1.
Science fiction
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Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars
2.
War novel
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Many war novels are historical novels. The war novels origins are in the poetry of the classical and medieval periods, especially Homers The Iliad, Virgils The Aeneid, sagas like the Old English Beowulf. Other important influences on the war included the tragedies of dramatists such as Euripides, Seneca the Younger, Christopher Marlowe. Euripedes The Trojan Women is a disturbing play on the theme of wars horrors. A Notable non-western example of war novel is Luo Guanzhongs Romance of the Three Kingdoms, an example of one such work is Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausens Simplicius Simplicissimus, a semi-autobiographical account of the Thirty Years War. World War I produced a number of war novels, by writers from countries on all sides of the conflict. One of the first and most influential of these was the 1916 novel Le Feu by the French novelist, barbusses novel, with its open criticism of nationalist dogma and military incompetence, initiated the anti-war movement in literature that flourished after the war. Of equal significance is the work of Ernst Jünger, In Stahlgewittern. The work not only provides for a perspective of the War. One example of type of novel is Virginia Woolfs Mrs. Dalloway, in which a key subplot concerns the tortuous descent of a young veteran, Septimus Warren Smith, toward insanity. In 1924, Laurence Stallings published his war novel, Plumes. The 1920s saw the so-called war book boom, during which men who had fought during the war were finally ready to write openly and critically about their war experiences. Novels about World War I appeared less in the 1930s, though during this decade historical novels about earlier wars became popular, margaret Mitchells Gone with the Wind, which recalls the American Civil War, is an example of works of this trend. World War II gave rise to a new boom in contemporary war novels, among more recent European novels is Ukraine - In the Time of War, by Sonia Campbell-Gillies which has seen a sudden upsurge in demand since the annexation of Crimea by Russia. Ukraines war-torn history is mirrored in the struggle for survival, freedom, Ukrainian literature is scarce since the Ukrainian language was banned during occupation by various forces. The previous volume Le sursis (1945, The Reprieve, explores the ramifications of the appeasement pact that Great Britain, another significant French war novel was Pierre Boulles Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï. He served as an agent under the name Peter John Rule and helped the resistance movement in China, Burma. He served in the cavalry in 1940 and even took part in an attack on horseback against tanks, Greenes later The End of the Affair is set mainly during the flying bomb raids on London of 1944
3.
Hard science fiction
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Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific accuracy. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, the complementary term soft science fiction, formed by analogy to hard science fiction, first appeared in the late 1970s. The term is formed by analogy to the distinction between the hard and soft sciences. The heart of the hard SF designation is the relationship of the content and attitude to the rest of the narrative. Later discoveries do not necessarily invalidate the label of hard SF, as evidenced by P. Schuyler Miller, there is a degree of flexibility in how far from real science a story can stray before it leaves the realm of hard SF. Readers of hard SF often try to find inaccuracies in stories, the same book famously featured a devastating inaccuracy, the eponymous Ringworld is not a stable orbit and would crash into the sun without active stabilization. Niven fixed these errors in his sequel The Ringworld Engineers, films set in outer space which aspire to the hard SF label try to minimize the artistic liberties taken for the sake of practicality of effect. Factors include, How the film accounts for weightlessness in space, how the film depicts sound despite the vacuum of space. Whether telecommunications are instant or are limited by the speed of light, cosmic Engineers, A Study of Hard Science Fiction. Hard Science Fiction Exclusive Interviews Kheper Realism scale Science Fiction Stories with Good Astronomy & Physics, the Ten Best Hard Science Fiction Books of all Time, selected by the editors of MITs Technology Review,2011 Low-Level Science fiction, Sci-fi with hard science and a literary slant
4.
