I Can’t Sleep - Steampunk | Peaceful Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

Unwind with this calm bedtime reading created to ease insomnia and restless nights. Tonight’s gentle episode explores steampunk, the imaginative genre that blends Victorian-era aesthetics with futuristic technology powered by steam. You’ll learn about its literary roots, fashion, art, and the creativity it inspires across culture, all shared in Benjamin’s steady, peaceful narration. There’s no whispering or hypnosis—just tranquil, fact-filled storytelling to relax the mind and reduce stress. Press play, settle in, and let this fascinating blend of history and fantasy carry you into restful sleep. Want More? Request a topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Listen ad-free & support the show: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop sleep-friendly products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Steampunk, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia - Steampunk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch.

I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I help you learn a little and sleep a lot. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster, and tonight let's fall asleep learning about steampunk. I have to be honest, I thought steampunk was some form of subgenre of punk music.

So that just goes to show how ignorant I am about this topic, so I'm excited to read more about it and share it with you. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retro-futuristic technology and aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to 19th century industrial steam-powered machinery. Interesting. Steampunk works are often said in an alternative history of the Victorian era or the American frontier, where steam power remains in mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power. Steampunk features anachronistic technologies or retro-futuristic inventions, as a very much. people in the 19th century might have envisioned them, distinguishing it from Neo-Victorianism,

and is likewise rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. Such technologies may include fictional machines like those found in the works of H.G. Wells and J. Verne. Other Other examples of Steampunk contain alternative history-style presentations of such technology as steam cannons, lighters-in-air air-ships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage's analytical engine. punk 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. As a form of speculative fiction, it explores alternative futures or pass, but can also address

real-world social issues. The first known appearance of the term steampunk was in 1987, though it now retroactively refers to many works of fiction created as far back as the 1950s or earlier. A popular subgenre is Japanese steampunk, consisting of steampunk-themed manga and anime. Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles, closing. clothing fashions or subcultures that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction, Victorian era fiction, art nouveau design, and films from the mid-20th century. Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian

mechanical steampunk style. and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk. Steampunk is influenced by and often adopts the style of the 19th century scientific romances of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Mary Shelley, and Edward S. Ellis's, the Steam Man of the Prairies. Several more modern works of art and fiction significant to the development of the genre were produced before the genre had a name. Titus Alone, 1959, by Mervyn Peake, is widely regarded by scholars as the first novel in the genre proper. While others point to Michael Morcock's 1971 novel, The Warlord of the Air,

which was heavily influenced by Peake's work. The film Brazil, 1985, was an early cinematic influence, although it can also be considered a precursor to the steampunk offshoot diesel punk. The Adventures of Luther Arkride was an early 1970s comic version of the Morcock-style mover between time streams. In fine art, Remedios Varos paintings combine elements of Victorian dress, fantasy, and techno-fantasy imagery. In television, one of the earliest manifestations of the steampunk ethos in the mainstream media was the CBS television series, The Wild Wild West, 1965 to 69, which inspired the TV.

later film. Although many works now considered seminal to the genre were published in the 1960s and 1970s, the term steampunk originated largely in the 1980s, as a tongue-in-cheek variant of cyberpunk. It was coined by science fiction author K.W. Jeter, who was trying to find a general term for works by Tim Powers, the Animas Gates, 1983, James Blaylock, Amunculus, 1986, and himself, Morlock Knight, 1979, and Infernal Devices, 1987, all of which took place in a 19th century, usually Victorian setting, and imitated conventions of such actual Victorian speculative fiction as H.G. Wells, the time machine. In a letter to science fiction magazine Locus, printed in the April 1987 issue, Jeter wrote, Dear Locus,

enclosed is a copy of my 1979 novel Morlock Knight. I'd appreciate your being so good as to route it to Farron Miller, as it is a prime piece of evidence. in the great debate as to who in the Powers, Blaylock, Jeter, Fantasy Triumvirud, was writing in the Gonzo historical manner first. Though, of course, I did find her review in the March Locust 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 appropriate technology of the era,

