Favorite (Relatively) Unknown Author?

[Bagpuss]

But, what elements are quintessential 'steam punk' would you say? Don't get me wrong I am familiar with the niche, however, I don't know if I am in-the-know with that group in particular.

For me, steampunk is usually any setting where the technology is driven by mechanical means (so cogs and gears) as opposed to electronics. The novel that established a lot of the modern steampunk ideas was "The Difference Engine" by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, which basically charts the information technology revolution as driven by steam-powered mechanical computers in the 19th Century. Although the genre's starting point was the 1800s with some of the sci-fi novels by H G Wells, Jules Verne, and similar authors.

Steampunk tends to have a Victorian or Edwardian styling. Partly the styling is because most steampunk worlds take their starting point from the pre-electronic era, or from the era of Wells and Verne. K W Jeter's "Morlock Nights" (Jeter allegedly coined the word "steampunk"), for example, was written with a definite Victorian vibe because Jeter thought Victorian fantasies would be the next big thing. The Difference Engine assumes that Charles Babbage managed to get his Analytical Engine working in 1824 and goes from there. The novel itself is set in 1855. However, steampunk can work with a completely fantasy world.

If I was going to define the quintessential elements, then steampunk's really a combination of the old and new. Mechanical and clockwork devices with cogs and gears to carry out modern-day tasks in a retro-styled world.

I also tend to think of steampunk as being more hopeful and positively romantic, rather then grungy and dystopian. If it is dystopian, then it's normally nowhere near as dark as cyberpunk (which is really dystopian).

Does that help?

 

[Bick]

Unknown author, but known to me? Well, my late aunt was a published novelist and short story writer. I don't expect anyone to have heard of her, but she was an interesting and entertaining character and an intellectual, who ran for parliament for Labour in a general election in the 1980's. Her name was Christine Collette. I think she was probably rather a good writer. She died a year or so ago. I've read some of her short stories and they were pretty good, I thought.

 

[BAYLOR]

Unknown author, but known to me? Well, my late aunt was a published novelist and short story writer. I don't expect anyone to have heard of her, but she was an interesting and entertaining character and an intellectual, who ran for parliament for Labour in a general election in the 1980's. Her name was Christine Collette. I think she was probably rather a good writer. She died a year or so ago. I've read some of her short stories and they were pretty good, I thought.

Nightshade and Damnations by Gerald Kersh