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    I love reading books that are written in the 'Steampunk' genre, but who coined the term 'Steampunk'?

    Question #97027. Asked by crazycube. (Jun 27 08 5:34 AM)


    zbeckabee

    Although many works now considered seminal to the genre were published in the 1960s and 1970s, the term steampunk originated in the late 1980s as a tongue in cheek variant of cyberpunk. It seems to have been coined by the science fiction author K. W. Jeter, who was trying to find a general term for works by Tim Powers (author of The Anubis Gates, 1983), James Blaylock (Homunculus, 1986) and himself (Morlock Night, 1979 and Infernal Devices, 1987) which took place in a Victorian setting and imitated conventions of actual Victorian speculative fiction such as H. G. Wells's The Time Machine.

    In a letter to Locus (fiction magazine), Jeter writes:

    "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 ..."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk#Origin

    Jun 27 08, 5:42 AM


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