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Steampunk first appeared in the 1980s as a subgenre of science fiction, featuring anachronistic technologies with a veneer of Victorian sensibilities. In recent years steampunk has re-emerged in young adult science fiction as a fresh and dynamic subgenre, which includes titles such as The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross, The Hunchback Assignment by Arthur Slade, and Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve. Like their predecessors, these modern steampunk novels for teens use retrofuturistic historiography and innovative mechanical aesthetics to dramatize the volatile relationship between man and technology, only in these novels the narrative is intentionally set in the context of their teen protagonist's social and emotional development. However, didactic conventions such as technophobia and the formulaic linearity of the bildungsroman narrative complicate and frustrate steampunk's representation of adolescent formation. Using case studies of Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld and The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia, retrofuturism and technological hybridity are presented as defining features of steampunk that subvert young adult science fiction's technophobic and liberal humanist traditions. The dirigible and the automaton are examined as the quintessential tropes of steampunk fiction that reproduce the necessary amphibious quality, invoking new expressions and understanding of adolescent growth and identity formation that have a distinctly utopian, nostalgic, and ecocentric undertone.

In this paper, I explore the emerging genre of Ecotopian fiction, which envisions alternative societal structures through an environmental or ecological lens. Examining two seminal works, Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future (2020) and Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia (1975), I investigate how these ecotopian narratives contribute to progressive ideologies on resource management, shedding light on the environmental requirements of utopia. Applying Darko Suvin's methodology to analyse the utopian framework in both novels, my reading of the works demonstrates that Callenbach's Ecotopia offers a confined utopian vision while Ministry for the Future employs a narrative approach that encompasses multiple possible utopian horizons. This adaptation of the Ecotopian framework serves to reimagine and reassess our strategies for addressing climate challenges within the complexities of the global economy. My argument draws from Booker and Daraiseh reading of Ministry for the Future which posits that the dialogic elements within Robinson's work foster reader engagement, prompting consideration of diverse perspectives and possibilities. Moreover, the polyphony of narrators in the Ministry for the Future facilitates a detachment of climate resolutions from Western-centric perspectives and from the perspective of one person - an imperative step towards the necessary global system change. As agents shaping potential worlds, ecotopian writers must articulate new economic systems in a manner that resonates with readers, fostering integration of these concepts into the collective consciousness. I contend that, to endure impending challenges, it is essential to continue developing the ecotopian horizon, exploring variations on ecological economies and that is best done through a multi-voiced approach. This ongoing effort is crucial to ensure the survival of future generations, empowering them to contribute to their own narratives of ecotopia.