What does "steampunk" mean?

[Hyperspace05]

How do novels like H.G. Wells's Time Machine not count as steampunk? Is super-science + Victorian sensibilities and fashion limited to the late 19th century onward or something? Or is it only steampunk if you reference those works?

Meh. I guess it's like the people who don't consider stories like Beowulf as fantasy, too. So silly.

Personally, I tend to think of HG Wells and Verne as the [grand]fathers of Steampunk.

We may consider them that now... But back then they were creating the whole Sci-Fi genre! (Mary Shelley, Verne, and Welles are considered the creators of the genre)

 

[felixofgolden]

Here's a steampunk space helmet:
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/blog/200811/essential-headgear-for-the-modern-astro-traveller
(the pics are squished widthwise for some reason)
Even room for a tophat!

 

[Daddy Todd]

Ummm, Anubis Gates was ten years after Warlord of the Air.

Just sayin'.

Twelve, actually. Which is why I said "ONE of the earliest."

I also happen to think it was one of the best, and worthy of being singled out.

 

[DontFeedPhil]

I know what you guys mean...One time I took a steampoop. It was of an interesting old-style retro-design.

 

[Mysterion]

Love me some steampunk, I really do.

The only novel I have at the moment is 'The Difference Engine' by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling - what if they had found a way to build Babbage's Analytical Engine, and then turn it into a mass computing movement, much like the PC? It's a good starting point.

Isn't that novel sort of the birthplace of steampunk?

ETA: Nevermind. Just saw the refernces to Moorcock et. al. further down the thread.

 

[Steve67]

I'm once again getting interested in Victorian/Edwardian adventure stories...

Steampunk is already on the way out in geek circles. Once it hit mainstream it was doomed.

Not sure that's true, seeing as the Walt Disney company's been involved with it since the 1950s, but as Disney's "uncool", I can understand the geeks being upset.

Longer than that. The original Wild, Wild West TV series in the '60s was in the same vein as what we now call steampunk, postulating fancifully advanced technology in the Victorian era.

Right-O! This was my first exposure to what would later be called Steampunk, though much of what I've seen online regarding it has been limited to trussed-up PCs.

As a kid, my friends and I loved Captain Nemo and watched/read whatever we could find on him. We also conjured our own poorly-written stories and weekend playtime with action figures--we were in elemntary school, mind you--which also constituted our fascination with the not-yet-named Steampunk genre.