27 Free Steampunk and Cyberpunk Web Serials and Ebooks

Steampunk is science fiction dealing with 19th-century societies dominated by historical or imagined steam-powered technology. It can include alternate histories, vampires, time travel, magic, and romance. Unique among science fiction genres, steampunk is also a distinctive fashion, complete with old-timey suits, corsets, brass goggles, and dangerous electrical devices. The steampunk aesthetic is inspired by the fashions of Victorian Era in England (1837-1901), but also by the Belle Epoque in France (1871-1914) and the Civil War era in the United States (1861-1865). One of the earliest steampunk books set in America was The Steam Man of the Prairies by Edward S. Ellis.

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a future setting that tends to focus on society as “high tech low life” featuring advanced technological and scientific achievements, such as information technology and cybernetics, juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order.

Cyberpunk plots often center on conflict among artificial intelligences, hackers, and among megacorporations, and tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov’s Foundation or Frank Herbert’s Dune. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors.

It’s not a big collection of free reads, but 29 is a good starting point for any of your Steampunk or Cyberpunk cravings. This list will include free downloadable ebooks as well as free web serials which you can only read in its entirety online. Happy reading!