The Steam Engine

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Comment by Camilla on May 28, 2008 at 10:33am

No, I haven't heard of it. But I should obviously check it out.

Comment by Matthew on May 23, 2008 at 9:01am

Would "Dresden Files" be magepunk? Camilla, have you read any of those books or seen the TV show? It's cool. Dresden is a modern day urban wizard. His wizard staff is a hockey stick.

Comment by Camilla on May 21, 2008 at 8:46am

Also . . . magepunk is more dystopian, like cyberpunk, and steampunk is generally much less dystopian--I would dare say closer to the utopian side of the scale.

Comment by Camilla on May 21, 2008 at 8:42am

Basically yes. Good job. I would add that in magepunk, technology can be powered by magic but isn't necessarily. They could be fighting against each other instead. The main point is that there is a strong presence of both (opposed to straight urban fantasy, which doesn't really have a sci-fi element).

Comment by Matthew on May 20, 2008 at 10:55am

Ok, so let me get this straight. The super simplified version:

Cyberpunk is the granddaddy - distopian near-future stories that deal with cyberspace, virtual reality, government corruption, basically Internet gone bad.

Steampunk is similar but instead of the future it deals with technology powered by steam. Victorian era...

Magepunk is technology powered by magic.

Did I get this right?

Comment by Camilla on May 19, 2008 at 8:47am

My love of steampunk stems from my love of Victoriana and everything neo-Victorian. Plus, it has science and mechanics, and a very strong DIY bent. It's almost the perfect genre for me.

Comment by Jeff on May 9, 2008 at 2:49pm

I'm mostly just a punk--not sure about the steam side of me. So am I just half steampunk? I like Star Wars, and I have seen a few steampunk inspired creations of Darth Vader (some figures and costumes, too) that were pretty smokin'. Is that where I get my steam?