"Alternative Term to "Lacepunk"" Topic

A discussion developed on this thread: TMP link as to a suitable alternative to the term 'lacepunk' to describe science fiction set in the 18th century. The use of the work 'punk' in these terms often rubs folks the wrong way, so I thought an aternative might be a good idea.
Those that have come up in the previous thread (most inspired by the "Victorian Science Fiction" (VSF) name for 19th century science fiction), are listed below:

-Georgian Sci-Fi, GSF, (For King George of England)

-Tricorne Sci-Fi, TSF, (For the distictive headwear that characterized much of that century)

-Munchausenian Sci-Fi, MSF, (For the fantastic tales of Baron vonMunchausen)

-Franklinian Science Fiction, FSF, (For the famous American inventor and visionary, Benjamin Franklin.)

So any other ideas?

Franklinian rolls off the tongue the best of that lot.

It shouldn't roll off the tongue. The Eighteenth Century didn't do short, catchy titles. It should have a name that would take up a whole page. The book that the oh-so-impatient 21st Century insists on calling "Gulliver's Travels" was published as:

Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, then a Captain of several Ships.

I think the new name for Lacepunk should be at least as long, preferably longer, if it is to capture the spirit of the age.

It should have the words Reason, Principles, Natural Philosophy and Romance in it for starters, though. And good deal of other important-sounding words, too.

"Being the Adventures and Travails of Divers Men in Foreign Lands and in Their Owne Nations, Batteling Monstrous Invaders from Parts Unknown, By the Use of Miraculous Mechanicals and Magickes" ?

I am persuaded that you are a gentleman of no little refinement and also admirable degrees of discernment and discretion, Mr. Sage.

If you could just rephrase that into an acronym that spells something, I think you'd have a winner.

BATDMFLTONBMIPUBUMMM not snappy enough for ya?

Developing the thought :

Being the Adventures of Gentlemen, Flying and Riding Ingenious Giants of Horror and Terror,

Thought somehow BAGFRIGHT doesn't have that great a ring to it :-(

Do I recall correctly that Gulliver himself visited the land of Batdmfltonbmipubumm in the third volume of his travels?

Was it not a small island inhabited by incarnadine-faced, rotund fellows who consistently fell into emphatic and insistent remonstrances on the subject of artillery carriages?

I think Tricorne Science Fiction works the best. Visually evocative, not too much of a tongue twister, and you can abbreviate it Tricorne SF or TSF. And you don't suffer the blank looks from people who can't remember when George was king, or which King George, or want to argue that in THEIR world background, George is not on the throne.

And no doubt one of you can put on your roleplaying hat (tricorne of course) and come up with a good long subtitle, "Being the etc" with 18th-century spellings.

In fact it might be most in the correct spirit if SEVERAL of you came up with DIFFERENT long subtitles, and ARGUED about it. Reasonably of course, no need to come to blows.

Was it not a small island inhabited by incarnadine-faced, rotund fellows who consistently fell into emphatic and insistent remonstrances on the subject of artillery carriages?

I believe you are correct Sir. Said remonstrances made the paltry disagreements of the Big and Little Endians appear small beer indeed it must be said.

I am Sir, Yr. Obdt. Servant

Sage

BATDMFLTONBMIPUBUMMM not snappy enough for ya?

Munchausenesque?

Connard Sage for the WIN!

If you must have a hurried and truncated compellation for this matter, then please by all that is good do not fall for the vulgar and lowly title of "Science Fiction" or even worse, "Sci-Fi."

Tricorn'd Scientific Romance is much more pleasing to the cultured ear, though it is still far and away too short, and also a mite new-fashioned.

How about we all go back to what it used to be called before it became cool to ad the word 'punk' to everything? Alternate history? The whole 'punk*' concept has been lost and means nothing now, it's time to either go back to the roots or move on.

