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 Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 3:11 pm
Eumorpha Dixie Dellamorto Any one who wants to argue in this particular forum is foolish, since you can argue until they are blue in the face and it still won't change my opinion. rofl I love you. redface heart I love you both too! heart
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 3:17 pm
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 3:19 pm
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 4:16 pm
Alas! A cornucopia of love!
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 5:21 pm
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 5:53 pm
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 7:31 pm
 eek redface So much love...
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Posted: Mon May 04, 2009 9:33 pm
All this talk of the difference between fact and opinion, and we all forget what really matters, and what is far bigger problem than any dispute over facts or clash of opinions: truthiness.
It is what I say it is because that's what I think it should be.
The fact is that steampunk is an anachronism based on advanced steam-powered technology (based on existing undeniable examples). The opinions are things like which certain elements are appropriate in steampunk or not, as in, "I don't like having magic present in a steampunk world" or "Electricity has a place in a steampunk world, but yada yada..." (based on how you feel about something). The truthiness is when you try to claim new "rules" for what is and isn't steampunk, or when you try to strip the essence away by saying that you can call anything steampunk if you really want to (based on what you think, but pretending like it's a proven fact).
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 6:20 am
Xeigrich or when you try to strip the essence away by saying that you can call anything steampunk if you really want to (based on what you think, but pretending like it's a proven fact).
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 9:43 am
Just hearing what you said about time settings - and I get exactly what you said, by the way - made me muse on my own thoughts with regards to what time it happens.
I don't really mind what time the actual Steampunk takes place; I am rather fond of Victorian, but one of my favourite steampunk series - Pax Britannia - is set in 1997, with steam power never being render obsolete, electricity not getting very far, a Queen Victoria kept alive my some strange device. Ultimately, I don't think the time actually matters that much. I like the Victorian era, not the years it just so happened to be in.
In an the Anachronism's setting, I have eschewed dates almost completely. I like the 'timeless' feel it gives it; but since we're going all crazy with the development of technology, and world events as a result, comparing the setting to real dates* isn't that necessary.
* Unless, of course, you're linking it to the real world - e.g. you want your setting to be in 1851 to coincide with Crystal Palace.
But that's just me.
~
With regards to Steampunk in general; I think we're all in agreement with the 'core' of steampunk (that is to say, steam-power based anachronisms, and related themes).
It's all a matter of the extras we add (e.g. magic; how much we bend the laws of physics; adding a dash of clockpunk or dieselpunk; even throwing in crime or romance) that are quite simply matters of taste (just like our liking of steampunk in the first place). Said extras being perfectly acceptable in all regards.
~
Whilst I fear now it may not have seemed this way earlier (although I hope I did come across right) - I am genuinely interested in what different things people like with their steampunk (like one might enquire as to someone's favourite pizza toppings). I daresay I like a great deal of such things; but oft 'tis a matter of preference (e.g. that I prefer steampunk with no magic).
One need only browse over a selection of steampunk works to see how diverse it is; essentially for something quite specific (i.e. what makes steampunk, steampunk is very specific). Not only this, but how it is much more than just a genre - it is an idea, a style; and manifested in many forms: films, music, objects, people.
I am constantly astounded and thrilled with the wide spectrum of the forms steampunk can take, and what people decide to add to it with often great effect - which only makes me like steampunk more.
You take science fiction, filter it down to anachronisms, and then again to steam power and you get steampunk. For something so specific, it's pretty diverse to start with (how much are you going to advance technology? where is it set?).
And then on top of that to be able to add so many things - like magic, crime, horror, other anachronisms - and to then create something quite different from the steampunk you started off with, and yet still steampunk. Genius!
And yes, I know one can apply the same to other styles/genres/themes - but steampunk is what I'm interested in the most. And for good reason, no?
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 10:48 am
I like several different ideas behind my steampunk, Dear Captain.
Sometimes I like to think that the technologically leading countries of that Era all developed different types of Anachro Tech (steam, clockwork, Electricity a la Tesla) based on what was convenient to their region. However, I pout at this because if you fast forward you end up with Germans having more elegant Clockwork pieces, the British with Steam, Americans with Tesla's rayguns and combinations from the fact that weapons dealers and spies have honed their skills through the ages.
