The term steampunk was coined in the 1980s, as a variation on cyberpunk, but there are literary works that fit within the scope of steampunk going back into the Victorian era. Over time, steampunk has developed several subgenres, such as dieselpunk, biopunk, gaslamp fantasy, and clockpunk. These subgenres primarily take the concept of steampunk (a Victorian society that's powered by steam engines instead of electricity) and puts it in other contexts and time periods (clockpunk looks at the Renaissance era and the rise of clockwork automata of the time). Another example is silkpunk, a term coined by Ken Liu to describe his approach to the Dandelion Dynasty books, which pull from Chinese influences and work within themes of resistance and rebellion (punk indeed).
At its core, steampunk is an alternate history genre that wonders what if a different form of power (diesel, steam, clocks) took over; it's also called retrofuturistic. So if that sounds like your cup of tea, try some of these books, comics, and films!
