Is it Steampunk: Airships

Tonight I thought I’d take a moment to talk about airships and their place in steampunk.
Almost every good steampunk story includes an airship of some kind. Yet there are airships that fit in steampunk and those that just don’t quite fit right.

• Zeppelins: Steampunk, pure and simple.
• Blimps: There are generally steampunk, yet just throwing one in a story doesn’t make a story steampunk.
• Hot air balloons: these could be steampunk, yet they might fit into clockpunk better.
• Bi-planes: Not steampunk, these would fit somewhere between steampunk and dieselpunk.
• Planes in general: not steampunk, they are dieselpunk if anything.

 

 There is one exception to these and that is something like the airship in Jules Verne’s Master of the World.

 While airships are a key part of steampunk, they can easily be found in many other ‘punk genres.

 

I hope this answered any questions you might have been wondering about airships in Steampunk. Feel free to ask any questions in the comments, I’m open to expanding this post. At a later time if it’s warranted.

Thanks for reading!

What is steampunk. Part 2

I hope you enjoyed last weeks post on steampunk, tonight I’ll go a into a bit more detail on what steampunk is.

 

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 While steampunk is mostly focused on steam powered devices, it is common to have clockwork devices as well, though there is a fine line between steampunk and clockpunk, though in some cases it’s a line that can easily become blurred.

 In general, as long as there is some kind of steam powered device included in some form, you can have clockwork devices as well.

 Clockwork devices can be used for much more than just telling time,  such as clockwork animals that can be wound up to ask like a real animal, for instance. Clockwork knights are also popular.

 Clockwork devices can also be used in conjunction with steam powered devices. With enough imagination anything is possible, which is quite likely why steampunk is continuing to become more popular.

  

 Another thing that almost every steampunk story mentions in some form are airships. These airships are basically blimps or zeppelins of various designs, they can be used as warships, pirate ships or simply are passenger ships.  

 

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I’m breaking this post into multiple parts in hopes that it will be easier to understand in small parts.
 I hope you’re enjoying these steampunk posts, if you have any questions or comments on it, feel free to post in the comments below.
 Thanks for reading, next week I’ll have more on what steampunk is.

What is Steampunk? Part 1

What is steampunk? That’s the question you might have asked yourself after my first steampunk post last week, tonight I’ll try to answer that question to the best of my ability.

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 Steampunk can encompass many things. While it started as, basically, a modern take on Victorian sci-fi, it has grown to even include fantasy elements such as magic, elves and much more. Swords are almost as common a weapon in steampunk as flintlock pistols.

 

 In regards to the sci-fi angle, it started simply enough, with the kind of inventions you’d read of in a novel by Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. Now it has grown to include more advanced technology. Most of the advanced technologies in a steampunk story has been… reversed engineered shall we say? In any case, the modern technologies used in steampunk are modified to run on steam power, normally with a steam engine built into it.

 That said, there are a few steampunk novels that use an alternate universe setting, each one with its own take on cross universe travel, which while interesting and serving the story, it seems to skirt the edges of steampunk and normal sci-fi.

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I’m breaking this post into multiple parts in hopes that it will be easier to understand in small parts.

 I hope you’re enjoying these steampunk posts, if you have any questions or comments on it, feel free to post in the comments below.

 Thanks for reading, next week I’ll have more on what steampunk is.

Steampunk post #1

While I don’t like this title, it’s the best I had tonight.

 

 It can be hard to know where to begin in regards to steampunk. Therefore I’m going to try to take it one part at a time over the next few weeks.

 My blog isn’t going to become steampunk centered, but I’ll likely have one post a week. If there are any parts of steampunk that you want me to go deeper into, feel free to let me know.

  

 Steampunk is a separate genre from the other related genres, such as clock punk, diesel punk, sandal punk, ect.

The main differences between the genres is that steampunk always uses steam to power interesting devices, as opposed to clock punk that focuses on clockwork powered devices, however there is a lot of crossover between the two genres.

I use the term genre a bit loosely here, as steampunk has moved from books to cosplay and general decorations.

 Over the next few weeks I’ll be covering the history of steampunk, the tropes associated with it, airships and even a few of my favorite steampunk books.

 I hope you’ll enjoy this series of posts.

Thanks for reading.