Today we welcome Jon Heartless, author of Romanticism Lost.
The “Greying Down” of Culture
by Jon Heartless
Is anyone else worried about the ‘greying down’ of culture which seems to be increasing all around us? Society does it by scorning anything outside the conventional. Our employers do it by demanding that we wear their uniform, use their methodology, and even use their word forms when dealing with customers. Governments do it by promoting bland manifestos, even blander politicians, and only supporting media-friendly, populist policies which can all be measured and quantified. The UK Government is especially target-obsessed, and exhibits the belief that everything can be fed into a spreadsheet of tick boxes which will yield statistical data on every part of our lives. “Real life doesn’t comply with forms AH139 to VT9735 inclusive? Then reality is wrong. We have the paperwork to prove it…”
In short, we are being homogenized in a variety of ways, usually by having bits chopped off so we fit a pre-determined shape, and I’m rather peeved about it. It’s at times like this that I truly understand why a diabolical mastermind wants to create a death ray and zap everyone. It’s not an insane desire to take over the world; it’s just table-chewing frustration at the way we’re treated by those who have power over us. Give me a death ray and I would quite happily point it at the Houses of Parliament. Or corporate employers. Or the tabloid press, with its insular attitudes and hatred of anything unlike.
This got me thinking one day on what the Sherlock Holmes stories would be like if Conan Doyle were writing today. We’re used to the idea of Holmes and Watson receiving a telegram pleading for help, dashing off in a hansom cab to Waterloo, the luxurious railway carriage, the hiring of a dog cart at the rural station, the investigation, the deduction, and the unmasking of the villain. Can you imagine what that would be like in the modern world? Holmes would be prosecuted for breaching health and safety laws after lighting his pipe, while the criminal, after being unmasked, would be able to sue the consulting detective for slander, emotional belittlement, loss of confidence etc etc. And this pre-supposes Holmes could get anywhere near the crime scene at all with our modern rail companies, who seem to view the transportation of passengers as being a distraction from their true calling of taking our money in ever increasing amounts in return for an ever decreasing service.
From all this was born my novella, Romanticism Lost, and only after I’d written it did I realise that I had something a bit ‘steampunkish’. (Please note I hesitate to label it as a definite steampunk work, though it does feature a nineteenth century setting and a Calculating Man made from glass, brass, and clockwork). And this, finally, leads to the point of today’s blog: when we create something that doesn’t fit into a preconceived set of values or opinions, do we create something more imaginative, something more enjoyable, something ‘better’?
After all, if we sit down and say, ‘I’m going to write a western,’ we immediately limit ourselves to a certain set of rules; cowboys, the sheriff, high noon etc. Even in a wider context we still do this – consider the British Empire. Immediately, our thoughts are channelled into a few well-established streams; it was good/bad, it did this, it caused that etc. So when we sit down to write steampunk, do we similarly limit ourselves to predetermined rules and thus a predetermined outcome?
I am in no way a steampunk expert, but I do know that it is now a genre, and genres often feed off themselves and in doing so they can lose originality. Witness the ‘steampunkiness’ of Doctor Who over the years, in which the past was represented by the Doctor with his Victorian/Edwardian clothing and old fashioned heroism, while the TARDIS was the new world of technology. Together they were incongruous, yet they worked. Now compare that to the modern day version, where deliberate quirkiness is forced into the concept, and you can see quite a shift in our creativity; we are retro-eccentric for the sake of it, rather than because it just happens to fit the artistic demands of the story.
Does this sort of thing limit us? And if so, is this true to the spirit of steampunk, which theoretically has no limits other than being set in an alternative, tech-heavy past? Are we now creating steampunk rather than creating something that can be labelled (often retrospectively) as steampunk? If we are starting with the intention that there will be warlords, airships, unconventional heroines, modern technology enclosed in Victorian aesthetic design etc, does this mean that we are sealing ourselves into a self-replicating loop?
I’m guilty of doing exactly this, incidentally, in that I’m writing a story inspired by Charles Stross’ blog complaining that the genre isn’t realistic enough about the horrors of the Victorian era. From this infamous rant, an idea lodged in my head about creating a steampunk story that does show the appalling social conditions of the Victorian age, and hence was born my work in progress, Steampunk Imperialism. However, I fear I am working to Mr. Stross’ agenda as to what the genre should be. I also fear that in trying to create a recognisable steampunk story I am heading through the door marked ‘Conventional’ rather than the door marked ‘Innovative’.
Given the individual artistic craft that goes into creating a steampunk-style computer, dress, or ray gun, it would be ironic indeed if we are succumbing to a rigid mindset on what is, and isn’t, acceptable. Is steampunk’s success going to be its downfall? Would it really make a difference if you could buy steampunk off the shelf in a supermarket? Is Steampunk really in danger of becoming SteamcorporateTM?