like steampunks, perhaps. K.W. Jeter While Jeter's Morlock night and infernal devices, powers the Anabas Gates, and Blaylock's the Lord Kelvin's machine, were the first novels to which Jeter's neologism would be applied, The three authors gave the term little thought at the time. They were far from the first modern science fiction writers

to speculate on the development of steam-based technology or alternative histories. Keith Laumer's Worlds of the Imperium, 1962, and Ronald W. Clark's, Queen Victoria's Bomb, 1967. Apply modern speculation to past-age technology, and society. Michael Morcock's Wardlords of the Air, 1971, is another early example. Harry Harrison's novel, A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah, 1973, portrays Britain in an alternative 1973, full of atomic locomotives, coal-powered flying boats, ornade submarines, and Victorian

dialogue. The adventure of Luther Arkride, mid-1970s, was one of the first steampunk comics. In February 1980, Richard A. Lopoff and Steve Stiles published the first chapter of their ten-part comic strip, The Adventures of Professor Sintwistle and his incredible Etherflyer. In 2004, the anonymous author described steampunk as colonizing the past so we can dream the future. The first use of the word steampunk in a title was in Paul DiPhilippo's 1995 steampunk trilogy, consisting of three short novels, Victoria, Otten Tots, and Walden Emily, which respectively imagine the replacement of Queen Victoria by a human new clone, an invasion of Massachusetts by Lovecraftian Monsters,

drawing its title from the historic racial taxonomy, Hottentot, and a love affair between Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Japanese steampunk consists of steampunk manga comics and anime productions from Japan. Steampunk elements have consistently appeared in mainstream manga since the 1940s, dating back to Osamu Tizuka's epic science fiction trilogy, consisting of Lost World, 1948, Metropolis, 1949, and Next World, 1951. The steampunk elements found in manga,

eventually made their way to mainstream anime productions, starting in the 1970s. Influenced by 19th century European authors, such as Jules Verne, steampunk anime and manga arose from a Japanese fascination with an imaginary fantastical version of old industrial Europe, linked to a phenomenon called Akogare Nopari. Pari, the Paris of our dreams. Comparable to the West's fascination with an exotic East, the most influential steampunk animator was Mayo Miyazaki, who was creating steampunk anime since the 1970s, starting with the television show Future Boy Conan, 1978. His manga,

Nazikua of the Valley of the Wind, 1982, and its 1984 anime film adaptation also contains steampunk elements. Miyazaki's most influential steampunk production was the studio Ghibli anime film, Laputa, Castle in the Sky, 1986, which became a major milestone in the genre and has been described by the steampunk Bible as one of the first modern steampunk classics. Archetypal steampunk elements in Lapoda include airships, air pirates, steam-powered robots, and a view of steam power as a limitless but potentially dangerous source of power. The success of Lapoda inspired Hideaki Ano and studio Gynax to create their first hit

production, Nadia, The Secret of Blue Water, 1990, a steampunk anime show which loosely adapts elements from Vern's 20,000 leagues under the sea, was Captain Nemo making an appearance. Based on a concept by Miyazaki, Nadia was influential on later steampunk anime, such as Katsuhiro Otomo's anime film, Steamboy, 2004. Disney's animated steampunk film, Atlantis, The Lost Empire, 2001, was influenced by anime, particularly Miyazaki's works, and possibly Nadia. Other popular Japanese steampunk works include Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli anime film, Howell's Moving Castle, 2004. Sega's video game and anime franchise, Sakura Wars, 1996, which is said in a steampunk version of Meiji Taisho era of Japan, and Square Enix's manga and anime franchise Full Metal Alchemist

