These two works focus on the science fiction, rather than fantasy aspect of the steampunk genre. The works are both set, importantly, in old England, and have characters with old names and jobs. They both also feature science and technology well beyond modern and especially the decade in which they are set.
“In Lord Kelvin’s Machine,” steampunk qualities are found when St. Ives is given the time machine. Obviously, the technology to create a time machine has not been developed yet, so it was not developed during the time setting of the story. However, as with all gadgets in the genre, it is supposed to run on steam and springs. Because it is such a gadget, it follows the characteristics of steampunk.
Minutes of the last meeting is particularly dark and set in Nuclear Russia. The setting and events of the story highlight steampunk because they demonstrate the lack of innocence of the genre. A city being bombed and blood being shed would not be something experienced by an innocent, thus they fulfill the need for this characteristic in the story. Besides the blood and other disgust I found in this story, the other element that stood out as representing the steampunk genre was the use of technology. The pod that the doctor used was very futuristic for the time of the setting, yet it also was to be made not of electricity. The pod was to be inserted by the doctor and then perform surgery from inside the body. The possibility to posses such a tool is a very steampunk element.
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