Other
literary "
punk"
styles have less to do with
technology, taking their
names from their
cyberpunk-like
themes of
dehumanization,
violence, and
despair. For
example,
splatterpunk is
horror fiction that emphasizes
violence and
gore so much that
plot and
characters fade into the
background as
unimportant.
Cowpunk is
Western fiction that is so
dirty,
grimy,
bloody, and
violent, that it makes "
Unforgiven" look like a
musical comedy.
Steampunk, on the other hand, seems to be a different case. It gets its "
punk" label primarily because of the
advanced technology that makes it similar to
cyberpunk. Though I've seen some very
hard-edged Victorian steampunk, its overall
tone is often more
fanciful and
optimistic:
Jules Verne with a
Babbage Engine,
H.G. Wells vs. a
steam-powered Hound of the Baskervilles...