2001. Steampunk used to be confused with retro-futurism. Indeed, both sensibilities recall the older but still modern eras, in which technological change seemed to anticipate a better world, one remembered as relatively innocent of industrial decline. For some scholars, retro-futurism is considered a strand of steampunk, one that looks at alternatives to historical imagination, and usually created with the same kinds of social protagonists and written for the same type of audiences. 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 Croxel put it, the tinkering and tinkerable technologies within Steampunk invite us to roll up our sleeves and get to work, reshaping our contemporary world. In this respect, steampunk bears much in common with DIY craft and bricolage art making. Many of the visualizations of steampunk have their origins with, among others,

while Disney's film 20,000 leagues under the sea, 1954, including the design of the story's submarine of the Nautilus, its interiors, and the crew's underwater gear. Aspects of steampunk design emphasize a balance between form and function. In this, it is like the arts and crafts movement, but John Ruskin, William Morris, and the other reformers in the late 19th century, projected machines and industrial production. In contrast, steampunk enthusiasts present a non-line,

Luddite critique of technology. In Dutch amusement park to Efteling, there is a dive coaster seam to a steampunk Victorian haunted gold mine called Barron 1898. Various modern utilitarian objects have been modified by enthusiasts into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical steampunk style. Examples include computer keyboards and electric keyboards. guitars. The goal of such redesigns is to employ appropriate materials, such as polished brass, iron, wood, and leather, with design elements and craftsmanship consistent with the Victorian era,

rejecting the aesthetic of industrial design. In 1994, the Paris metro station R. Emetier was redesigned by Belgian artists Francois Scouton in steampunk style to honor the works of Jules Verne. The station is reminiscent of a submarine, sheased in brass with giant cogs in the ceiling and portholes that look out onto fanciful scenes. The artist group, Kinetic Steamworks, brought a working steam engine to the Burning Man Festival in 2006 and 2000. The group's founding member, Sean Orlando, created a steampunk tree house in association with a group of people who would later form the five-ton crane arts group. It has been displayed at a number of festivals. The steampunk tree house is now permanently installed at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware.

The Never Was Hall is a three-story self-propelled mobile art vehicle built to resemble a Victorian house on wheels. Designed by Shannon O'Hare, it was built by volunteers in 2006 and presented at the Burning Man Festival from 2006 through 2015. When fully built, the hall propelled itself at a top speed of five miles per hour. and required a crew of 10 people to operate safely. Currently, the Never Was House makes her home at Obtanium Works, an art car factory in Vallejo, California, owned by O'Hare and home to several other self-styled contraptionists. It may to June 2008,

multimedia artist and sculptor Paul St. George exhibited outdoor interactive video, installations, linking London and Brooklyn, New York, and a Victorian-era-styled telescope. Utilizing this device, New York promoter Evelyn Cretta organized a trends-Atlantic wave between steampunk enthusiasts from both cities prior to white mischiefs around the world an 80-day steampunk themed event. In 2009, for Questicon, artist Tim Wesseral created a large wall piece that represented the concept of the clockwork universe. This steel artwork contains moving gears, a working clock,

and a movie of the moon's Terminator in action. The 3D Moon movie was created by Anthony Williams. From October 2009 through February 2010, the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, hosted the first major exhibition of steampunk art objects, curated and developed by New York artist and designer Art Donovan, who also exhibited his own electro-futuristic lighting sculptures, and presented by Dr. Jim Bennett, museum director.

From redesigned practical items to fantastical contraptions, this exhibition showcased the work of 18-370s, steampunk artists from around the globe. The exhibit proved to be the most successful and highly attended in the museum's history and attracted more than 80,000 visitors. The event was detailed in the official artist's journal, The Art of Steampunk by curator Donovan. In November 2010, the Liberatory Steampunk Art Gallery was opened by Damien McNamara,

in Oamaro, New Zealand, created from Pabre Machet to resemble a large cave and filled with industrial equipment from yesteryear, rayguns, and general steampunk quirks. Its purpose is to provide a place for steampunkers in the region to display artwork for sale all year long. A year later, a more prominent gallery, Steampunk H.Q. was opened in the former Meek's grain elevator building across the road from the Wool Store, and has since become a notable tourist attraction for Omeru. Steampunk fashion has no set guidelines, but trends to synthesize modern styles with influences from the Victorian era. Such influences may include bustles, corsets, gowns and petticoats, suits with waistcoats, coats, top hats, and bowler hats,

