Zeppelins from Another World

When Michael and I were in the planning stages of Forgotten Gods, and discussing various alternate history and historical fantasy books, we jokingly decided that our unique selling point was that we were writing an alternate history which didn't feature zeppelins.

For some reason, zeppelins have become asignature feature of alternate history or alternate universes which show similarity to earth. This may be partially related to the popularity of steampunk or a steampunk-inspired aesthetic in the genre. (Often, the period between the 1870s and 1920s seems to be the default for historical fantasy and various alternate histories.) But zeppelins have popped up in fictional universes with a diverse range of technological development levels.

I don't have a peeve with this trope so much as a general curiosity. First of all, while zeppelins certainly have some good features, there are certainly incentives for various alternate worlds to develop a variety of transport technology, including other kinds of flight. This is particularly true if they have a number of other
high-tech tools. So while there's an aesthetic appeal, it doesn't always feel congruent with the fictional world.

Also, I wonder if authors think that focusing on the time period I mentioned is an integral part of the alternate history and historical fantasy genres, much the way that a psudo-medieval setting has become the norm in fantasy (and considered by many beginning authors to be a genre requirement for epic fantasy).

I'd encourage you to stop imitating existing authors in your chosen spec-fic subgenre, no matter how much you enjoy your work. Explore a time period or a place no one writes about. Think about a new divergent timeline. Create something that's uniquely yours. There's an infinite universe of possibilities out there, and only a small fraction of them require a zeppelin.