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| Well, you didn't tell me the corsets would be like that! |
A
friend told me recently his definition of steampunk was an excuse for corsets
and watch gears.
I’m
as up for a pretty face in a corset and watch gears as the next man, but this
actually misses the whole point of the fantasy/scifi sub-genre. Steampunk certainly includes a good number of
watch parts, and really I think every book should have one decent corset
scene—but steampunk, as a genre, is oh so much more.
Technically
speaking, steampunk is historic fiction/fantasy in a setting where steam-power
technology is dominant. This doesn’t
mean that steam is the only power, as electricity can also be available, but
most often steampunk resides along an alternative history timeline in a
pseudo-fantasy realm where retro technology is amped up to modern levels.
Try
this. Steampunk isn’t an excuse for
corsets and watch gears, it’s all about corsets and watch gears!
Confused
yet?
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| Historically researched and accurate. |
Let’s
break it down.
Corsets
because, way, way back in the day, steampunk started out as speculative or
science fiction. No, true story. That’s where the genre’s roots began in the
late Victorian early Industrial periods.
Jules Verne and H.G. Wells set the stage, printed the bills and wrote
the major characters. Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle provided some lighting for ambiance.
Albert Robida gave everyone their lines, and Georges Melies was the
director. Mary Shelley did not sew the costumes, nor was she
make-up. She was in charge of special
effects, and they were fabulous!
I’m
uncertain if she wore a corset, and too lazy to do the research.
If
she did, then she was fabulous in that too!
Watch
gears, because steampunk can said to have been conceived by those elder
artists, though not actually born until the Edwardian era became confused with
the Victorian, and pocket watches went out of style. Oh, sure, there were others establishing some
of the finer tropes of the genre, labor pains long before the delivery. The TV show (not the movie) The Wild, Wild West did an excellent job
of touching on so many wonders that are steampunk. Not only did they have the Vern-esque
gadgetry, but they employed excellent villains who used and abused
steam-powered devices with such malicious magnificence to rival any Bond-villain
with a doomsday device.
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| Now THAT'S a flying machine! |
Oh
my, the doomsday devices. Submarines and
airships and spaceships. That doesn’t
even mention the fantastic stuff like walkers, earth-tunnelers, gliders, and an
assortment of boat conversions that make one’s head swim with delight. The gadgets, gear, clothes (yes, corsets),
goggles, accoutrement, weaponry, and so forth.
The list just goes on and on.
If
you can think it, it can be steam or mainspring powered!
And
so, a primer, or rather a set of primers, for those who are now interested in
dipping a gear-powered toe into the misty warm waters of steampunkery:
The
Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
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| If you have to have a watch, make it a STEAMPUNK WATCH |
Perdido
Street Station
by China Mieville
Morlock
Night
by K.W. Jeter
The
Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi
Lord
Kelvin's Machine
by James Blaylock
The
Difference Engine
by William Gibson and Bruce Stirling
And,
as George Mann so eloquently put it:
Steampunk
is . . . a joyous fantasy of the past, allowing us to revel in a nostalgia for
what never was. It is a literary playground for adventure, spectacle, drama,
escapism and exploration. But most of all it is fun!
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