Cyberpunk derivatives
A number of cyberpunk derivatives have become recognized as distinct subgenres in speculative fiction. Although these derivatives do not share cyberpunk's digitally-focused setting, they may display other qualities drawn from or analogous to cyberpunk: a world built on one particular technology that is extrapolated to a highly sophisticated level, a gritty transreal urban style, or a particular approach to social themes.
One of the most well-known of these subgenres, steampunk, has been defined as a "kind of technological fantasy", and others in this category sometimes also incorporate aspects of science fantasy and historical fantasy. Scholars have written of these subgenres' stylistic place in postmodern literature, and also their ambiguous interaction with the historical perspective of postcolonialism.
American author Bruce Bethke coined the term "cyberpunk" in his 1980 short story of the same name, proposing it as a label for a new generation of punk teenagers inspired by the perceptions inherent to the Information Age. The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, Rudy Rucker, Michael Swanwick, Pat Cadigan, Lewis Shiner, Richard Kadrey, and others. Science fiction author Lawrence Person, in defining postcyberpunk, summarized the characteristics of cyberpunk thus:
Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body.
The relevance of cyberpunk as a genre to punk subculture is debatable and further hampered by the lack of a defined cyberpunk subculture; where the small cyber movement shares themes with cyberpunk fiction and draws inspiration from punk and goth alike, cyberculture is much more popular though much less defined, encompassing virtual communities and cyberspace in general and typically embracing optimistic anticipations about the future. Cyberpunk is nonetheless regarded as a successful genre, as it ensnared many new readers and provided the sort of movement that postmodern literary critics found alluring. Furthermore, author David Brin argues, cyberpunk made science fiction more attractive and profitable for mainstream media and the visual arts in general.
Futuristic derivatives
Biopunk
Biopunk emerged during the 1990s and focuses on the near-future unintended consequences of the biotechnology revolution following the discovery of recombinant DNA. Biopunk fiction typically describes the struggles of individuals or groups, often the product of human experimentation, against a backdrop of totalitarian governments or megacorporations which misuse biotechnologies as means of social control or profiteering. Unlike cyberpunk, it builds not on information technology but on biorobotics and synthetic biology. As in postcyberpunk however, individuals are usually modified and enhanced not with cyberware, but by genetic manipulation of their chromosomes.Nanopunk
Nanopunk refers to an emerging subgenre of speculative science fiction still very much in its infancy in comparison to other genres like that of cyberpunk. The genre is similar to [|biopunk], but describes a world in which the use of biotechnology is limited or prohibited, and only nanites and nanotechnology is in wide use. Currently the genre is more concerned with the artistic and physiological impact of nanotechnology, than of aspects of the technology itself. Still, one of the most prominent examples of [|nanopunk] is the Crysis video game series; less famous examples are Generator Rex and Transcendence.Postcyberpunk
As new writers and artists began to experiment with cyberpunk ideas, new varieties of fiction emerged, sometimes addressing the criticisms leveled at the original cyberpunk stories. Lawrence Person wrote in an essay he posted to the Internet forum Slashdot in 1998:Person advocates using the term "postcyberpunk" for the strain of science fiction he describes. In this view, typical postcyberpunk stories explore themes related to a "world of accelerating technological innovation and ever-increasing complexity in ways relevant to our everyday lives" with a continued focus on social aspects within a post-third industrial-era society, such as of ubiquitous dataspheres and cybernetic augmentation of the human body. Unlike cyberpunk its works may portray a utopia or to blend elements of both extremes into a more mature societal vision.
Rafael Miranda Huereca states:
The Daemon novels by Daniel Suarez could be considered postcyberpunk in that sense. In addition to themes of its ancestral genre postcyberpunk might also combine elements of nanopunk and biopunk. Often named examples of postcyberpunk novels are Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age and Bruce Sterling's Holy Fire. In television, ' has been called "the most interesting, sustained postcyberpunk media work in existence". In 2007, SF writers James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel published '. Like all categories discerned within science fiction, the boundaries of postcyberpunk are likely to be fluid or ill defined.
Cyber noir
Retrofuturistic derivatives
As a wider variety of writers began to work with cyberpunk concepts, new subgenres of science fiction emerged, playing off the cyberpunk label, and focusing on technology and its social effects in different ways. Many derivatives of cyberpunk are retro-futuristic, based either on the futuristic visions of past eras, especially from the first and second industrial revolution technological-eras, or more recent extrapolations or exaggerations of the actual technology of those eras.Steampunk
The word "steampunk" was invented in 1987 as a jocular reference to some of the novels of Tim Powers, James P. Blaylock, and K. W. Jeter. When Gibson and Sterling entered the subgenre with their 1990 collaborative novel The Difference Engine the term was being used earnestly as well. Alan Moore's and Kevin O'Neill's 1999 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen historical fantasy comic book series popularized the steampunk genre and helped propel it into mainstream fiction.The most immediate form of steampunk subculture is the community of fans surrounding the genre. Others move beyond this, attempting to adopt a "steampunk" aesthetic through fashion, home decor and even music. This movement may also be described as "Neo-Victorianism", which is the amalgamation of Victorian aesthetic principles with modern sensibilities and technologies. This characteristic is particularly evident in steampunk fashion which tends to synthesize punk, goth and rivet styles as filtered through the Victorian era. As an object style, however, steampunk adopts more distinct characteristics with various craftspersons modding modern-day devices into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style. The goal of such redesigns is to employ appropriate materials with design elements and craftsmanship consistent with the Victorian era.
