Re: OT: uchroniapunk (was: Re: Exolangs (was Re: [relay] Planing))

Hallo!

On Mon, 6 Nov 2006 07:43:51 +0100, Benct Philip Jonsson wrote:

> Amanda Babcock Furrow skrev:
>  > On Sun, Nov 05, 2006 at 12:00:11AM +0100, Jörg
>  > Rhiemeier wrote:
>  >
>  >>> Ah, a space ship turning into a camel (or analogue) and
>  >>> a blaster into a dagger. How gratifying! Hmm, what would
>  >>> be the 'technological inverse' of a lightsaber, really?
>  >> A "glistening sword", or something like that.
>  >
>  > No, I think the inverse would be, instead of a low-tech
>  > item (the sword) rendered in a high-tech format (laser), a
>  > high-tech item in a low-tech format. I.e., something from
>  > a steampunk genre :)
>
> That's what I meant.
I see.

>        The problem is that that may be taken
> as having let magic out of the box; most low-tech fictional
> milieus are fantasy,
Conversely, most fantasy milieux are medieval low-tech.
But I think fantasy also works with modern or even futuristic
technology (_Star Wars_ is an example of the latter).
Mark Rosenfelder's Almea is more like 18th century Earth,
and a side project of mine is a fantasy world with modern
culture and technology.

>       and so magic is supposed to work there.
> While the Sohloçan certainly believe in magic I'm not so
> sure it actually works in their world. Telepathy and limited
> telekinesis do work for some people, *there* as it maybe
> does *here*, and are classed as magic by *them*, but I think
> that's the limit.
The British Elves also believe in magic, and it may work, though
to a very limited extent.  Not the D&D-style fireballs and +3
swords thing.

> As for steampunk I wasn't aware of the term or the genre,
> except if the alternate in Poul Anderson's time-cop story
> "Delenda Est" counts.
The seminal steampunk novel was _The Difference Engine_ by
William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.  The term "steampunk" was
coined after the model of "cyberpunk".  Of course, the fact
that the novel was written by the two biggest names in the
cyberpunk movement and in a cyberpunkish style was the main
reason to name it that way.

>        This in spite of even having dabbled
> in the genre: I once began a story set in an alternative
> timeline where Germany won WW I and technological advances
> due to and posterior to WW II, which never happened *there*,
> were never made. It was based on a dream I had which was set
> in a 'steampunky' version of the town where I live.
>
> Sohlodar of course would be 'bronze-punk', since it is a
> bronze-age culture that just has made contact with iron-
> using cultures.
How much "punk" is there in it?

Greetings,

Jörg.

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