Espionage
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Espionage is the obtaining of information considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage can be committed by an individual or a spy ring, in the service of a government or a company, the practice is inherently clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome and in many cases illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is a subset of intelligence gathering, which includes espionage as well as information gathering from public sources, Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. However, the term is associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies primarily for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage, one of the most effective ways to gather data and information about the enemy is by infiltrating the enemys ranks. This is the job of the spy, Spies can bring back all sorts of information concerning the size and strength of enemy forces. They can also find dissidents within the forces and influence them to defect. In times of crisis, spies can also be used to steal technology, counterintelligence operatives can feed false information to enemy spies, protecting important domestic secrets, and preventing attempts at subversion. Nearly every country has strict laws concerning espionage, and the penalty for being caught is often severe. However, the benefits that can be gained through espionage are generally great enough that most governments, events involving espionage are well documented throughout history. The Old Testament of the Christian Bible, which is based primarily on the Hebrew Bible, speaks about Joshua and Caleb, the ancient writings of Chinese and Indian military strategists such as Sun-Tzu and Chanakya contain information on deception and subversion. Chanakyas student Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire in India, made use of assassinations, spies and secret agents, the ancient Egyptians had a thoroughly developed system for the acquisition of intelligence, and the Hebrews used spies as well, as in the story of Rahab. Spies were also prevalent in the Greek and Roman empires, during the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mongols relied heavily on espionage in their conquests in Asia and Europe. Feudal Japan often used ninjas to gather intelligence, aztecs used Pochtecas, people in charge of commerce, as spies and diplomats, and had diplomatic immunity. Many modern espionage methods were established by Francis Walsingham in Elizabethan England, in 1585, Mary, Queen of Scots was placed in the custody of Sir Amias Paulet, who was instructed to open and read all of Marys clandestine correspondence. In a successful attempt to expose her, Walsingham arranged a single exception, Mary was misled into thinking these secret letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered and read by Walsinghams agents. He succeeded in intercepting letters that indicated a conspiracy to displace Elizabeth I with Mary, in foreign intelligence, Walsinghams extensive network of intelligencers, who passed on general news as well as secrets, spanned Europe and the Mediterranean. While foreign intelligence was a part of the principal secretarys activities, Walsingham brought to it flair and ambition
5.
Martial arts
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Although the term martial art has become associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it originally referred to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is derived from Latin, and means arts of Mars, Martial arts may be categorized along a variety of criteria, including, Traditional or historical arts vs. contemporary styles of folk wrestling and modern hybrid martial arts. Such traditions include eskrima, silat, kalaripayat, kobudo, and historical European martial arts, Many Chinese martial arts also feature weapons as part of their curriculum. Similarly, modern Western martial arts and sports include fencing, stick-fighting systems like canne de combat or singlestick. Combat-oriented Health-oriented Many martial arts, especially those from Asia, also teach side disciplines which pertain to medicinal practices and this is particularly prevalent in traditional Asian martial arts which may teach bone-setting, herbalism, and other aspects of traditional medicine. Spirituality-oriented Martial arts can also be linked with religion and spirituality, numerous systems are reputed to have been founded, disseminated, or practiced by monks or nuns. Throughout Asia, meditation may be incorporated as part of training, in those countries influenced by Hindu-Buddhist philosophy, the art itself may be used as an aid to attaining enlightenment. Japanese styles, when concerning non-physical qualities of the combat, are strongly influenced by Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. Concepts like empty mind and beginners mind are recurrent, aikido, for instance, can have a strong philosophical belief of the flow of energy and peace fostering, as idealised by its founder Morihei Ueshiba. Traditional Korean martial arts place emphasis on the development of the spiritual and philosophical development. A common theme in most Korean styles, such as taekkyeon and taekwondo, is the value of peace in a practitioner. The Koreans believe that the use of force is only justified through defense. Many such martial arts incorporate music, especially strong percussive rhythms, the oldest works of art depicting scenes of battle are cave paintings from Spain dated between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE that show organized groups fighting with bows and arrows. Chinese martial arts originated during the Xia Dynasty more than 4000 years ago and it is said the Yellow Emperor Huangdi introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a general who, before becoming Chinas leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology. One of his opponents was Chi You who was credited as the creator of jiao di. The foundation of modern Asian martial arts is likely a blend of early Chinese, during the Warring States period of Chinese history extensive development in martial philosophy and strategy emerged, as described by Sun Tzu in The Art of War. Legendary accounts link the origin of Shaolinquan to the spread of Buddhism from India during the early 5th century AD, with the figure of Bodhidharma, to China
6.
