"A strange twilight world opened up before me, and I felt as the first man to set foot on another planet, an intruder in this mystic garden of the deep."*

For many years now, I have totally been in love with the Steampunk aesthetic, although I am not "steam punk" myself. ("Victorian England + technology = what's not to love?" as far as I am concerned.) It has popped up in recent films like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Golden Compass, and Sherlock Holmes, and it looks like the new film Hugo (an adaptation of the great book The Invention of Hugo Cabret) has a Steampunk element to it. Of course, one of my favorite tv shows, "Doctor Who", has a Steampunk vibe, especially the last two series, and ScyFy's "Warehouse 13" has had a lot of Steampunk references since H.G. Wells returned the the Warehouse.

It has been really great seeing Steampunk getting more coverage. There was a great episode of Boston's "Chronicle" about Steampunk back in the spring. In the last few months, I have seen at least three separate television bits covering Steampunk: one on PBS, one on IFC (again, on Steampunk in Boston!), and, most recently, on "CBS Sunday Morning" (which, despite what some of my friends say, isn't just for old people).

Watch Off Book: Steampunk on PBS. See more from PBS.

*20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (whose works are a big influence on Steampunk)