Author Topic: Discussing steampunk (was Re: What's good in Sci-Fi Lately?)  (Read 15208 times)

Fenrix

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Reply #25 on: January 06, 2012, 01:50:09 PM
The anti-grav belt is the purest object of individual freedom. But it is a wild freedom that we have less of a frame of reference for.

One thing for the flying car's appeal is the relatability of it. Everyone has been in a car, and most people have driven/purchased/dreamed of some car or another at one point in their life. Even for folks who are not auto nerds, there's some marketer or an auto nerd in your life that has instilled or shared some piece of the dream in you. In addition, I think the flying car carries more appeal because it is freedom that wraps the passenger with the sense of security that cars provide. Auto manufacturers have been working as engineers and marketers to firmly associate safety and cars for many decades. Granted, installing safety features in flying cars would be more challenging as crumple zones and air bags won't cut it.

With regards to steampunk, we can't discount the overall cultural changes that is has brought along as well. I can't count the number of pure steampunk costumes at cons, and then you heap all the fusion steampunk costumes on top of those. Anything popular enough will receive bandwagon jumpers (writers and fans) that will degrade the perception (or quality) of the sub-genre. I have also noticed that all of the 80's and 90's goths that didn't want to assimilate into suburban life have jumped into steampunk with both feet since emo ruined the whole dressing in black thing, and goths already had a bunch of Victorian in their closet. I imagine that's had an impact on the perception. The mainstream will have trouble accepting steampunk if the best mass-market example they have is a Will Smith summer blockbuster.

From a fandom perspective, probably the best thing for steampunk has been Firefly/Serenity. Still not mass acceptance, but definitely a better presentation.

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Anarquistador

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Reply #26 on: January 10, 2012, 01:09:47 PM
Would you consider Firefly to be steampunk, then? I never thought of it that way, but I can see that. I just don't think of the Old West when I hear "steampunk;" I think of crazily-overbuilt retro contraptions. But I guess that could work too.

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Fenrix

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Reply #27 on: January 10, 2012, 09:50:02 PM
Westerns with future-tech or steam-tech are just the American-centric version of the steampunk genre. The Victorian era generally runs from early 1800's through the turn of the century. This corresponds with American westward expansion, the Alamo, the gold and silver rushes, the Civil War and ends with the turn of the century or the Mexican Revolution. Victoriana is more Anglo-centric, whereas Westerns are American-centric.

Much like the discussion on Amal et Mothar's story and its place in steampunk, I think the genre covers a time period and a style moreso than a specific anglophile geography.

I would locate The Wild Wild West, The Adventures of Brisco County Junior, and Firefly all in the steampunk genre. The first two are set in the west with wild technology. The last is set in the west but temporally located in the future. However, it follows a standard story progression of civil war veterans disillusioned with the war heading west to make their fortunes. All my recollections of the engine room coordinate with that as well, with lots of brass and bronze.

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InfiniteMonkey

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Reply #28 on: January 12, 2012, 12:18:32 AM
I wouldn't include Firefly as steampunk. But that's because of my avocation, which makes me very ... particular... about definitions and categories (steampunk is something set in a different 19th century, not something from the 19th century set in a different future).

On a more positive note, I really liked the comments that Dave read from Daniel Abraham for this week's Podcastle. Completely different from my take, but very interesting. I won't even try and mess them up with a paraphrase.



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Reply #29 on: January 13, 2012, 08:13:26 PM
Here's what Daniel said:

Quote
Steampunk has been identified with the fashions associated with it, but when I look back at stories like The Difference Engine, what defines the subgenre isn't the gears and levers.  It's the impulse to reframe contemporary issues and ideas in an imagined 1880s just the way epic fantasy reaches back to an imaginary 1300s.  Vampire of Kabul may not have any steam engines, but its adventure and derring-do hopefully stir up echoes of our present age and a lot of the decades in between.

Also worth reading, since I don't think it's been pointed out in this thread, but I know I pointed it out when we ran Amal's story last year: Towards a Steampunk without Steam.

January 24th PodCastle has another Very Different steampunk story running, this time by Patty Templeton. It's set in the U.S., but not the Wild West, and I'll be really interested to see how people react to it. (I think it's a hoot, personally.)

I think the recent Steampunk! collection edited by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link (of which Clockwork Fagin was in) made a point of NOT having any of the stories set in London, although I haven't actually read the anthology myself. 

All that to say, I think it's interesting how Steampunk is expanding past the idea of 19th century England, and how that's varying this subgenre. I think that's a good thing.


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Reply #30 on: January 13, 2012, 09:31:27 PM
Oh, hey. Speaking of Amal's story, you could nominate it for Tor's Best of 2011 Stubby Awards.

Actually...I should post that list of award eligible short stories soon.


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Reply #31 on: January 15, 2012, 01:44:53 AM
Here's what Daniel said:

Quote
Steampunk has been identified with the fashions associated with it, but when I look back at stories like The Difference Engine, what defines the subgenre isn't the gears and levers.  It's the impulse to reframe contemporary issues and ideas in an imagined 1880s just the way epic fantasy reaches back to an imaginary 1300s.  Vampire of Kabul may not have any steam engines, but its adventure and derring-do hopefully stir up echoes of our present age and a lot of the decades in between.

I remember thinking when I listened to that ep, that that's one of the best definitions of steampunk I've heard.


stePH

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Reply #32 on: February 09, 2012, 02:58:12 AM
"It's steampunk... the Euro-trash of nerddom."
Tinkerballa, The Guild (season 5)

[jump to 5:55]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUJNgje18bg
« Last Edit: February 09, 2012, 03:01:58 AM by stePH »

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