Of course, even is this is true, and I do emphasise I am only speculating here, you may well think it doesn’t matter, and you could be right. Some great things can still be achieved within the well-defined parameters of a genre, and in any case, it depends on what you want to do; are you writing a Dickensian tale of misery designed to show the inequality of Victorian life, or are you creating an adventure romp, or something which can inspire young readers, or something else again? There’s no law on this, just personal likes and dislikes.
Is Romanticism Lost a better work for not being bogged down in the minutiae of being a particular type of fiction? Or will Steampunk Imperialism be superior for having a definite genre and philosophy? (It certainly helps that I am interested in the Victorian age, although I am out of my comfort zone in setting the story at the start of the Victorian era rather than the fin-de-siècle). In the end, I suppose it all depends on the individual. And if that isn’t steampunk, I don’t know what is.
Speculation over, and I still haven’t reached a conclusion, but I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and, more importantly, I also hope you continue to enjoy steampunk for many years to come, no matter what guise is presents itself under.
Romanticism Lost can be purchased direct from Double Dragon Publishing, or from third party retailers such as Kindle. My YA werewolf tale The Wolves of Androcolus will be available from BloodMoonPublishing.com shortly, under my pen name Barnabas Corbin. Steampunk Imperialism will hopefully appear one day, assuming it doesn’t depress me to the extent that I give up on it.
–Jon Heartless
I quite agree. I think the best days of steampunk are here, and in a few months we’ll enter the horror of template-generated, cookie-cutter, mass produced flaccid ‘steampunk’ that will kill the concept. Oh, you want corsets? We can do that. You want gadgets ala ‘Q’ from James Bond, only with a Victorian aesthetic? You want wealthy white people floating around in air balloons going on ‘adventures’ we can do that. We can even throw in a few people of color to keep it PC.
In the romance genre we had a thing called ‘paranormal’ – which was interesting, unique and fresh, until every writer from kingdom come started throwing in Zombies and demons and all sorts just to be ‘different’ when all that they did was make it bland. (Take a normal character, call it a zombie, give it a few teenage problems/angst, and there you have it! The problem of not fitting in!)
Come on – its popular. Look at that TV show – whateveritscalled.
But the real stories that raise important questions, that cause us to look inside, that provide insightful examinations of we as a human race, where are those?
I sincerely hope that the genre can be used as a vehicle to truly go to new places creatively. It will not hurt us to look at the lessons for us from the Victorian era, even in a lighthearted way. I just fear the mass produced, Steamcommercial that I’m sure is on its way.
ps check out ‘Sherlock’ on PBS – a delightfully contemporary Holmes and Dr. Watson.
Thank you for raising these questions, Jon. These are things that have concerned me deeply for some time, prompting me to refer to myself as a speculative fiction writer and avoiding the label of steampunk writer because of the expectations and baggage that come with it.
On the other hand, high fantasy has similar expectations, yet writers have been able to reinvent the wheel a thousand times over in that genre. The way in which magic works in each story can be done so many ways.
Similarly, in steampunk, the inventions and technology can be endlessly delightful, inventive, funny, oppressive, etc.
I’d like to see less of the character archetypes of steampunk, and more depictions of real people living in a world that happens to be steampunk. What is a steampunk baker’s shop like? Or a steampunk publishing house? Or a steampunk banking system?
I think the genre has a long way to go yet, because hardly anyone has really tapped into that.
Claudia & Lia
I’m very glad that others think the same way; I was starting to think I was sitting alone for too long and going slightly odd…. and I am certainly intrigued by the idea of a steampunk bakery. Enormous Heath-Robinson contraptions, stretching over three floors, all whistling and steaming and parping and producing, at the very end, one chocolate digestive?
There is a reason why some of us refer to steampunk as an aesthetic, and not a genre unto itself.
But to talk about “greying down” – the uniformity that occurs after a subculture has established an aesthetic look for itself, which is then appropriate/assimilated into the mainstream happens all the time, not just to steampunk. As soon as an aesthetic accrues enough social/cultural capital, the sooner that profiteers will invest in it, bringing it to a mainstream, creating an easily-replicated look.
re: genre and writing, though, I don’t believe we’ve even begun to scratch the surface of applying the aesthetic. Stross’ criticism, in my books, is unfair, and I’m not alone in feeling that.
Amal El-Mohtar’s story “To Follow the Waves”, published in Steam-Powered: Steampunk Lesbian Stories, is set in an alt-history crystal-tech Syria, and it’s very much steampunk — yet she’s received criticism that it’s not steampunk at all, due to an assumption that steampunk entails British Victoriana. That’s a limitation placed on the genre by people who are introduced to it through very mainstream avenues, and it ignores the work being done to expand the subgenre.
There’s nothing wrong with having a set recipe to begin with, and branching out from there. We all need something to cut our teeth on, after all. It’s the staying there which is more damaging, but there’s no evidence that steampunk is.
