Brassman

"Diamond Age" is steampunk? WTF?!

You're mixing your genres. Just because it has Neo-Victorians doesn't make it in any way steampunk, which is marked by anachronistic technology occurring in prior historical ages. Steampunk is basically alternate history.

I accept your premise that DA isn't cyberpunk, but that doesn't, by default, make it steampunk! You almost couldn't even bring yourself to type it! ^_^

Wikipedia lists it as postcyberpunk, which only makes me wish to eject another "WTF?!"

I'd say that sci-fi dealing with nanotechnology is almost a separate subgenre. DA does have some cyberpunky elements in it, but I feel that classic cyberpunk is essentially a 15-minutes-into-the-future genre (give or take a few decades!), and DA is much further ahead than that. Again, like you suggest, not cyberpunk. Still one of my favorite books, ever, even though it lacks a coherent ending. (Narratively, I find "Cryptonomicon" to be Stephenson's masterpiece, though idea-wise, DA is my favorite.)

"Daemon" has great buzz on Amazon. Thanks for the recommendation. I need to sink my teeth into some good, hard sci-fi. I just finished "Tarzan of the Apes," the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic, and not only it was pulpy (which I love) but was thick with roiling layers of colonialism, racism, and proto-eugenics that I can't even begin to describe. I need some brutal dytopian tech-porn to snap me back.

Thanks, Bright -- nice link.

Intriguing, but too short, IMHO. Bet you could write a better one!

Somebody must have written a meaty thesis on this thing that's online somewhere. Post here if you come across one.