I had a look through a good site called Book Riot and found a nice article called All The Punks! An Introduction by Grace Lapointe. It was an essay about and survey of some (not by any means all) of the scifi sub genres that use the punk suffix to describe them. More well-known genres like Cyberpunk and Steampunk were covered, but others were Clockpunk, Oceanpunk, Atompunk, Stonepunk, Silkpunk, Dieselpunk and something called Hopepunk. This last one, about more optimistic imaginings of the future, is very close to a punk subgenre I made up, which I call Freepunk. It’s fiction about a world where something like Universal Basic Income, or full-on Socialism, has been implemented. I know the James Corey Expanse books include something called ‘Basic’, but in those books it’s a side issue, and not seen as a positive development. Another I may have invented (not sure if it already exists) is Wellspunk. That includes the many sequel stories based on the fiction of H.G. Wells, especially The Time Machine and War of the Worlds. There are so many it’s a sub-genre of its own by now. I like how the s makes it spunk rather than just punk. The most comprehensive list I’ve seen about the whole punk phenomenon would have to be the Timeline of _Punk fiction subgenres – Sheet1 spreadsheet by Matthew Murray from the Bookclub For Masochists podcast (a great Reader’s Advisory resource). It’s crazy huge, and so detailed, with everything from Rocketpunk to Fashionpunk, and dates and references galore, a real contribution to the field. Check it out.
My favourite of these sub-genres is Steampunk. When I first heard of it I knew I’d read some books that were in that genre before it was given the name back in 1987. One was A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah by Harry Harrison, from 1976, a fabulous Boy’s Own account of the titular tunnel project. Michael Moorcock’s Oswald Bastible stories were also early prototypes. I’ve since read many more, especially in short story compilations. Some have included examples of authentic Victoriana steampunk. The terrific Steampunk Reloaded series, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, includes a marvellous entertainment originally published in 1870 called Flying Fish Prometheus by Vilhelm Bersoc. I love how all these punks conjure up worlds of creative possibilities. I want to find stories that fit into each of these subgenres, to continue the good work that Matthew Murray started. But I fear it’s too big a project for one person. More a committee or a syndicate would do.