No googles? No clockwork machinery? That’s impossible! Author Michael J. Martinez takes us through the steps of creating “steamless” steampunk.
Wait, you can write steampunk without steam?
For want of a neutral definition of “steampunk,” I turned to Wikipedia, which states: “Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery, especially in a setting inspired by industrialized Western civilization during the 19th century.”
Now, a lot of folks have told me that The Daedalus Incident has a very steampunk feel. A touch surprising since the book is set in both the 18th and 22nd centuries, and nothing is being run by steam-powered machinery. Yes, there's cool ships and anachronistic tech, and the English – and the damnable French – but the engine of the setting's tech is alchemy, not steam.
I think there's a lot more to steampunk than steam, or the 19th century for that matter. So while Daedalus and its upcoming sequel The Enceladus Crisis aren't strictly steampunk, I'm certainly borrowing from the spirit of the genre.
To me, the following list is what steampunk looks like when you take away the steam. (If you disagree, all I ask is that you do so kindly. And blame Sean – he picked the topic!)
Via michaeljmartinez.net
10. Adventure!
It's the rare steampunk story that doesn't have a serious element of Adventure – and yes, that capital A is there for a reason. Certainly the vast majority of science fiction and fantasy stories have a “go big or go home” mentality when it comes to the stakes, but steampunk is downright brassy. Entire cities, nations and worlds are threatened when steampunk comes around. And I like that mentality a lot – in The Daedalus Incident, I'm crashing a sailing ship into Mars and ripping holes in the fabric of the cosmos. As one does.
Via comicbookrealm.com / Dynamite Comics
9. Exotic Locales!
Let's face it, steampunk takes you places. Sure, an entire novel could be set in the London underworld, but it could also span the globe – or the Solar System. (I'm looking at you, Space: 1889.) But it doesn't happen in places we'd consider mundane by today's standards. Steampunk-style novels don't happen in suburban tract housing, or the 19th century equivalent. They're in palaces and slums, jungles and deserts, on the high seas or high in the sky. Or, in my case, in the Void between worlds.
Via darkroastedblend.com / Alex Broeckel
8. Ships!
And how do you get to those exotic locales? Probably on an airship. Or, at the very least, a steam-powered velocipede. You're sure as heck not going to walk – unless the plot takes away your toys, of course. But whatever that strange conveyance is for your Adventure in Exotic Locales, it had better result in some serious oohs and ahhs when it first rounds the corner. In my case, I start Daedalus with a sailing-ship battle – over Mercury.
Via digital-art-gallery.com / Carguin
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