Michael Crichton
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John Michael Crichton was an American best-selling author, screenwriter, film director and producer best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted into films, in 1994, Crichton became the only creative artist ever to have works simultaneously charting at No.1 in US television, film, and book sales. His literary works are usually within the genre and heavily feature technology. His novels epitomize the techno-thriller genre of literature, often exploring technology and failures of human interaction with it, many of his future history novels have medical or scientific underpinnings, reflecting his medical training and science background. John Michael Crichton was born on October 23,1942, in Chicago, Illinois, to John Henderson Crichton, a journalist, and Zula Miller Crichton. He was raised on Long Island, in Roslyn, New York, Crichton had always planned on becoming a writer and began his studies at Harvard College in 1960. During his undergraduate study in literature, he conducted an experiment to expose a professor who he believed was giving him abnormally low marks, informing another professor of his suspicions, Crichton submitted an essay by George Orwell under his own name. The paper was returned by his unwitting professor with a mark of B− and he received a Henry Russell Shaw Traveling Fellowship from 1964 to 1965 and was a visiting lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom in 1965. Crichton later enrolled at Harvard Medical School, when he began publishing work, by this time he had become exceptionally tall, by his own account he was approximately 6 feet 9 inches tall in 1997. In reference to his height, while in school, he began writing novels under the pen names John Lange. He later described his Lange books in the way, My feeling about the Lange books is that my competition is in-flight movies. One can read the books in an hour and a half, I write them fast and the reader reads them fast and I get things off my back. In Travels he recalls overhearing doctors, who were unaware that he was the author, a Case of Need, written under the Hudson pseudonym, won him his first Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1969. He also co-wrote Dealing, or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues with his younger brother Douglas, the back cover of that book carried a picture, taken by their mother, of Michael and Douglas when very young. He graduated from Harvard, obtaining an MD in 1969, and undertook a fellowship study at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. He never obtained a license to practice medicine, devoting himself to his career instead. Reflecting on his career in medicine years later, Crichton concluded that too often shunned responsibility for their own health. He experimented with astral projection, aura viewing, and clairvoyance, in 1988, Crichton was a visiting writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
7.
BBC News
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BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the worlds largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, the service maintains 50 foreign news bureaux with more than 250 correspondents around the world. James Harding has been Director of News and Current Affairs since April 2013, the departments annual budget is in excess of £350 million, it has 3,500 staff,2,000 of whom are journalists. BBC News domestic, global and online news divisions are housed within the largest live newsroom in Europe, parliamentary coverage is produced and broadcast from studios in Millbank in London. Through the BBC English Regions, the BBC also has regional centres across England, as well as national news centres in Northern Ireland, Scotland, all nations and English regions produce their own local news programmes and other current affairs and sport programmes. As with all media outlets, though, it has been accused of political bias from across the political spectrum. The British Broadcasting Company broadcast its first radio bulletin from radio station 2LO on 14 November 1922, on Easter weekend in 1930, this reliance on newspaper wire services left the radio news service with no information to report. The BBC gradually gained the right to edit the copy and, in 1934, however, it could not broadcast news before 6 PM until World War II. Gaumont British and Movietone cinema newsreels had been broadcast on the TV service since 1936, a weekly Childrens Newsreel was inaugurated on 23 April 1950, to around 350,000 receivers. The network began simulcasting its radio news on television in 1946, televised bulletins began on 5 July 1954, broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London. The publics interest in television and live events was stimulated by Elizabeth IIs coronation in 1953 and it is estimated that up to 27 million people viewed the programme in the UK, overtaking radios audience of 12 million for the first time. Those live pictures were fed from 21 cameras in central London to Alexandra Palace for transmission and that year, there were around two million TV Licences held in the UK, rising to over three million the following year, and four and a half million by 1955. This was then followed by the customary Television Newsreel with a commentary by John Snagge. It was revealed that this had been due to producers fearing a newsreader with visible facial movements would distract the viewer from the story. On-screen newsreaders were finally introduced a year later in 1955 – Kenneth Kendall, Robert Dougall, mainstream television production had started to move out of Alexandra Palace in 1950 to larger premises – mainly at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherds Bush, west London – taking Current Affairs with it. It was from here that the first Panorama, a new programme, was transmitted on 11 November 1953. On 28 October 1957, the Today programme, a radio programme, was launched in central London on the Home Service. In 1958, Hugh Carleton Greene became head of News and Current Affairs and he set up a BBC study group whose findings, published in 1959, were critical of what the television news operation had become under his predecessor, Tahu Hole
8.
