All the Punks- the Three Major Subgenres of Science Fiction

Posted by Indigo August 16, 2016

All the Punks- the Three Major Subgenres of Science Fiction

Science fiction is an incredible genre. While not as old as fantasy, it is by no means as new as some of the other genres that have recently sprung up. It's still evolving- for instance, within the last fifteen years or so it acquired three amazing sub genres. If you've got a basic story idea and need a world that can lend a whole new tone to the story, considering using one of these three world types.

STEAMPUNK
Steampunk is the grittiest of the worlds, and the one with the lowest tech. With more unrealistic tech,

Lonely Steampunk Girl by *Sk-wall on Devinart

sometimes based in fantasy (fantasy-steampunk hybrids are a big favorite of mine, and my Nanowrimo this year is going to be based in a world along those lines... SO HYPED, in case you don't notice. SQUEE!), these worlds are the most disconnected from science. Set in a slightly different world, often somewhere in the past, usually in the windows of the 1800s to the 1940s, these are based in a time when steam was the prominent form of power. This is my personal favorite setting type- when done right, steampunk worlds are amazing and beautiful things.

Steampunk worlds can be rather dystopian, but their dreary outlook generally is at fault due to humans, rather than machines. Sometimes steampunk worlds are bright and cheerful, sometimes they are dark and disturbing. Either way, steampunk worlds pulse with energy and layered world building. Like I said, steampunk worlds, especially with added layers of fantasy, are one of my favorites. To see more about what the steampunk genre is, go to What is Steampunk- Ministry of Peculiar Occurences.

**steampunk music down at the very bottom

CYBERPUNK

Couldn't find a source. If you find a source for this, please tell me!

One of the more mainstream science fiction genres, cyberpunk is a somewhat darker and more grounded version of steampunk. Cyberpunk can be realistic and while slightly damning not particularly dark, or incredibly thought-provoking and meaningful. Dystopian novels, when well done, tend to fall into this category. The tech doesn't have to be realistic, (i.e. the tech in Tron) but there are never elements of fantasy like there sometimes are in Steampunk. Cyberpunk is probably my least favorite of the three, but since it introduced me to the other two, I won't fault it too much. If you're looking to base a cyberpunk cities' asthetics on, I'd say to go for Tokyo. Cyberpunk is a fascinating genre, and is what both solarpunk and steampunk sprung from. Feeling like learning more about cyberpunk? Go to Neon Dystopia- What is Cyberpunk . I would say that Cinder is cyberpunk with a few of solarpunk mixed in. Speaking of which...

SOLARPUNK

Same goes for this one as for the other one regarding source. Sorry to whoever made this gorgeous piece of art. :(

Solarpunk is based on taking what you have and making it work. Steampunk is what we wish our past looked like, cyberpunk is what we are worried our future will look like, and solarpunk is what we hope our future will look like. In general the solarpunk worlds I've seen (next to none, I'm sorry, this is really not my area of expertise. Go ask Air about it, she's the expert.) are vibrant and cheerful. Any questionable events are preformed out of necessity and are in general, really not that evil. I think part of the reason I haven't seen any books with solarpunk worlds is because it's so hard to create conflict in such a beautiful, utopia-like setting. The closest I've seen is the Cinder series, which is a bit brighter and more idealistic than the other cyberpunk settings I've seen. Air can correct me here though. Like I said... in addition to being the Solarpunk expert, she's the one who introduced me to the Cinder series, so. For more/better explained info, go to Solarpunk Wikipedia because I'm laazy and the wikipedia for this is pretty dang good.

MUSIC!

The lines between the various genres are pretty blurred. Since these sub genres are relatively new, they aren't really fleshed out yet. These different music videos could be listened to for different sub genres depending on the make up of the specific music.

STEAMPUNK
(some darker than others)