Simultaneously a literary movement ultra-hip subculture & burgeoning cottage industry Steampunk is the most influential new genre to emerge from the late twentieth century. Spinning tales populated with clockwork Leviathans cannon-shots to the moon & coal-fired robots it charts alternative histories in which the British Empire never fell or where the atom remained unsplit. Spectacularly illustrated & international in scope this comprehensive history explores Steampunk's many intricate expressions in fiction cinema television comics & videogames & traces its evolution into a truly global aesthetic which has made its mark on art architecture fashion & even music. From the classic scientific romances of Jules Verne H.G. Wells & Mary Shelley through the dystopian futurescapes of Cyberpunk to the otherworldly imaginings of Hayao Miyazaki Alan Moore & China Mieville author Brian J. Robb sets the key works of Steampunk squarely under the lens of his brass monocle & ventures into a world where airships still rule the skies.