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
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Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, science fantasy or horror fiction literature in which the Earths technological civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The story may involve attempts to prevent an event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or it may be post-apocalyptic. Post-apocalyptic stories often place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of society. And recognizable modern apocalyptic novels had existed since at least the first quarter of the 19th century, however, this form of literature gained widespread popularity after World War II, when the possibility of global annihilation by nuclear weapons entered the public consciousness. As shown above, the apocalypse is also depicted in visual art, the story may involve attempts to prevent an apocalypse event, deal with the impact and consequences of the event itself, or may be post-apocalyptic, and be set after the event. Post-apocalyptic stories often place in a non-technological future world, or a world where only scattered elements of society. The scriptural story of Noah and his Ark describes the end of the original civilization. Noah is assigned the task to build the Ark and save the lifeforms so as to reestablish a new post-flood world, numerous other societies, including the Babylonian, had produced apocalyptic literature and mythology which dealt with the end of the world and of human society. Many of which included stories that refer back to the Biblical Noah or describe a similar flood. The Epic of Gilgamesh, written ca, 2000–1500 BC, details a myth where the angry gods send floods to punish humanity, but the ancient hero Utnapishtim and his family are saved through the intervention of the god Ea. A similar story about the Genesis flood narrative is found in Sura 71 of the Quran, even in the Hindu Dharmasastra, the apocalyptic deluge plays a prominent part. According to the Matsya Purana, the Matsya avatar of Lord Vishnu, at the time of deluge, Vishnu appeared as a horned fish and Shesha appeared as a rope, with which Vaivasvata Manu fastened the boat to the horn of the fish. Variants of this story appear in Buddhist and Jain scriptures. The first centuries AD saw the recording of the Book of Revelation, which is filled with prophecies of destruction, as well as luminous visions. In the first chapter of Revelation, the writer St. John the Divine explains his errand, Write the things which thou hast seen, the things which are. He takes it as his mission to convey—to reveal—to God’s kingdom His promise that justice will prevail, the apocalyptist provides a beautific vision of Judgement Day, revealing God’s promise for redemption from suffering and strife. Revelation describes a New Heaven and a New Earth, and its intended Christian audience is often enchanted and inspired and these Christians believed themselves chosen for God’s salvation, and so such apocalyptic sensibilities inspired optimism and nostalgia for the end times. The fear of the end is about as old as civilization itself
9.