Dieselpunk
Dieselpunk is a genre and art style based on the aesthetics popular between World War I and the end of World War II. The style combines the artistic and genre influences of the period with retro-futuristic technology and postmodern sensibilities. First coined in 2001 as a marketing term by game designer Lewis Pollak to describe his role-playing game Children of the Sun, dieselpunk has grown to describe a distinct style of visual art, music, motion pictures, fiction, and engineering. Examples include the movies Iron Sky, , The Rocketeer, , Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Dark City, and video games such as Crimson Skies, Greed Corp, Gatling Gears, BioShock and its sequel BioShock 2, The Legend of Korra, Skullgirls, Wolfenstein and Final Fantasy VII.Clockpunk
Clockpunk often portrays Renaissance-era science and technology based on pre-modern designs, in the vein of Mainspring by Jay Lake, and Whitechapel Gods by S. M. Peters. Examples of clockpunk include The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish, Astro-Knights Island in the nonlinear game Poptropica, the Clockwork Mansion level of Dishonored 2, the 2011 film version of The Three Musketeers, the TV series Da Vinci's Demons, as well as the videogames , Syberia and Assassins Creed 2. The book The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis is self-proclaimed clockpunk literature.For some, clockpunk is steampunk without steam. Atompunk, stonepunk, teslapunk, decopunk, nowpunk, are derivatives of clockpunk.
The term was coined by the GURPS role playing system.
Atompunk
Atompunk relates to the pre-Third Industrial Revolution short twentieth century, specifically the period of 1945–1975, including mid-century modernism, the Atomic Age, Jet Age and Space Age, Communism and Red Scare paranoia in the U.S. along with Neo-Soviet styling, underground cinema, Googie architecture, Sputnik and the Space Race, early Cold War espionage, superhero fiction and comic books and the rise of the U.S. military–industrial complex. Its aesthetic tends toward Populuxe and Raygun Gothic, which describe a retro-futuristic vision of the world. While most science fiction of the period carried an atompunk aesthetic, notable examples of atompunk in popular media include the Sean Connery-era of James Bond, television shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, The Avengers, Doctor Who, The Green Hornet, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Archer, cartoons like Johnny Quest, Speed Racer, Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls and Venture Bros, comic-books like Justice League of America, Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man, films like The Incredibles, Dr. Strangelove and , and video games like Destroy All Humans! and the Fallout series which received widespread distribution and critical acclaim.Steelpunk
Steelpunk focuses on the technologies that had their heyday in the late 20th century. In a post describing Steelpunk on the SFFWorld website it is characterised as being "about hardware, not software, the real world not the virtual world, megatechnology not nanotechnology. The artefacts of Steelpunk aren't grown, printed or programmed, they're built. With rivets." Examples given in the post include Mad Max, Terminator, Barb Wire, Iron Man and Snowpiercer. Other writers suggest Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series, the Heinlein juveniles and the film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.Rococopunk
Rococopunk is a whimsical punk derivative that thrusts punk attitude into the Rococo period, also known as late baroque. Although it is a fairly recent derivative, it is a style that is visually similar to the New Romantic movement of the 1980s. As one steampunk scholar put it, "Imagine a world where the Rococo period never ended, and it had a lovechild with Sid Vicious. Rococopunk has most recently been featured on The X Factor through the artist known as Prince Poppycock. Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, often known as "the Queen of Punk Fashion", also mixes Rococo with punk stylings.Decopunk
Decopunk is a recent subset of Dieselpunk, centered around the art deco and Streamline Moderne art styles, and based around the period between the 1920s and 1950s New York, Chicago, or Boston. In an interview at CoyoteCon, steampunk author Sara M. Harvey made the distinctions "shinier than dieselpunk, more like decopunk", and "Dieselpunk is a gritty version of steampunk set in the 1920s–1950s. The big war eras, specifically. Decopunk is the sleek, shiny very art deco version; same time period, but everything is chrome!" Possibly the most notable examples of this are the first two BioShock games and Skullgirls, films like Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer, The Shadow, and Dark City, comic books like The Goon, and the cartoon which included neo-noir elements along with modern elements such as the use of VHS cassettes.Stonepunk
Stonepunk refers to works set roughly during the Stone Age in which the characters utilize Neolithic Revolution–era technology constructed from materials more or less consistent with the time period, but possessing anachronistic complexity and function. The Flintstones franchise and its various spin offs, Roland Emmerich's 10,000 BC, the flashback scenes in Cro, and Dr. Stone fall under this category. Literary examples include Edgar Rice Burroughs' Back to the Stone Age and The Land that Time Forgot, and Jean M. Auel's "Earth’s Children" series, starting with The Clan of the Cave Bear.Other proposed science fiction derivatives
There have been a handful of divergent terms based on the general concepts of steampunk. These are typically considered unofficial and are often invented by readers, or by authors referring to their own works, often humorously.A large number of terms have been used by the GURPS roleplaying game Steampunk to describe anachronistic technologies and settings, including stonepunk, bronzepunk, ironpunk, candlepunk, and transistorpunk. These terms have seen very little use outside GURPS.
