摘要：This essay draws on William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s steampunk and alternate history novel The Difference Engine (1990) and Len Deighton’s dieselpunk and alternate history thriller SS-GB (1978) for the purpose of discussing the blurring of genres within speculative fiction and addressing retrofuturism and retrophilia within an alternate world building framework. Thus, it provides a background for the analysis of the concept of genre blending and the merging of pre-determined tropes and topics within the scope of science fiction, fantasy, adventure and mystery plots so as to characterize alternate history as a blended genre.
