Tucson recently held its annual Steampunk Convention and we are happy the genre has taken hold. Employees at Bookmans Speedway are especially big fans of steampunk. It folds nicely into all the things we hold dear, promote and geek out over. Steampunk ideals incorporate re-purposing, creativity, individualism, anti-censorship, fantasy, science fiction, film and books, books, books! Let’s have a look at how the steampunk pony rode into our one horse town in this brief steampunk primer.

Brief Steampunk Primer

The term “steampunk” covers many things including art, design, lifestyle, literature and film. It is expressed as a fusion of science fiction, fantasy and a pseudo-Victorian mechanical steampunk style. The term itself was first coined by K.W. Jeter. Jeter was looking for a term to describe works by Tim Powers, James Blaylock and himself, all of which took place in a 19th-century (usually Victorian) setting and imitated conventions of Victorian speculative fiction such as H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. They are far from the first modern science fiction writers to speculate on the development of steam-based technology or alternative histories and they wouldn’t be the last.

Steampunk influences many artistic endeavors and is often referred to as a hybrid genre, incorporating many different elements. Readers looking for the latest happenings can catch steampunk author Gail Carriger at Tucson Festival of Books. Of course we’re always happy to see you at Bookmans Speedway where you can learn more about steampunk and ways to express your steam.