Don’t get me started on chocolate digestives… or jaffa cakes… or jammy dodgers… This is starting to sound like the sweet factory in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! 🙂
Finally, someone has brought some of my concerns to the murky surface. I have read information and opinions that for a story to be truly steampunk, it has to fit within certain parameters, i.e., gadgets, unrest, fighting against the confines of the government. This made me feel like my writing was not entirely steampunk and I would be judged.
I guess I don’t really care. I would rather have the aesthetic the steampunk, rather than fitting into a mould of what it should be. I like the Victorian era, but maybe my idea of what that looks like or sounds like is entirely different from someone else. My focus might be on the poor buggers in the back alleys rather than the rich people mingling with royalty. Does that make either story less steampunk?
There are stories that I like and some I don’t, does that mean I am not a true lover of steampunk fiction? I think readers know the basic premise for steampunk, but it is up to writers to expand and break through walls. Is it an actual sub-genre? Maybe. But so is paranormal and that genre is always expanding to include more. I just heard about a series in which the protagonist is a grim reaper. That is a new one to me.
So I think there is so much more room to expand the steampunk aesthetic, we just have to make sure we don’t try to stay within parameters that could limit creativity and destroy what steampunk really should be – limitless.
Jha and Stacie
Unfortunately, there are some to whom any work will never be ‘true’ steampunk or ‘steampunk-lite’ etc, as some people are born critics.
I remember being disappointed by some of the comments on the Great Steampunk Debate last year, in which some allowed their petty nature to appear, usually along the lines of ‘Steampunk used to be great, now everyone is on the bandwagon, and so now it’s rubbish.’ The ultimate artistic fraudsters, maybe? They seem to want an exclusive club so that they can sneer at the ‘outsiders’.
So you’re absolutely right that you have to do what best fits your vision. If that vision is set in an alternative 1950s or 1850s, just go with it and don’t be put off by others. To paraphrase Oscar, the real crime is writing badly.
Lia
Is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (the car, not the film) steampunk? It could be…
Bravo! I don’t really care that much what the answers are, because the whole point of steampunk is to encourage and reawaken the act of creativity and self expression! As such, the questions are much more important than the answers which no two people are likely to totally agree on, nor should they necessarily try to. What is better, more fertile, and more likely to produce strange and wonderful new creations is to agree that these questions are out there, and that they do matter, but that in the end, we should create what makes us happy, and let the readers decide which version they like on any given day without constraining them to wanting the same flavor of steampunk from one day to the next. Otherwise it goes stale. Any rigid set of rules will certainly grey everything down. It is appropriate to talk about general patterns about what makes us, as individuals, but only us, think “that’s a steampunk story or piece of music etc, and what does not. What is important is to avoid making others feel inferior because their taste in steampunk differs from our own. That takes what is interesting in hearing about another person’s taste and makes it some sort of corporate formula which is what we are all rebelling against!…Well that and the numbness and depression that creeps up when the joy in life is snuffed out by what is seen as the practical necessity of focusing exclusively on making a few more dollars to pay the creditors. If it gives hope to you, think on this: I am currently writing Steampunk fiction revolving aroudn a specifically requested storyline by a convention organizer that is trying to take his personal life from anime conventions that he does for money and into steampunk conventions that are far more interesting to him. He is allowing me an enormous amount of artisitic freedom, so my acting troupe is going to have a load of fun with this and is turning his entire steampunk convention (The Difference Engine) into one big dramatic murder mystery theatre, with only bits of humor thrown in at moments when it is unexpected. We rarely get to do drama, really, in steampunk or even anime events, because they want costume contests and panels with no time to actually introduce characters and develop a story, so comedy is all there has been time for. This is different. This is interesting! this can go any direction our minds want to travel, because every few hours, the enitre con will get shut down for a “summit meeting” where everyone finds themselves drifting into a meeting to discuss what the saboteurs have been up to, who is missing, and what the security cameras (a very progressive invention for the 1800s, but we are on a captain Nemo level of advance airship after all) have filmed in grainy silent black and white that gives enough of a view to throw suspicion on many of their neighbors more than it answers any questions. This is fiction, because without fiction, there is no good drama, yet this is dramatic enactment (with scripts rehearsals etc) blended with deep audience participation and innovation. This may well be one of many solutions to fears of “Steampunk Fiction” growing stale, because many minds will bend reality in many different ways, but with an underlying sript driving all of it!
Fair winds to you! If you get bored, do it differently!
Adm. Ramon Leon del Mar (aka Ramon Fagan)
Kali’s Hourglass
Admiral Ramon Leon del Mar
Just as I think I’ve seen it all, another use of steampunk comes along and blows the old conventions away; your site looks jaw-dropping too. Good luck with your piratical-dancing-endevours.
Jon