About

Retrofuturism is about contemplative nostalgia. There is a sense of longing in it for the days when technology was looked upon with optimism, and people were polite -- sometimes to a fault. It hearkens back to a time of great improvements in the quality of life, too, and we owe much to their ingenuity for the way we live today.

Retrofuturism is also about re-imagining the past's future. It's about technology and societies and sheds a new light on what would have been, what could have been, or what should have been, had there only been the right person there to set the world on a different path. It's about the world of the past from the eyes of the present.

The past of Retrofuturism, though, is also one of oppression, repression, and suppression. Entire cultures were forced into submission, some were beaten into quietude, and yet more were pushed into obscurity. It is a time period that, with our modern outlook, we look back on and see strange, shocking, and even enlightening mirrors of our own struggles in life.

For our tastes, Retrofuturism covers the end of Romanticism with clockwork stories; the grandeur and innovation of the Industrial Revolution with Steampunk and Gaslight Fantasy; and through to the combustion engine with Dieselpunk. Consider it 1780 to 1920.

The RetroFuture Engine is a magazine of introspection and investigation. It is about technology, societies, cross-cultures and counter-cultures, and pushing beyond parasols and goggles. It is a magazine that welcome adventures that remind us of Edisonades, safari stories, and fantastic voyages. It is a publication of bold color and strong character.

Give us your best and your worst!