USA Today
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USA Today is an internationally distributed American daily middle-market newspaper that serves as the flagship publication of its owner, the Gannett Company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15,1982, it operates from Gannetts corporate headquarters on Jones Branch Drive in McLean, Virginia and it is printed at 37 sites across the United States and at five additional sites internationally. USA Today is distributed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, with an international edition distributed in Canada, Asia and the Pacific Islands, Gannett formally announced the launch of the paper on April 20,1982. USA Today began publishing on September 15,1982, initially launching in the Baltimore and Washington, on July 2,1984, the newspaper switched from a largely black-and-white to a color publication, featuring full color photography and graphics in all four sections. On April 8,1985, the paper published its first special bonus section, a 12-page section called Baseball 85, on May 6,1986, USA Today began printing production of its international edition in Switzerland. On April 15, USA Today launched an international printing site. On August 28,1995, an international publishing site was launched in Frankfurt, Germany, to print. On October 4,1999, USA Today began running advertisements on its front page for the first time. The paper launched a sixth printing site for its international edition on May 15,2000, in Milan, Italy, followed on July 10 by the launch of a printing facility in Charleroi. That November, USA Today migrated its operations from Gannetts previous corporate headquarters in Arlington, in 2010, USA Today launched the USA Today API for sharing data with partners of all types. On August 27,2010, USA Today announced that it would undergo a reorganization of its newsroom and it also announced that the paper would shift its focus away from print and place more emphasis on its digital platforms and launch of a new publication called USA Today Sports. On September 14,2012, USA Today underwent the first major redesign in its history, to accomplish this goal, Gannett migrated its newspaper and television station websites to the Presto platform and the USA Today site design throughout 2013 and 2014. On January 4,2014, USA Today acquired the book and film review website, on September 3,2014, USA Today announced that it would lay off roughly 70 employees in a restructuring of its newsroom and business operations. In October 2014, USA Today and OpenWager Inc. entered into a partnership to release a Bingo app called USA TODAY Bingo Cruise, USA Today is known for synthesizing news down to easy-to-read-and-comprehend stories. In the main edition circulated in the United States and some Canadian cities, each consists of four sections, News, Money, Sports. The international edition of the paper features two sections, News and Money in one, with Sports and Life in the other, atypical of most daily newspapers, the paper does not print on Saturdays and Sundays, the Friday edition serves as the weekend edition. USA Today prints each complete story on the front page of the section with the exception of the cover story. The cover story is a story that requires a jump
10.
Soft science fiction
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Soft science fiction, or soft SF, is a category of science fiction with two different definitions. It either explores the soft sciences, and especially the sciences, rather than engineering or the hard sciences, or is not scientifically accurate. Soft science fiction of either type is more concerned with character and speculative societies. It is the complement of science fiction. The term first appeared in the late 1970s and is attributed to Australian literary scholar Peter Nicholls, in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Peter Nicholls writes that soft SF is a not very precise item of SF terminology and that the contrast between hard and soft is sometimes illogical. In fact, the boundaries between hard and soft are neither definite nor universally agreed-upon, so there is no standard of scientific hardness or softness. Some readers might consider any deviation from the possible or probable to be a mark of softness, in Brave New Words, subtitled The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, soft science fiction is given two definitions. The first definition is science fiction that is focused on advancements in, or extrapolations of, the soft sciences. The second definition is science fiction in which science is not important to the story, the term soft science fiction was formed as the complement of the earlier term hard science fiction. The earliest known citation for the term is in 1975, The Year in Science Fiction by Peter Nicholls and he wrote The same list reveals that an already established shift from hard sf to soft sf is continuing more strongly than ever. Poul Anderson, in Ideas for SF Writers, described H. G. Jeffrey Wallmann suggests that science fiction grew out of the gothic fiction of Edgar Allan Poe. In calling out specific examples from this period, McGuirk describes Ursula K, le Guins 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness as a soft SF classic. The New Wave movement in science fiction developed out of science fiction in the 1960s and 70s. The conte cruel was the narrative form of soft science fiction by the 1980s. During the 1980s cyberpunk developed from soft science fiction, McGuirk identifies two subgenres of soft science fiction, Humanist science fiction and Science fiction noir. And yet, its style is realistic, and despite its then-future setting, very much more like a spy novel or political thriller in terms of its themes. The film The Invention of Lying, written by Ricky Gervais, however, the setting appears to be relatively similar to our own world in terms of aesthetics and industrial progression. Frank Herberts Dune series is a landmark of science fiction
11.
