthur Conan Doyle and H. P. Lovecraft had collaborated on a novel, the result might have been like this"; steampunker Tim Powers also offers some words of praise.
• 2004 P. Di Filippo Asimov's SF (Apr.–May) № 230/2: Now, [...] he's turned his hand to a steampunkish adventure, one that summons up the glory days of television's The Wild, Wild West.
• 2005 SF Weekly (San Francisco) (Mar. 16–22) № 40/2: Sci-fi readers call this type of thing "steampunk," a genre characterized by advanced technology powered by old-fashioned methods — usually steam engines — in the style of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells.

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