1. Cyberpunk — “High‑tech, Low‑trust”
- Core vibe: neon noir, megacorp feudalism, wet‑wired street kids.
- Essential texts: Neuromancer (1984); Hardwired (1986); manga/anime Akira (1988) and Ghost in the Shell (1995).
- Evolution: modern “post‑cy” adds ubiquitous A.I. (Autonomous by Annalee Newitz) and gig‑app precarity (Cyberpunk 2077’s side‑gigs).
- Table‑top corner: Cyberpunk RED updates Mike Pondsmith’s 1988 rules for a surveillance‑capitalism age.
2. Steampunk — Victorian Vapor & Brass
- Beyond top‑hats: look for Asian Steampunk (Mortal Engines’ air‑krakens meet The Iron Widow’s sino‑mecha) and African Steampunk (P. Djèlí Clark’s Cairo of clockwork angels).
- Makers’ paradise: the subculture birthed real‑world retro‑tech art—see Datamancer’s brass laptops.
- Key anthologies: Steampunk Reloaded (ed. VanderMeer) and Clockwork Cairo for non‑Euro settings.
3. Dieselpunk — Deco, Jazz & War Machines
- Time‑slice: 1914‑45 aesthetics—Zeppelins, trench coats, Futurism posters.
- Mood fork: “Ottopunk” pulp adventure (The Rocketeer) vs. grim “Weird War” (Wolfenstein games).
- Deep cut: Ian Tregillis’s Milkweed Triptych—British warlocks vs. Nazi super‑cyborgs.
4. Atompunk — Googie Futures & Fallout Dreams
- Visual cues: chrome fins, bubble helmets, pastel suburbia hiding radiation burns.
- Signature media: The Iron Giant (hopeful) and Fallout (ironic).
- New wave: Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility sprinkles atompunk ambience onto literary SF.
5. Biopunk — Gene‑hacks & DIY Wet‑labs
- Themes: body autonomy, corporate patent wars, designer plagues.
- Modern exemplars: The Windup Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi) and Netflix’s Korean thriller Biohackers.
- Real‑world bleed: CRISPR community labs from Oakland to Shenzhen mirror biopunk’s “garage biology.”
6. Solarpunk — Tech‑Optimism in Bloom
- Palette: stained‑glass solar cells, vertical forests, slow fashion.
- Design manifestos: check solarpunks.net and The Solarpunk Artbook Kickstarter gallery.
- Fiction picks: Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot novellas and the Brazilian anthology Solarpunk: Histórias Ecológicas.
7. Nanopunk — Machines Too Small to See
- Plot staples: grey goo pandemics, quantum‑dot black markets, “smart dust” surveillance.
- Beyond Crichton: Linda Nagata’s Nanotech Succession series and Darren Aronofsky’s film π (proto‑nanopunk paranoia).
8. Decopunk — Gilded Chrome & Art‑Deco Optimism
- Shinier sibling to dieselpunk: think Bioshock Infinite’s Columbia or Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby sets.
- Musical vibe: electro‑swing playlists and brass‑heavy remixes of 1930s jazz.
9. Hydropunk — Blue‑Planet Engineering
- Settings: floating ecocities (Waterworld comic reboot), pressurised coral farms, Polynesian star‑canes guiding sub‑orbital sails.
- Recent gem: S. A. Chakraborty’s The Adventures of Amina al‑Sirafi marries hydropunk trade routes to mythic piracy.
10. Raypunk — Retro‑Futurist Flash & Pulp Lasers
- Also called “Raygun Gothic”—chrome fins, bubble‑space suits, boomerang rockets.
- Media flashpoints: Buck Rogers, The Jetsons, and Disney’s Tomorrowland (both the park aesthetic and the 2015 film).
11. Scrap‑/Junk‑/Salvagepunk
- Trademark: kit‑bashed tech; aesthetics of exposed weld seams and solar‑panel patchwork.
- Canon: Mad Max: Fury Road and the YA novel Railhead (Philip Reeve).
- Design philosophy: “repair > replace”—mirrored by right‑to‑repair activism.
12. Sailpunk — Tall Ships, Weird Winds
- Tech twist: wind‑powered mecha, alchemical sails, or solar kites.
- Examples: anime Last Exile and Django Wexler’s Ship of Smoke and Steel.
13. Magicpunk / Arcanepunk
- Rule‑set: magic behaves like code or physics—rune arrays = circuit boards.
- Benchmarks: Arcane (Netflix’s League‑of‑Legends prequel) and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn era 2 (magico‑industrial revolution).
14. Desertpunk
- Flavor: dune cities powered by scavenged solar rigs, water‑rights wars, Bedouin cyber‑tribes.
- Beyond the anime: Nnedi Okorafor’s Who Fears Death and the game Sable.
15. Piratepunk
- Adds: clockwork prostheses, sky‑galleons, decentralized barter economies.
- Spotlight: interactive novel game Hearts of Oak and comics series Delilah Dirk.
16. Gothicpunk
- Mash‑up: neon crosses, crumbling cathedrals, vampiric megacorps.
- RPG royal: Vampire: The Masquerade; prose cousin: Silvia Moreno‑Garcia’s Certain Dark Things.
17. Silkpunk
- Materials‑science fantasy: silk‑propelled air‑kites, bamboo gears, paper‑alchemy computers.
- Key works: Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty quartet; Neon Yang’s Tensorate novellas.
Twelve More ‑Punks You Should Know
| # | Sub‑genre | Snapshot | Starter Text / Media |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Clockpunk | Renaissance & early‑Enlightenment clockwork—gears, automata, Da Vinci drones. | Ian Tregillis, The Mechanical; Philip Pullman, Clockwork. |
| 19 | Rococopunk | Hyper‑ornate 18th‑century aesthetics, powdered wigs meet biotech pearls. | Video‑game concept art for Dishonored 2’s Karnaca district teases rococo tech. |
| 20 | Hopepunk | Resistance through radical kindness; softness as rebellion. | Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild‑Built; Alexandra Rowland’s essay coining the term. |
| 21 | Mythpunk | Re‑spun folklore in modern or surreal settings, often queer & experimental. | Catherynne M. Valente’s The Orphan’s Tales; Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver. |
| 22 | Stonepunk | Prehistoric peoples wielding Flintstones‑style tech extrapolated to extremes. | Jean Auel’s Earth’s Children series; animated Primal (Genndy Tartakovsky). |
| 23 | Stitchpunk | Hand‑sewn homunculi, burlap androids, textile tech versus metal tyrants. | Shane Acker’s film 9 and its Burton‑produced lore. |
| 24 | Elfpunk | Traditional fae in electric‑guitar modernity—faeries in leather jackets. | Holly Black’s Tithe; Charles de Lint’s Newford stories. |
| 25 | Salvagepunk | Focus on repurposing trash into functioning infrastructure—DIY ecologies. | Nick Harkaway’s Angelmaker and YouTube series Primitive Technology. |
| 26 | Plaguepunk | Epidemiology as world‑engine; societies built around quarantine & cure piracy. | Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book; game A Plague Tale series. |
| 27 | Bronzepunk | Classical antiquity with super‑bronze mechs and oracle‑driven networks. | 300 (film’s stylised tech) and Madeline Miller’s Circe (magic as hyper‑alchemy). |
| 28 | Greenpunk / Ecopunk | Near‑future eco‑thrillers centred on rewilding, moss‑hacking, and biomimicry politics. | Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy (terraform ethics) and the film Okja. |
| 29 | Rubblepunk | Urban‑decay aesthetic between collapse and renewal—street gardens in derelict malls. | Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy; photography project The Detroit Urban Exploration Archive. |
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