The Real World Of Victorian Steampunk: Steam Planes And Radiophones

Description

In the last few decades, steampunk has blossomed from being a rather obscure and little-known subgenre of science fiction into a striking and distinctive style of fashion, art, design and even music. It is in the written word however that steampunk has its roots and in this book Simon Webb explores and examines the real inventions which underpin the fantasy. In doing so, he reveals a world unknown to most people today. The Real World of Victorian Steampunk shows the Victorian era to have been a surprising place; one of steam-powered airplanes, fax machines linking Moscow and St Petersburg, steam cars traveling at over 100 mph, electric taxis and wireless telephones. It is, in short, the nineteenth century as you have never before seen it; a steampunk extravaganza of anachronistic technology and unfamiliar gadgets. Imagine Europe spanned by a mechanical internet; a telecommunication system of clattering semaphore towers capable of transmitting information across the continent in a matter of minutes. Consider too, the fact that a steam plane the size of a modern airliner took off in England in 1894. Drawing entirely on contemporary sources, we see how little-known developments in technology have been used as the basis for so many steampunk narratives. From seminal novels such as The Difference Engine, through to the steampunk fantasy of Terry Pratchett’s later works, this book shows that steampunk is at least as much solid fact as it is whimsical fiction. Cover......Page 1 Book Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 List of Plates......Page 7 Introduction......Page 9 Chapter1: Dreams of the Future, Visions of the Past......Page 14 Chapter 2: Of Steam Buses and Atmospheric Railways......Page 26 Chapter 3 The Mechanical Internet......Page 45 Chapter 4: Steam Planes Take Off......Page 62 Chapter 5: Steam-Powered Computers and Mechanical Calculators......Page 88 Plate section......Page 102 Chapter 6 Radiophones, Fax Machines and Hard Drives......Page 110 Chapter 7 The Quest for Renewable Energy......Page 124 Chapter 8 The Resistible Rise of the Internal Combustion Engine......Page 138 Chapter 9 The 11-Mile-Long Shopping Mall that Never Was......Page 159 Endword......Page 170 Bibliography......Page 172 Index......Page 174 Back Cover......Page 177