themselves originating in 1850 England, tailcoats, and spats, or military-inspired garments. Steampunk-influenced outfits are usually accented with several technological and period accessories, timepieces, parasols, flying or driving goggles, and rayguns. Modern accessories like cell phones or music players can be found in steampunk outfits after being modified to give them the appearance of Victorian-era objects. Post-apocalyptic elements such as gas masks, ragged clothing, and tribal motifs can also be included. aspects of steampunk fashion have been anticipated by mainstream high fashion, the Lolita and Aristocrat styles,

neo-Victorianism, and the romantic goth subculture. In 2005, Kate Lambert, known as Cato, founded the first steampunk closing company, steampunk couture, mixing Victorian and post-apocalyptic influences. In 2013, IBM predicted, based on an analysis of more than a half million public posts on message boards, blogs, social media sites, and news sources, that Steampunk, a subgenre inspired by the clothing, technology, and social mores of Victorian society, will be a major trend to bubble up and take hold of the retail industry. Indeed, high-fashioned lines such as Prada, Dulce and Cabana, Versace, Chanel, and Christian Dior had already been introducing steampunk styles on the fashion runways. In episode 7 of Lifetime's Under the Gun reality series, contestants were challenged to create avant-garde steampunk chic looks.

America's next-top model tackled steampunk fashion in a 2012 episode, or models competed in a steampunk-themed photo shoot, posing in front of a steam train while holding a live owl. In 1988, the first version of the science fiction tabletop role-playing game, Space 1889, was published. The game is said in an alternative, history, in which certain now discredited Victorian scientific theories were probable and led to new technologies. Contributing authors included Frank Chadwick, Lauren Wiseman, and Marcus Relland.

William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's novel, The Difference Engine, 1990, is often credited with bringing about widespread awareness of steampunk. The novel applies the principles of Gibson and Sterling's cyberpunk writings to an alternative Victorian era, where Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage's proposed steam-powered mechanical computer, which Babbage called a difference engine. A later, more general-purpose version was known as an analytical engine. was actually built, and led to the dawn of the information age more than a century ahead of schedule.

This setting was different from most steampunk settings, in that it takes a dim and dark view of this future rather than the more prevalent utopian versions. Nick Gavers' original anthology, Extraordinary Engines, 2008, featured, features newer steampunk stories by some of the genres writers, as well as other science fiction and fantasy writers experimenting with neo-Victorian conventions. A retrospective reprint anthology of steampunk fiction was released, also in 2008, by Takyon publications. Edited by Anne and Jeff Vandermere, and appropriately entitled Steampunker,

It is a collection of stories by James Blaylock, whose Narbondo trilogy is typically considered steampunk. Jay Lake, author of the novel Mainspring, sometimes labeled Clockpunk. The aforementioned Michael Moorcock, as well as Jess Nevins, known for his annotations to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, first published in 19. Younger readers have also been targeted by steampunk themes, by authors such as Philip Reeve and Scott Westerfeld. Reeves' quartet, Mortal Engines, is set far in Earth's future, where giant moving cities consume

each other in a battle for resources. A concept Reeve coined as municipal Darwinism. Westerfield's Leviathan trilogy is said during an alternate First World War, fought between the clinkers, central powers, who use steam technology, and Darwinists, allied powers, who use genetically engineered creatures instead of machines. Mashubs are also becoming increasingly popular in books aimed at younger readers,

mixing steampunk with other genres. Stephen Bachmann's The Peculiar Duology was labeled as steampunk fairy tale and imagined steampunk technology as a means to stave off an incursion of fairies in Victorian England. Suzanne Lazier's Ether Chronicles series also mixes steampunk with fairies and The Unnaturalists by Tiffany Trent combined steampunk with mythological creatures. and alternate history. Self-described author of far-fetched fiction, Robert Rankin,

has incorporated elements of steampunk into narrative worlds that are both Victorian and reimagined contemporary. In 2009, he was made a fellow of the Victorian Steampunk Society.