Steampunk is that cool genre of late 19th Century/early 20th Century where people still wore Victorian and Edwardian garb. They spoke with a hint of charm. And technology was still in its infancy with steam powered gadgets. 

So why is it so cool? Why are there gobs of Facebook groups and subreddits focuses on steampunk books, clothing, art and…well…everything?

If there’s any insight into the steampunk fans, you can find it amidst the artists. When I see someone post a pic titles “first steampunk costume…how’d I do?”, I get it. 

If anything, steampunk welcomed in the DIY nature of people. That “build it with your own hands” vibe. 

There’s a reason lots of people tune into HGTV and watch who knows how many shows based on taking a wreck of a house, gutting it, and turning it into something better. People love that hands-on vibe of turning what was junk into a work of functional art. 

I think I really saw a deep connection when I spotted a picture on Reddit of a women with a tea cup holster. That’s right. A tea cup holster. 

Doesn’t that say it all? Hand fashion a simple, elegant contraption so you can have tea. Why not?

So taking that raw dynamic of DIY mechanical creation and stir in either magic, romance, horror, or noir, and you’ve got a charged canvas to hang a story!

Seeing famous fairy tales as well as hard boiled detective stories shows that while there’s nothing new under the sun, people love their favorite tales woven with this alternative way of being. 

And that’s why you should care about steampunk.