Genres 101: Today’s Lesson "Punk"

Filed in Genres 101 , The Quirky Lover Posted on March 16, 2011 @ 3:16 pm 9 comments

Today, I’m going all out Punk…I’ve dyed my hair green and spiked it, now we’re really ready to rock! Oh, wait….wrong Punk. In our last talk, I mentioned “Splatterpunk” which was a subgenre of Horror, but there is a separate part of the Speculative Fiction category that encompasses many other Punk types. It seems it started out with the term Cyberpunk, thought up by Bruce Bethke in the early 1980’s, which blends cybernetics with the punk music of the originating time. It’s essence is about a type of technology that has become highly evolved, for example blending humans with computers and usually occurring in a dystopian society. The first thing that comes to mind here are those scary, crazy Cyborgs in Star Trek….Yes, I’m a trekkie and a trekker (and I know the difference, lol). There are a bunch of movie versions of this genre that come readily to mind (The Matrix, anyone?), but certainly nothing I’ve personally read. Authors listed within this field are: William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, among many other. Do any of these names sound familiar to you?

Also listed with this main category is Postcyberpunk, with all the same requirements as cyberpunk but without the dysopian aspect involved. And there’s also Cyberprep, which takes out the “punk” elements and replacing them with a basically happy world where the machine/human mixes are for pleasure….um, really? I’ve got this vision of prep school kids with robotic arms. I have no authors or books to offer here, but I would think this is more like something you’d see in a comic book. Can you think of an actual book that fits the Cyberprep criteria?

Then we have what Wiki refers to as “Retrofuturistic Derivatives” which I find to be the most interesting of the “Punk” genre. Within this category, we have the very popular Steampunk, which is based in and around the Victorian era (1820-1910). It has also been labelled as “Neo-Victorianism” and has a huge following of fans that not only enjoy reading about it but also dressing in the fashions and truly delving themselves into this strange world. I know in recents years, Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series very much encompasses the ideals of Steampunk.

Clockpunk is similar to Steampunk but rather than steam-based technologies, it contains springs, gears, levers, etc. Wiki says that these books are heavily based on the works of Leonardo Da Vinci and if any of you have seen the movie Hudson Hawk (which I actually just watched yesterday) you’d understand the distinction a bit better. Clockpunk is actually a subgenre of Steampunk, and for my money, Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Angel is a mix of both of these with the book taking place in the Victoria era but with the clockwork creatures you find in its pages. What other examples can you think of with the Da Vinci elements in them?

Further types of  Retro-Futuristic “Punk” are:

Atompunk, taking place around 1945-1965, and featuring things like Space Age, atomic science, Communism, and other elements “exaggerated as paranoia in the USA”.

Dieselpunk, encompassing 1920-1945 and featuring punk aspects with the backdrop of World War II.

Then there are Futuristic types:

Biopunk, which explores biotechnology and the risks of messing with DNA, etc.

Nanopunk, which is fairly new and, seems to me, only understandable it you know a thing or two about nanotechnology. I wonder if this has anything to do with the Hedron Collider?

And, other derivatives include:

Elfpunk, which takes faeries and elves and puts them into the modern world, a form of Urban Fantasy. It seems Scott Westerfeld says that Holly Black is the perfect example of “classis elfpunk”. I think I’d add in Lesley Livingston into this subsection with her Wondrous Strange. Already we are seeing crossovers within the genre pool here, between this Elfpunk and certains types of Fantasy.

Mythpunk, which combines myth with “postmodern fantastic techniques”.

Nowpunk, set in the time frame of the publishing of the work, but doesn’t really offer up much of a description.

And Splatterpunk, which we covered under Horror (lotsa scary blood and guts type stuff).

So, no matter what kind of fiction you like, you kind find a Punk version that would probably suit your tastes…wait, they didn’t have Romance Punk, did they? Ah well, sure enough, someone will invent it soon :-p
Now I just have to wait for this green dye to grow out!!

Please feel free to inform me and other readers of any authors that you love within the Punk fields; I always love hearing about great writers 🙂

About Jackie


Jackie is a quirky mom, living in Ontario, Canada. She's a bookkeeper by day and a book lover by night. She also blogs at The Novel Nation and writes occasionally for Heroes and Heartbreakers.

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9 Comments

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  • Stella (Ex Libris) March 16, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    Oh wow Jackie.. I should print out all your Genre 101 posts and bind them together, would get such a nice and handy little guide, and I'm sure it would be popular anytime someone got a bit confused they would just whip it out and find the relevant post.

    I had no idea there was so many subgenres in punk. I still have to discover steampunk, but they sure sound interesting. Thank you for explaining it! 🙂

  • draconismoi March 16, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    I keep hearing about Dieselpunk, but have yet to find any books or shows actually portraying it. Examples, anyone?

  • Jackie March 16, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    @Stella – Thanks, Stella! I haven't read anything Steampunk yet myself, though I vaguely remember stories from years ago that may have fit into this category. I've heard Leviathan is great (and have it on the shelf)…should read it soon :-p

    @dracon – The first thing that came to mind for me was Mad Max, though it doesn't actually fit the description….but they have lots of those smelly vehicles running around. Goodreads lists only 2 books Leviathan (though it is set at the time of WWI, not the 2nd) and Bone Song by John Meaney.

  • Jackie March 16, 2011 at 7:04 pm

    Oh! And I also found this interesting blog here that mentions blimppunk. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that it would include blimps in the action, lol.

  • Chelsea B. March 17, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    Great post!

  • Jackie March 18, 2011 at 11:40 am

    @Chelsea – Thanks, hon!

  • GeishasMom73 March 19, 2011 at 8:29 am

    I really do appreciate these tutorials. I haven't read Steampunk before so whenever someone would mention the genre I was completely lost. Thanks!

    Stacie
    GeishasMom73 on twitter

  • Sheree March 19, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    Prior to the plethora of mainstream steampunk books, I've only known the phrase as pertained to manga and anime.

    Aside from Westerfeld's "Leviathan" series (very awesome), Philip Reeve had a couple of steampunk series for younger kids: The Hungry City Chronicles (cool first sentence: "It was a dark, blustery afternoon in spring, and the city of London was chasing a small mining town across the dried-out bed of the old North Sea.") and the Larklight trilogy (Victorians in space).

    Also, the old television show "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." had steampunk elements, too. I was soooo upset when FOX canceled that show but kept "The X-Files".

  • Jackie March 30, 2011 at 10:58 pm

    @Stacie – With the right storyline, the mechanical nature of these genres shouldn't make a difference. I hope you give one of them a try.

    @Sheree – I love the fashions involved in this genre. Steampunk turned up on NCIS on TV last season, I think. Turns out there are bars that cater to the Steampunk crowd. Thanks for throwing in a few more examples for us 🙂

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