There’s probably an existing thread somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. Anyhoo… I’m trying to fill in the gaps in my geek knowledge. Where do I start with steampunk? Which books, comics, movies do you recommend? Give me something easy to start with and if I’m still hungry I’ll go back for seconds.
You start with Dune.
Somewhere along the way you need to be sure and watch Steamboy.
And one that’s peripherally worthwhile, for the steampunk design: Perfect Creature
Alot of people have told me to check out The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. It had some cool moments, but on the whole I didn’t care for it.
The best way into steampunk IMHO is the Steampunk Anthology edited by Jeff Vandermeer. It gave a great history on the genre in the beginning and a pretty good jumping off point to some of the best authors. You’ll be surprised to see some familiar names there that you wouldn’t generally associate with steampunk.
On the Internet, the Webcomic Girl Genius is recommended.
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php
I have to mention this other cartoonist take on the subject:
Start with the “Langdon St. Ives” books by James P. Blaylock; The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers; and Morlock Night by K. W. Jeter.
Avoid Dune. It is (a) not steampunk, and (b) crap.
I would second the novel ‘Homunculus’ by Blaylock and add ‘Perdido Street Station’.
*Dune *is arguably the beginning of steampunk visuals in film. And many people don’t think it’s crap; the OP can decide for him/herself.
Dune came pretty late to the party. There were steampunk visuals in film in The Fabulous World of Jules Verne in 1958.
Here is some footage on Youtube.
Of course, you could argue the design goes back to Melies’s A Trip to the Moon.
Steampunk as a literary genre comes from Blaylock and Jeter (who coined the term). Tim Powers is grouped with them because they were friends, but he was working at a slightly earlier historical time frame. Jeter’s Infernal Devices and Blaylock’s Homonculus are good places to start. I’d also suggest Mark Frost’s The List of Seven and The Six Messiahs.
The Difference Engine is a must read, but as a novel is nowhere as good as Jeter, Blaylock or Powers (if you consider him steampunk) work in creating the genre.
For a short flm that you can watch right now, try:
While Jules Verne is obviously the most important godfather of steampunk, I don’t think his work is interchangeable with it. Steampunk is a more recent invention, heavily influenced by Verne. I still argue that *Dune *is the dividing line between steampunk and what came before it.
I’d call the film you cite an influence, rather than a firm member of the school.
My favorite steampunk/weird fiction writer is China Mieville: Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council are magnificent.
Another vote for the difference engine, I was reading William Gibson’s books to get caught up on cyberpunk and bumped into it. It was awesome. Also give the ethical engineer by Harry Harrison a try. Its about a guy from the future getting trapped on a backwards victorian era style planet and kicking ass.
Seconded. Good stuff. It’s a lovingly done celebration of the ridiculousness of steampunk in general, and quite enjoyable.
The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, is pretty good.
Jules Verne is regarded as the godfather of the genre, from a time when steam was state-of-the-art.
You also might try The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a graphic novel by Alan Moore. Don’t watch the movie; even though it’s got Sean Connery, it’s horrific.
The Difference Engine blew chunks. I blame Sterling be cause he has elsewhere demonstrated he’s a lousy writer.
Go to the source, The Wild Wild West. Note that, in one episode, on the wall behind Dr Loveless is a blueprint for a turbojet engine.
Why Dune?
Because the design was pure steampunk: wood, brass, neoclassical motifs like wings and filigree–all in a futuristic, SF setting. I can’t think of an earlier film that was as solidly within the aesthetic of steampunk. The examples given above were set in the Victorian era; they’re Victorian, not steampunk. Dune was set in the far future, but with a Victorian aesthetic. Voila. Steampunk.
Actually, the film is better than the book, IMHO. It doesn’t make travesties of other authors beloved characters, like Moore did. Moore did horrible things to other authors characters- which he claimed was OK as the works were out of copyright.:mad: Then, Moore complains when the dudes who bought the rights to his works changed them around. We call that hypocrisy.
Speaking of Verne, Disney’s 2000 Leagues was pure Steampunk, and well before Dune.
Warehouse 13 is Steampunk. I second **dropzone **in that many epis of *The Wild Wild West *had distinct Steampunk elements.
Blaylock is an excellent read.
Well again, that was Victorian, not steampunk. My understanding of steampunk is that it’s alternate universe, or future, where the technology is basically Victorian.
Actual Victorian is not alternate universe or future; it’s past. Jules Verne was Victorian SF, not steampunk. Steampunk took the Verne aesthetic and moved it into the future or the alternate present.
Put it this way: if all the stuff we now call steampunk had never been invented, we wouldn’t be calling Verne steampunk: his stuff led to steampunk, and it’s grandfathered in, honorarily, so to speak, but it’s pre-steampunk, not actual steampunk.
Which would rule out Dune, which had spaceships powered by non-Victorianesque technology, IIRC.
That doesn’t mean Steampunk is incompatible with spaceflight (quite the opposite), but you can’t have nuclear reactors powering the ships, because… well, that’s just not a Victorian thing.
That’s really interesting. I always thought Steampunk was Victorian culture mixed in with futuristic technology (i.e. the opposite of your description). Primitive worlds and peoples mixed in with technology that they use only within the confines of Victorian society.