Steampunk Insect

Proto-steampunk
Steampunk was influenced by, and often adopts the style of, the 19th century scientific romances of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, and Mary Shelley.
Several works of fiction significant to the development of the genre were produced before the genre had a name. Titus Alone (1959), by Mervyn Peake, anticipated many of the tropes of steampunk. One of the earliest mainstream manifestations of the steampunk ethos was the original CBS television series The Wild Wild West (1965–69), which inspired the film Wild Wild West (1999). The film Brazil (1985) was an important early cinematic influence to the genre.
Because he coined the term, K.W. Jeter's novel Morlock Night (1979) is typically considered to have established the genre. Keith Laumer made an early contribution with Worlds of the Imperium (1962). Ronald W. Clark's Queen Victoria's Bomb (1967) and Michael Moorcock's Warlord of the Air (1971) have been cited as early influences. Harry Harrison's novel A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! (1973) portrays a British Empire of an alternate 1973, full of atomic locomotives, coal-powered flying boats, ornate submarines, and Victorian dialogue. In February 1980 Richard A. Lupoff and Steve Stiles published the first "chapter" of their 10-part comic strip The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle and His Incredible Aether Flyer.