The Difference Engine is actually about hackers trying to do... I forget, something, without being ground in to dust by the glorious computationally advantaged British Empire. Willian Gibson and Bruce Sterling wrote it so it actually has cyberpunk credentials.
Most Steampunk is just Victorian costume porn with all the imperial violence sanitized and forgotten, but Difference Engine actually goes in to how the British with computers would be even worse and more horrific than they were in real life.
The Difference Engine is actually about hackers trying to do... I forget, something, without being ground in to dust by the glorious computationally advantaged British Empire. Willian Gibson and Bruce Sterling wrote it so it actually has cyberpunk credentials.
Most Steampunk is just Victorian costume porn with all the imperial violence sanitized and forgotten, but Difference Engine actually goes in to how the British with computers would be even worse and more horrific than they were in real life.