History of science fiction
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The literary genre of science fiction is diverse, and its exact definition remains a contested question among both scholars and devotees. This lack of consensus is reflected in debates about the genres history, there are two broad camps of thought, one that identifies the genres roots in early fantastical works such as the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Scholar Robert Scholes calls the history of fiction the history of humanitys changing attitudes toward space. The history of our understanding of the universe and the position of our species in that universe. In recent decades, the genre has diversified and become established as a major influence on global culture. These texts often include elements such as a voyage to the moon or the use of imagined advanced technology. American science fiction author Lester del Rey was one supporter of using Gilgamesh as an origin point. That is the Epic of Gilgamesh, French science fiction writer Pierre Versins also argued that Gilgamesh was the first science fiction work due to its treatment of human reason and the quest for immortality. In addition, Gilgamesh features a scene that in some ways resembles work of apocalyptic science fiction. However, the lack of science or technology in the work has led some to argue that it is better categorized as fantastic literature. Ancient Indian poetry such as the Hindu epic Ramayana includes Vimana flying machines able to travel into space or under water, and destroy entire cities using advanced weapons. In the first book of the Rigveda collection of Sanskrit hymns, there is a description of birds that are seen jumping into space speedily with a craft using fire. Containing twelve stamghas, one wheel, three machines,300 pivots, and 60 instruments, ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes has several works that include elements often associated with the fantastic voyage, including air travel to another world. Examples include his The Clouds, The Birds and The Peace, the Bible has also been cited as a science-fiction work. L. Sprague de Camp and a number of other authors argue this to be one of the earliest if not the earliest example of fiction or proto-science fiction. However, since the text was intended to be satirical and hyperbolic. Lucian translator Bryan Reardon is more explicit, describing the work as an account of a fantastic journey - to the moon, the underworld, the belly of a whale, and so forth. It is not really science fiction, although it has sometimes called that
12.
Steampunk
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Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction or science fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Therefore, steampunk may be described as neo-Victorian, Steampunk may also incorporate additional elements from the genres of fantasy, horror, historical fiction, alternate history, or other branches of speculative fiction, making it often a hybrid genre. The first known appearance of the term steampunk was in 1987, Steampunk is influenced by and often adopts the style of the 19th-century scientific romances of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Mary Shelley. Several more modern works of art and fiction significant to the development of the genre were produced before the genre had a name, the film Brazil was an important early cinematic influence that helped codify the aesthetics of the genre. The Adventures of Luther Arkwright was a comic version of the Moorcock-style mover between timestreams. In fine art, Remedios Varos paintings combine elements of Victorian dress, fantasy, in television, one of the earliest manifestations of the steampunk ethos in the mainstream media was the CBS television series The Wild Wild West, which inspired the subsequent film. Although many works now considered seminal to the genre were published in the 1960s and 1970s and it was coined by science fiction author K. W. G. Wells The Time Machine. Though of course, I did find her review in the March Locus to be quite flattering, personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the technology of the era, like steam-punks. They were far from the first modern science fiction writers to speculate on the development of steam-based technology or alternative histories, keith Laumers Worlds of the Imperium and Ronald W. Clarks Queen Victorias Bomb apply modern speculation to past-age technology and society. Michael Moorcocks Warlord of the Air is another early example, harry Harrisons novel A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah. Portrays a British Empire of an alternative year 1973, full of atomic locomotives, coal-powered flying boats, ornate submarines, the Adventures of Luther Arkwright was the first steampunk comic. In February 1980, Richard A. Lupoff and Steve Stiles published the first chapter of their 10-part comic strip The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle and His Incredible Aether Flyer. Indeed, both sensibilities recall the older but still modern eras in which technological change seemed to anticipate a better world, one of steampunk’s most significant contributions is the way in which it mixes digital media with traditional handmade art forms. As scholars Rachel Bowser and Brian Croxall put it, the tinkering and tinker-able technologies within steampunk invite us to roll up our sleeves, in this respect, steampunk bears more in common with DIY craft and making. This theme is carried over to Disneys theme parks, in the designs of The Mysterious Island section of Tokyo DisneySea theme park. Aspects of steampunk design emphasise a balance between form and function, in this it is like the Arts and Crafts Movement. But John Ruskin, William Morris, and the reformers in the late nineteenth century rejected machines