* Punk" is an anti-authoritarianism, nihilistic, anarchistic, anit-whathaveyougot attitude which is completely lost in today's use of the term 'punk". Sorry for the rant, I'm a old Cyberpunk fan and hate what the genre has come to.

Tricorn'd Natural Philosophical Romance

I never could understand the whole 'punk' connotation.

I was going to point out (before Plynkes beat me to it) that 'science' was little used in the 18th century and 'romance' had mainly negative connotations being antithetical to natural philosophy and reason.

It was a trrowaway joke, Chris, but I happen to agree with Eclectic Wave above.
"Punk" has little to do with what we are doing.

I would be happy with CANDLELIGHT, if we could come up with a good acronym.

I often want to do an AWI GASLIGHT game with Mr. Franklin's Galvanic Devices, so "Franklinian" would be OK for me. After all, "everyone knows" he invented electricity, right?

"Munchausean" works too, but obscure.

"Laputan" refers to Swift's satire on the Royal Society, which would be even more accurate, and even more obscure.

I have in my GASLIGHT universe, Professor Phinnerty who holds the chair of Natural and Applied Philosophy at Miskatonic University. "Natural Philosophy" is a good substitute for "science". Then you can bne up on some of the more strange Masonic conspiracy theories regarding the Royal Society in Holy Grail Holy Blood, and add "esoteric and hermetic".

I will admit that I have no real answer, except that I hate "punk". I even dislike CM Punk, the wrestler.

Tricorne SciFi at least sets it in the right period, and is not as obscure.

And, yes. 18th C spellings, with a lot of F instead of S.

Tri-fi

It's not an 'f'. It merely bears a passing resemblance to a lower-case 'f'.

Or Fci-fi

The -punk suffix implies a given technology staying within its mechanical system, but pushed beyond it's normal boundaries. I don't mind it's use in a wide variety of technologies from steam onwards, but don't grok how it could fit pre-steam. Unless everything pre-steam was just a vast Goldbergpunk.

Fop Punk?

Philoso-Fi ?

Enlightenment Sci Fi? Age of Reason Sci Fi? Or even 18th Century Sci-fi.

Revisionist Science Fiction

Muskets & Mayhem

Space:1759

Newtonnic Noire

Romance, Adventure & Natural Philosophy in the Age of Newton, Franklin and Flamel.

The Age of Reason, Risque & Adventure.(ARRA)

"Powder to the wigs…er, uh..guns, too!"

Intrepid Gentlemen and Bothersome Females.

This could be the only genre where a gamer geek doesn't bathe often, must play a peasant.

Beauty Marks, Leyden Jars and Bayonets.
Or… BMLJB

Whigs in Space.

Whigs in Space.

We have a winner.

Whigs in Space.

Ok, that was really good. All sorts of visions spring to mind under that title.

The whole 'punk*' concept has been lost and means nothing now,

That doesn't matter any more. Anything SF for a given period will be called -punk, just like any scandal these days (decades) is called -gate.

It's still Connard far in the lead with "Being the Adventures and Travails of Divers Men in Foreign Lands and in Their Owne Nations, Batteling Monstrous Invaders from Parts Unknown, By the Use of Miraculous Mechanicals and Magickes",

though jamesonsafari's "Tricorn'd Natural Philosophical Romance" is nice too.

I woulde suggeste RSF, "Reasonable Science Fiction", but no doubte some damnable scoundreles will want to change it to "Revolutionary Science Fiction". Bah.

I know the objections to the -punk suffix.

But Springpunk or Clockpunk, perhaps?

Being the Collected Wisdome of Divers Gentlemen in the Employment of Philosophical Applications of Tension Powered Mechanickal Devices of War in the Moderne Era. Or BCWDGEPATPMDWME for short.

Tensioned Philosophic Romance

meh

Rakes, Reason, Revolution and Ribaldry.

Brigands and Bosoms

Skippy,
Very good!

