Fictionlet

[the_gneech]

“Well, you know, I wanted to like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,” said Brigid, starting a fresh piece of pizza. “I mean, I was all into Tale Spin and I really like that whole Steampunk vibe.”

“Dieselpunk,” said Alex.

“What?” said Brigid.

“The planes have diesel engines,” said Greg, nodding at Alex. “So it’s Dieselpunk, not Steampunk.”

“Oh come on,” said Brigid. “What difference does it make?”

“I didn’t make the term,” said Alex. “I’m just pointing it out!”

“That’s just stupid,” said Brigid. “The planes in Sky Captain weren’t powered by anything but special effects. Besides, there was a car in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and you said that was Steampunk.”

“Well,” said Alex, unconvincingly.

“Although strictly speaking, if we’re going to pull all this stuff apart,” said Greg, “the real problem is the appellation ‘-punk.’ I mean honestly, how does putting goggles, straps, and gears on everything have anything to do with an ideology of aggressive anti-authoritariansim and critique of mainstream consumerism?”

“Do what?” said Brigid.

“Really, if anything, with all its pseudo-Victorian ‘God save the Queen’-ing, the genre should be called ‘SteamRetroImperialism.’ Or possibly ‘SteamSellingOut’.”

“Well, no genre makes it into the mainstream without selling out,” said Alex. “I hate to tell you this, but at their core, ninety percent of the population actually prefers tyranny. Do you really think an antiestablishment genre can survive? Even among fandom geeks, people prefer divine-right monarchies and happy endings over the messy realities of life and politics.”

“Hold on,” said Brigid. “I thought we were talking about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.”

“Eh?” said Alex. “I thought we were talking about Steampunk.”

“Dieselpunk,” said Greg. “Or possibly, DieselRetroImperialism.”

-The Gneech

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Originally published at gneech.com. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[radbaron.livejournal.com]

Diamond Aircraft actually makes the DA-42T twin engine turbo-diesel aircraft with opposite spinning propellers. Fuel in an aircraft is measured in gallons and pounds.

DieselRetroCounterRotatingImperialism.

Have a nice Robeyday.

*runs runs. then runs some more*

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

I believe the term you're looking for is:

/flrrd/

=^_~=

[radbaron.livejournal.com]

flee laughing run run duck?

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Yay, Flrrd has an acronym form, now!

No, it was a famous typo of "flees." (Move your left paw one key over...)

-=TK

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Ha! I should have seen this coming, the way you've been on about Steampunk, recently. I like the motif of the genre, but not the culture of the participants. "We're better than you because we put high technology back into steam engines." Bah.

Poor Brigid, how does she ever get a word in at all with these two?

[harper-knight.livejournal.com]

I admit, I would be more interested in steampunk if it was more commonly called SteamRetroImperialism!

[goodluckfox.livejournal.com]

I would like ot hear more about Brigid's Talespin interest. :)

[rhanlav.livejournal.com]

Dieselpunk is good but what about the offshoot of that, Hydrogenpunk? Zepplins don't fly just on steam or diesel alone.

Stop keeping the hydrogen element down, MAN!

HydrogenRetroAirshipImperialism!

[exatron.livejournal.com]

Didn't interest in hydrogenpunk go down in flames after that whole Hindenberg thing?

[rhanlav.livejournal.com]

Not at all. Everyone knows that ETHER is the new HYDROGEN! It provides great lifting powers while also being totally fictitious! You can use it to take your air ship to the moon, or make an air craft carrier fly! With enough ETHER, you can make SCIENCE!(tm) your personal aeronautical bitch!

SCIENCE!

--Salen, not a mad scientist ferret, just very angry.

[oceansedge.livejournal.com]

*grins*
I love a good tangent

[rowyn]

*giggles*

Geeks are so cute! <3

I wanted to like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, too. -.-