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More unsubtlety in action WHY SETTLE FOR THE LESSER DEATH RAY? | 13 that I didn’t like that I loved it, and I wanted to be identified with it. But these days with something like steampunk, it’s different. I don’t really mind because ultimately it’s up to other people to define what you do. You just make it and then see what people call it, but at the same I feel that instant reaction like: ‘Errh, I’m not sure… Is that what it is?’ or, ‘That’s not what I thought it was.’ So it be<strong>com</strong>es this kind of uneasy truce between letting people interpret things how they will and not wanting to label yourself.” China Miéville said much the same thing of his work (Vintage Tomorrows, Chapter 9). That’s how movements get assembled and cultural moments get defined—through a process of pattern recognition and amalgamation that ends up with shows, anthologies, bibliographies, conventions, and, now, Wikipedia entries. What Greg and China both call out is an element of being a self-conscious creator-—an understanding that their audience is going to make up their own minds about what they see. It’s a recognition that the other side of the cultural coin is outside the creator’s control: you put something out into the world and it finds its place.
14 | STEAMPUNKING OUR FUTURE: AN EMBEDDED HISTORIAN’S NOTEBOOK “So,” I responded. The beer was surprisingly good, one of those that goes down fast in the right way. “To you, it’s fine however people label your work, but you don’t see it as limiting you?” “Yeah, exactly,” he nodded. “Also I often find myself pushing in other directions. I haven’t deliberately done anything to be anti-steampunk, but the Grordbort stuff includes a lot of pulp elements and a sort of 1940s and 1950s type of science fiction. That was always an inspiration right from the start. As an artist, especially as a visual artist—for me anyway—you always want to do something different; to surprise yourself, to learn more. I don’t necessarily try to go forward in time because Grordbort is seated around the 1930s and the sort of futurism from around that early part of the century.” “But with a sense of Victorian imperialism at the same time, right?” I interrupted. A bad habit, I know, but we were chatting and drinking and well, there was a lot of the 19th century in Grordbort as well. “You’re pulling from a bunch of places.” “Totally,” he replied. “It’s got so many elements and that’s why I haven’t revolved Grordbort’s around times and dates so much—I haven’t brought in too many other historical events. It’s almost like it’s an alternate vessel all together.” This harkened back to my conversation with Mark Thompson about Henry Hoke (see Vintage Tomorrows, Chapter 10). There’s an interesting kind of temporal thing going on here. Not so much messing about with a particular past—which is part of the innovation steampunk brought to science fiction in the second half of the 20th century—but assembling history like fusion cuisine. This approach produces flavors that feel familiar but are intentionally hard to pin down. “It’s freedom,” Greg said. “You know,” I said, gently pushing my cleared plate aside, “part of what I enjoy most about steampunk is exactly that freedom. I think of punk as a verb in this context—it’s taking something and messing with it. Punk is a thing you do to something else.” “It’s good that you say that because I always wondered what the punk part of steampunk or cyberpunk was,” he admitted. Greg was far from alone here. If I had a nickel for every time I heard this, I’d have a lot of nickels. Steampunk is a catchy term. What’s more, like many such terms, it has a familiar flavor; it feels just right enough that most folks don’t stop to question it. If/when they do, the “-punk” part tends to raise eyebrows a little: “Wait, these really polite weirdos in spats and goggles don’t really look like rabid Sid Vicious fans…”
Page 1 and 2: AN EMBEDDED HISTORIAN’S NOTEBOOK
Page 3 and 4: STEAMPUNKING OUR FUTURE: AN EMBEDDE
Page 6: Futurehunting and Historyhacking |
Page 9 and 10: 4 | STEAMPUNKING OUR FUTURE: AN EMB
Page 15 and 16: Greg Broadmore (photo courtesy of S
Page 17: 12 | STEAMPUNKING OUR FUTURE: AN EM
Page 21 and 22: 16 | STEAMPUNKING OUR FUTURE: AN EM
Page 44 and 45: Index A Armadillo (movie), 29 B Bro
Page 46: About the Authors James H. Carrott

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