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Originally Posted by Fbone
What is steampunk?
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As near as I can tell, it's some sort of speculative fiction with an odd mix of old technology and modern sensibilities and plotlines. There is often a Victorian feel added to the mix but I don't personally consider it essential to be considered generically 'Steampunk'. It's one of those things where I know it when I encounter it!
I don't think it has a firm definition, and this is illustrated by the wide variety of suggested titles in this thread. It is entirely possible that you have read "SteamPunk" without realizing it.
It's often either very dark or campy in nature. I don't recall many Steampunk stories that I've read that were not clearly one or the other though I guess it could be. I think of it as a sort of alternate universe type science fiction where the various threads of technology and culture have developed at different speeds in relation to each other and differently from our curently percieved universe (yet in an oddly parallel manner). I think it's obvious that an author could produce fiction that is 'sorta steampunk', and 'sorta not', depending on the level of deviance from our own universe.
Not a lot of magic or elves in Steampunk.
I'm not a super big fan of pure steampunk, but I enjoy it when it's well done.