When and Where Did it Begin?

Despite the modern-sounding name, steampunk has its origins in pre-nineteenth-century fiction, primarily by Jules Verne (Journey to the Center of the Earth), Mary Shelly (Frankenstein), and Mervyn Peake (Titus Alone). K.W Jeter (Sci-Fi novelist) invented the phrase in the 1980s in an attempt to describe future writings by a triad of writers. Steampunk can be found in anime and manga works as early as the 1940s in Japanese aesthetic culture.