"Punk" fiction defined (repost)

Reposted from June 29, 2009

Maura Anderson on Witchy Chicks has a good definition of "punk" subgenres--Cyberpunk and Steampunk--here.  Check it out.  Below, my understandings to add to the conversation. 

Cyberpunk - To me, William Gibson is the master of this style, although Bruce Sterling is also well known for his work in the cyberpunk subgenre.  These two essentially began it in the 80s!   Read Gibson's Neuromancer or Mona Lisa Overdrive for your bible.  Cyberpunk has an asthetic of tech-merged-with-man, computer reality as real as the world of our five senses, high tech with a fast, fast, fast paced motion like living inside a video game.  Glitter, glam, details and jargon.  Visually:  Bladerunner.  Often rather post-apocalyptic in feel, cyberpunk deals in society run by corportations more than government, taking the current trend of megacorps sucking control one corrupt official and dollar at a time from the governments and peoples of the world and investing it in themselves.  Individual hopelessness fostering a man-versus-machine asthetic and a disdain for the flesh world (body as meat), rebels without a cause, punks as heros.  Cyberpunk Review's definition here, Wikipedia's here.

Now, I've heard that some think cyberpunk is passe, a child of the 80s that has died a slow death.  But, like the mullet, it hasn't quite disappeared from the scene!  There are still some works in that vein coming out in print in the last few years; and the movies still embrace the look and feel.  [And personally I find that dark fantasy, especially dark urban fantasy, has embraced a lot of what makes cyberpunk what it is.  You have the gritty, dangerous feel.  You have magic (standing in for tech) and a disdain for those without magic/supernatural powers, you have either vast supernatural forces or corporations (often of evil) threatening mankind's rule over itself.  In short, you have much of what makes cyberpunk what it is.]

Some of my favorites in the genre:  Gibson (Mona Lisa Overdrive, Neuromancer), Marianne de Pierres (Parrish Plessis series), and for movies Aeon Flux, Dark City, BladeRunner, The Matrix.  Check out Cyberpunk Review to find more reads and films in this genre.

Steampunk - My take: Generally Victorian era with technology resembling modern 21st century tech, except things tend to be powered by steam or clockwork.  Emphasis on flying craft and sometimes an organic design vibe reminiscent of Art Noveau or Art Deco.  Wiki's take: "In general, the category includes any recent science fiction that takes place in a recognizable historical period (sometimes an alternate-history version of an actual historical period) where the Industrial Revolution has already begun but electricity is not yet widespread, with an emphasis on steam- or spring-propelled gadgets."

Books such as The Difference Engine (by Gibson & Sterling) and the graphic novel League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, Cherie Priest's Boneshaker.  China Mieville's On Perdido Street Station.  And many moooore!  Films in the genre include The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Golden Compass., and the anime Steamboy.  (That last title is a bit of a clue, isn't it?)

You can learn more about steampunk (both as a cultural phenomena and as a subgenre of speculative fiction) at Steampunk Magazine.

[Refer back to the steampunk post from last week for more links.] 

Comments

[Charles Gramlich]

I'm eager to dig into that steampunk anthology to get a feel for this subgenre.

[writtenwyrdd]

If you want something funny, the Parasol Protectorate series is hilarious. Great witty dialog in that. Sort of like Jane Austen if she wrote steampunk, abut a but more snark.

[Betsy Dornbusch]

I just started BONESHAKER and I love it only a few pages in. Can't wait to get back to it tonight!

[writtenwyrdd]

I've got it in the TBR pile.