Back in 2008, the GOGBOT Festival focused on Steampunk, and for their website Bruce Sterling wrote a landmark thought-piece on what Steampunk is.
That post very much informed Asil’s thinking, when they were developing The NeoVictoria Project. Here’s one of their favorite sections:
“Frankly, the heaviest guys in the steampunk scene are not really all that into “steam.” Instead, they are into punk. Specifically, punk’s do-it-yourself aspects and its determination to take the means of production away from big, mind-deadening companies who want to package and sell shrink-wrapped cultural product.”
GOGBOT recently took their 2008 site off-line, which was a loss to the project, as we would direct people to that essay when they asked us “what kind of Steampunk” we believed in. So, we reached out to Professor Sterling for permission to re-post it here. And, very graciously, he gave us the nod. Thank you, Professor!
We have the repost set as a page on the main side-bar of this site. Here’s the direct link: http://neovictoria.tv/main/steampunk/the-users-guide-to-steampunk/. If you’ve never read it, this is your chance. If it’s been awhile, enjoy a re-read. We’ll leave you with a final quote:
The past is a kind of future that has already happened.
