"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 the era; like "steampunks", perhaps..." -K.W. Jeter. The term Steampunk was first coined in 1987 by K. W. read more
It describes an alternative history and definitely deserves consideration as one of the earliest novels in the steampunk genre. If we are prepared to consider magic a form of technology, we can also go back to the 60’s with Randall Garret’s Lord Darcy books. read more
Another setting is "Western" steampunk, which overlaps with both the Weird West and Science fiction Western subgenres. One of the earliest steampunk books set in America was The Steam Man of the Prairies by Edward S. Ellis. read more
Steampunk, before it became the full-blown sub-culture it is today, started out as a science-fiction sub-genre in the 1970s. Its fundamental inspirations go all the way back to 19th century Victorian writers, such as Jules Verne (author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and H.G. Wells (author of The Time Machine). read more