[benign]

"a genre of science fiction set in Victorian times when steam was the main source of machine power."

http://www.ironcircus.com/blog/000268.html

[Rev-O]

Originally posted by benign:
http://www.ironcircus.com/blog/000268.html

From Cyberpunk (fathered largely by Gibson), which in turn birthed the horror genre of splatterpunk, which gave birth to steampunk. Seminal steampunk work is probably Gibson & Sterling's "The Differnce Engine".