Skippy: Lol indeed, but not very specific -could apply to any 'Conan clone' comics and movie! link

I started using 'Lacepunk' some 7 years ago on Yahoo groups such as 'Lace Wars' (of course!) and SOCDAISY, then on TMP. I based it on the 'Lace Wars' (roughly 1715 – 1765; theoretically would exclude the AWI: no longer much lace, and chiefly, at least for one side, a war wagged by enraged 'civilians in arms', not by full-time professionals 'playing the game' without hatred). With the suffix 'punk' from 'Steampunk' (and thus initially 'Cyberpunk'; re also 'Radiumpunk' for 1910 – 1940 'Pulp' adventures featuring 'scientific marvels).
Truth to tell the expression has its flaws. 'Guerre en dentelle' is an old and well-known French expression (referring as much to the elegance of 'gentlemanly warfare' "Shoot first, I pray you, gentlemen" as to the elegance of uniforms and the Dutch lace of officers' shirts collars and cuffs). But the expression is relatively new in English, dating from the translation of Funcken's 'L'uniforme et les armes de la Guerre en dentelle' link
Thus the expression is known mainly of 'specialized' amateurs -the 'Lace Wars' Yahoo Group was rated 'adults only' for months because some censor mistook it with 'Lace Whore' or 'Leather and Lace'!
Then 'punk' irritate some, and mainly 'Lacepunk' does not have the dystopian atmosphere of 'Cyberpunk' -yet neither do 'Steampunk' or 'Radiumpunk'.

As for possible alternatives…
GSF: Georgian Science Fiction? There were several Kings Georges, and besides none of them 'characterizes' a period as Victoria does. And 'Victorian' is understood in any tongue, while 'G' or 'EC' would be purely Anglo-English -and imprecise.
FSF: Franklinian Science Fiction? Indeed a spectacular demonstration of '18th C. pre-VSF' was called 'Benjamiin's Wars' link But Benjamin Franklin is better known worldwide, at least by 'ordinary people', for his role in the AWI than for his scientific experiments and visions -and is mostly associated with later in the 18th C..
BSF: Baroque Science-Fiction or RSF: Rococo Science-Fiction? Baroque refers to an earlier period, but indeed Rococo, associated with the reign of Louis XV en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rococo , would fit; and 'rococo' may suggest the 'fanciful' aspect of 18th C. SF.
Another alternative, using a personal name clearly associated with its time (in the same way as 'Victoria') could be MSF: Munchausenian Science-Fiction, though apart from the cannonball ride YouTube link the good Baron Munchausen's writings contain preciously little SF.
Swift (Jonathan) and Voltaire are known worldwide, but their philosophical satires, but wrote no real SF (and Voltaire would give 'VSF'!).

'Romance' at least in France is associated with 'railway station literature' love stories.
I use 'Space 1745' for a subset involving space travel link -a peculiar setting, if an excellent excuse for your 'tricorned' gentlemen to meet these:
link

(while these link could be encountered on some yet-to-be-discovered Continent in the Pacific Ocean or 'at the Earth Core', Pellucidar-fashion)

Since I coined 'Lacepunk' I keep supporting it, but acknowledge that MSF: Munchausenian Science-Fiction and RSF: Rococo Science-Fiction could also be appropriate.
Philosophers indeed did not use much the word 'science' with our meaning, but then… Victorians ignored the expression 'Science Fiction', thus 'VSF' would be banned?
And a 'period' lengthy name, let's be realistic, would simply not catch in practice.

With the established and well known precedents of Cyberpunk, Radiumpunk and Steampunk, 'Lacepunk' is "obviously" a 'period' sub-genre of Science Fiction. And 'Lace' is at the very least… intriguing . Thus the whole is 'catching' as well as informative.

I am torn – I think Brigands and Bosoms is a true contender EXCEPT for its lack of reference to any munchenhausenian/natural philosophical fiction.

I think Brigands and Bosoms would work better for the 17th-18th century expansion to Panty Explosion, to include all the Lusty Highwayman and Wicked Lords and Ladies action…