Kilt as part of Steampunk costume

[Steve Ashton]

Steampunk is essentially an alternate history which seems to have arisen from a novel "The Difference Engine" by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. If you enjoy reading novels, then this book is a most excellent introduction to the idea. The movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" with Sean Connery, which in my opinion was dreadful, also presents such an alternate history. People dress in clothing which roughly corresponds to any time between 1820 and 1920, and carry scientific and technological looking accoutrements, often bearing cogs to emphasize the mechanical nature of the period.

There are those within the Steampunk genre that would debate the Gibson/Sterling part of above.

It is generally accepted that the term was coined by KW Jetter when he submitted a manuscript to the Science Fiction magazine "Locus".

"Dear Locus,Enclosed is a copy of my 1979 novel Morlock Night; I'd appreciate your being so good as to route it to Faren Miller, as it's a prime piece of evidence in the great debate as to who in "the Powers/Blaylock/Jeter fantasy triumvirate" was writing in the "gonzo-historical manner" first. Though of course, I did find her review in the March Locus to be quite flattering.
Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like "steam-punks," perhaps....
— K.W. Jeter"