Raypunk
Raypunk is a distinctive genre which deals with scenarios, technologies, beings or environments, very different from everything that we know or what is possible here on Earth or by science. Covers space surrealism, parallel worlds, alien art, technological psychedelia, non-standard "science", alternative or distorted/twisted reality and so on. Predecessor to atompunk with similar "cosmic" themes but mostly without explicit nuclear power or exactly described technology and with more archaic/schematic/artistic style, dark, obscure, cheesy, weird, mysterious, dreamy, hazy or etheric atmosphere, parallel to steampunk, dieselpunk and teslapunk. While not originally designed as such, the original Star Trek series has an aesthetic very reminiscent of raypunk. The comic book series The Manhattan Projects, and the pre-WWII Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon comics and serials would be examples of raypunk.Nowpunk
Nowpunk is a term invented by Bruce Sterling, which he applied to contemporary fiction set in the time period in which the fiction is being published, i.e. all contemporary fiction. Sterling used the term to describe his book The Zenith Angle, which follows the story of a hacker whose life is changed by the September 11, 2001 attacks.Cyberprep
Cyberprep is a term with a very similar meaning to postcyberpunk. The word is an amalgam of the prefix "cyber-", referring to cybernetics, and "preppy", reflecting its divergence from the punk elements of cyberpunk. A cyberprep world assumes that all the technological advancements of cyberpunk speculation have taken place but life is utopian rather than gritty and dangerous. Since society is largely leisure-driven, advanced body modifications are used for sports, pleasure and self-improvement.An example would be Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series.
Solarpunk
Solarpunk is an movement, an subgenre, and an alternative to cyberpunk fiction that encourages optimistic envisioning of the future in light of present environmental concerns, such as climate change and pollution, as well as social inequality. Solarpunk fiction, which includes novels, short stories, and poetry, imagines futures that addresses environmental concerns with varying degrees of optimism. One example is News from Gardenia by actor-writer Robert Llewellyn.Other proposed fantastic fiction derivatives
Elfpunk
Elfpunk is subgenre of urban fantasy in which traditional mythological creatures such as faeries and elves are transplanted from rural folklore into modern urban settings and has been seen in books since the 1980s including works such as War of the Oaks by Emma Bull, Gossamer Axe by Gael Baudino, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, and The Iron Dragons' Daughter by Michael Swanwick. During the awards ceremony for the 2007 National Book Awards, judge Elizabeth Partridge expounded on the distinction between elfpunk and urban fantasy, citing fellow judge Scott Westerfeld's thoughts on the works of Holly Black who is considered "classic elfpunk—there's enough creatures already, and she's using them. Urban fantasy, though, can have some totally made-up f*cked-up creatures". The 2020 Pixar animated film Onward is an example of an elfpunk film, set in a "suburban fantasy world" that combines modern and mythic elements.Mythpunk
uses the term "mythpunk" to describe a subgenre of mythic fiction which starts in folklore and myth and adds elements of postmodern literary techniques. As the -punk appendage implies, mythpunk is subversive. In particular, it uses aspects of folklore to subvert or question dominant societal norms, often bringing in a feminist and/or multicultural approach. It confronts, instead of conforms to, societal norms. Valente describes mythpunk as breaking "mythologies that defined a universe where women, queer folk, people of color, people who deviate from the norm were invisible or never existed" and then "piecing it back together to make something strange and different and wild".Typically, mythpunk narratives focus on transforming folkloric source material rather than retelling it, often through postmodern literary techniques such as non-linear storytelling, worldbuilding, confessional poetry, as well as modern linguistic and literary devices. The use of folklore is especially important because folklore is "often a battleground between subversive and conservative forces" and a medium for constructing new societal norms. Through postmodern literary techniques, mythpunk authors change the structures and traditions of folklore, "negotiating—and validating—different norms".
Most works of mythpunk have been published by small presses, such as Strange Horizons, because "anything playing out on the edge is going to have truck with the small presses at some point, because small presses take big risks". Writers whose works would fall under the mythpunk label include Ekaterina Sedia, Theodora Goss, Neil Gaiman, Sonya Taaffe, Adam Christopher, and the anonymous author behind the pen name "B.L.A. and G.B. Gabbler". Valente's novel Deathless is a good example of mythpunk, drawing from classic Russian folklore to tell the tale of Koshchei the Deathless from a female perspective.