Steampunk? What the heck is it?
Is this a flashback to Jules Verne? Do we have to go to sea 20,000 leagues under water? Is this walking around with a frock coat, a top hat and a cane or a dress that spreads out and sweeps the floor?
Nope. Not really. Steampunk is an exciting way to mix the old and the new to create an interesting mix that is unconventional, chic, modern and unique. Other names for it are dieselpunk, retro-futurism and sci-fi western.
You can do or find steampunk in many modes—literature, design, clothing, film, music, performance art, role-playing games, TV, video games and there must be more.
In writing, it is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction that started in the late 1980s.
Steampunk Mashup (mashup: a fusion or collection) blends old and new together in a way that creates a different feeling, or excitement that call for a double take. One of the stories in the book is based on the Magnus Effect (named after 1852 Gustav Magnus). This is a lift force of tremendous importance to athletes for bending the flight of a ball. Both ships and airplanes can use it as a propulsion force.