Our friend Larry Amyett has a great article in the latest edition of SteamPunk Magazine about the flavors of dieselpunk in which he argues that the term “flavors” is most appropriate. “Just as a recipe includes a variety of flavors from many ingredients,” he writes, “most dieselpunks mix the different flavors to suit their personal tastes.”
The flavors of dieselpunks (SteamPunk Magazine/Allison M. Healy)
An excellent point. The “Ottensian” and “Piecraftian dieselpunk” — which Piecraft and I discussed in the first edition of the Gatehouse Gazette but phrases that were coined at the blog The Flying Fortress in June 2008 — are not set in stone, not are they black and white. Dieselpunk art and fiction can have elements of both. Indeed, mixing them up can give you very interesting results!
Larry goes on to describe the “Ottensian” and “Piecraftian” in full, including their subdivision into respectively hopeful and dark and dystopian and postapocalyptic and ties them expertly together in his conclusion where he also raises what I think is one of the main differences between dieselpunk and steampunk. The former, he argues, reminds us “that while the world is far from perfect, there are many positive aspects to our current times and that we need to avoid romanticizing the past. That there never were any ‘good old days’.”
Download the latest edition of SteamPunk Magazine here which also includes a provocative piece on steampunk politics by James H. Carrott and a good fashion feature from Miriam Roček with alternatives to fascist costume.
