My Thoughts on the Genre of Steam

This started as a more serious response to Kelly's post, but grew. I'm composing on a bit of a fever and lack of sleep, so my apologies if I run on at points.

I think steampunk has a lot of potential, as a setting, as a backdrop, as a sub-genre. It just plain looks fun. Admittedly, I haven't been overly impressed by some of the work being held up as "the standard" for SP at this point, but that is partly taste, partly evolution of the form, and partly, I suspect in a couple cases, writing being rushed to market. (I also admit I am not as widely read in the form as I might be, and so may have just been having horrible luck in picking titles to date.)

I'm not as disturbed by the glossing over of the evils of the Victorian era as some because, well, most of us do that for the other periods we use as settings. I'm a historian--there are vast swaths of evil and bad and rottenness in every era, most of which is not addressed or acknowledged in second-world fiction. Leaving it out is a tried and true tradition, and I don't think we should be conveniently dumping on one genre when there are so many others that do the same thing. Of course, that doesn't mean the darker side of society can't be can't be addressed in SP (or fantasy, or SF, or...), and shouldn't, and I suspect it will (and already is, from what I have gleaned via teh webz). We just haven't seen the full counter-swing of the pendulum, yet.

What annoys me, personally, are the ray guns, zombies, plot-holes, and extremes some people are taking the "science" to. Mad science /= implausible/impossible/hand-waving science, at least in the most egregious forms. If you want to hand wave, use magic, or at least try to give me a bit of a plausibility base. But this is only *my* opinion and, like I said, I trained as a historian--stuff like that bugs me. Clearly, others don't have this issue, and, for them, that's okay. Like the song says: You can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself. That holds doubly true for writers.

I think this latest iteration of SP is still building itself and sorting itself out. With the up-surge in the SP fashion/life style, along with over-the-top vehicles like Girl Genius (which I thinks works as an over-the-top offering, whereas many other literary efforts take this as an inspiration but don't adopt the tongue-in-cheek tone that makes GG work), there is more of an homage to the esthetic and less to the nuts and bolts of what make good world building. For those who want a brass and leather romp, this isn't an issue; for those looking for a bit more meat on the bone of their literature, much of the current fare is leaving the reader hungry.

That, and the sales and the shelf space, are likely what is rubbing some people raw. I can understand that. But I also agree with Kelly when he says that's no reason to start lobbing grenades (or, clock-work, self-igniting, inner fused explosive spheres, depending on the lobber) just because you aren't happy about the latest trend.

Do I think SP could be better? Sure. I also think fantasy, as a whole, could have been better in the late 70s and early 80s too, but that didn't mean the entire genre was crap and dragging us all into the abyss. And I don't even pretend to get all the vampire and zombie stuff. But so what? Steampunk is what it is, and if you don't like it, either write something better or let the people read their books. Bitching about it isn't going to make it go away.