Courtesy of Amazon Recommendations, I recently came across a steampunk novel, and found myself thinking, what is steampunk, anyway? I had a sort of general idea in the fashion sense — think slutty halloween costume from Spencer’s– but I guess I had no idea that it has become its own movie and literary genre. (Thank you, google.)

Sidenote: To be fair, this is coming from someone who also had to google hipster when I found them cropping up all around me, all the while thinking, haven’t raybans always been a thing?  And haven’t vegetables always come from gardens?  Why is all this vegetable eating elitist? But that’s the thing about trends, people are always acting like they are unprecedented or something.) So, steampunk. Steampunk’s roots apparently lie in Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and H.G. Wells (The Time Machine).  Think science fiction, with a Victorian England twist, though other settings include Medieval Europe, World War I, or the American West.  (Remember that Will Smith movie that didn’t make any sense?)  Steampunk tends to be set during the Industrial Revolution, but more advanced.  It’s an alternate reality with features including, but not limited to, (well, anything actually):  unusual inventions, daring heroes, intrepid females, dastardly villains, steam and other forms of alternate power, alternate history, futurism, made-up words, made-up names, zombies, vampires, werewolves, spies, time travel, romance, robots, corsets, airships… Come one, come all.  You just might find something you like.

Steampunk Review Coming Soon: Magnificent Devices Series .