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<blockquote data-quote="Parmandur" data-source="post: 9660414" data-attributes="member: 6780330">The term had nothing to do with Sterling or Gibson, and was a joke about how the writers doing that sort of thing were not in tune with the &quot;punk&quot; thing:&quot;Although many works now considered seminal to the genre were published in the 1960s and 1970s, the term &quot;steampunk&quot; originated largely in the 1980s as a tongue-in-cheek variant of &quot;cyberpunk&quot;. It was coined by science fiction author K. W. Jeter, who was trying to find a general term for works by Tim Powers (The Anubis Gates, 1983), James Blaylock (Homunculus, 1986), and himself (Morlock Night, 1979, and Infernal Devices, 1987) — all of which took place in a 19th-century (usually Victorian) setting and imitated conventions of such actual Victorian speculative fiction as H. G. Wells' The Time Machine. In a letter to science fiction magazine Locus,printed in the April 1987 issue, Jeter wrote:&quot;Dear Locus,&quot;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 &quot;the Powers/Blaylock/Jeter fantasy triumvirate&quot; was writing in the &quot;gonzo-historical manner&quot; first. Though of course, I did find her review in the March Locus to be quite flattering.&quot;&quot;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 &quot;steam-punks,&quot; perhaps....&quot;— K.W. Jeter[URL unfurl=&quot;true&quot;]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk[/URL]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Parmandur, post: 9660414, member: 6780330"] The term had nothing to do with Sterling or Gibson, and was a joke about how the writers doing that sort of thing were not in tune with the "punk" thing: "Although many works now considered seminal to the genre were published in the 1960s and 1970s, the term "steampunk" originated largely in the 1980s as a tongue-in-cheek variant of "cyberpunk". It was coined by science fiction author K. W. Jeter, who was trying to find a general term for works by Tim Powers (The Anubis Gates, 1983), James Blaylock (Homunculus, 1986), and himself (Morlock Night, 1979, and Infernal Devices, 1987) — all of which took place in a 19th-century (usually Victorian) setting and imitated conventions of such actual Victorian speculative fiction as H. G. Wells' The Time Machine. In a letter to science fiction magazine Locus,printed in the April 1987 issue, Jeter wrote: "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 [URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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