Other times I wonder over Steampunk universes I've read from short stories (Like the collection titled "Steampunk" which was quite pulpy and some of the stories left my brain in the dust)
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 4:50 pm
Dixie Dellamorto Xeigrich or when you try to strip the essence away by saying that you can call anything steampunk if you really want to (based on what you think, but pretending like it's a proven fact). So, you're agreeing with me then. I have no problem with anyone claiming steampunk so long as the standard, agreed-upon core is present -- or at least nearby and relevant. What I'm saying I have a problem with is if, for example, someone writes a story where everything is powered by nuclear reactors and tesla coils and post-cold war, pre-WWIII tensions strain international relations, but they throw in a brown dirigible airship and a fellow with a pair of goggles and decide that this is enough to declare their work to be official, bona fide steampunk. The only reason someone would do something like this is if they are a desperate bandwagon-jumper who only mentions steampunk to get some attention. Someone who doesn't truly care about steampunk or have any sensible grasp of the subject whatsoever. Anyone who truly has a passion for steampunk, and I state this as my opinion, would not dare to dilute and corrupt steampunk in such a way. Akonite I like several different ideas behind my steampunk, Dear Captain. Sometimes I like to think that the technologically leading countries of that Era all developed different types of Anachro Tech (steam, clockwork, Electricity a la Tesla) based on what was convenient to their region. However, I pout at this because if you fast forward you end up with Germans having more elegant Clockwork pieces, the British with Steam, Americans with Tesla's rayguns and combinations from the fact that weapons dealers and spies have honed their skills through the ages. ... I like that.... Multipunk! Maybe Polypunk, Superpunk, something crazy. That's a bit closer to reality than typical steampunk, though, because in real life, we do have fairly advance atomic power, steam power, internal combustion, advanced clockwork (to a degree, nothing of the walking-clockwork-man sort), and of course the current leader, electrical tech -- leader in every way except transportation and occasional niches. You only have to make each nation specialize in something, then beef up that tech beyond realistic modern capabilities with that tech. It would be difficult, from a worldbuilder or fiction writer's point of view, to keep the different countries' tech apart unless they're all at war with one another. If they're at war, combined tech would likely be top-secret and not very widespread, but what combined tech existed would be of the awesome war-mongering over-engineered sort. If they're at peace, they'd likely work together, and you'd get crazy combinations like steam generators making electricity to power Tesla rayguns which are operated and aimed via precise clockwork controls, and with an alternate-fire mode micro-nuke grenade launcher attachment. But it would depend on which nations are allied, which are inevitably at odds, which ones are possibly neutral, etc. The different combinations and possibilities are really fun to think about.
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 5:50 pm
Akonite I like several different ideas behind my steampunk, Dear Captain. Sometimes I like to think that the technologically leading countries of that Era all developed different types of Anachro Tech (steam, clockwork, Electricity a la Tesla) based on what was convenient to their region. However, I pout at this because if you fast forward you end up with Germans having more elegant Clockwork pieces, the British with Steam, Americans with Tesla's rayguns and combinations from the fact that weapons dealers and spies have honed their skills through the ages. Other times I wonder over Steampunk universes I've read from short stories (Like the collection titled "Steampunk" which was quite pulpy and some of the stories left my brain in the dust) Hmmm...I recall reading of a similar steamy universe...Odd. Except for the fact that the American had almost completely linked EVERY city with train tracks and the Britains had cloaking technology using simple optics.
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:59 pm
Steampunk is, to me at least, a merging of the best of our time (computers; freedom of expression; easy flow of information) with the best of the 1800s (honor; clockwork gears; machines with character). Way to many people throw the baby of decency, adventure, and visually interesting devices out with the bathwater of inequality; they see every part of the past as what not to do, but live in a world of rude manners and gray plastic devices, with now real room for wonder or curiosity beyond grade-school age. Steampunk has the more complete view of admitting the good and the bad of both times, but strives fuse the wonders of the past with the level of self-determination many in the present now enjoy.
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:33 am
I have to agree with you captin, steampunk to me is the development of steam power, and the awesome clothing style is just a bonus.
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