I like the genre of Steampunk – which fuses the historical setting of 19th century Europe with advanced technological visions. Think steam-powered spaceships or Sherlock Holmes stories with mechanical computers thrown in. Elements of it crop up in comic books – the 2000AD series Nemesis was set for a while in a alien society that modelled itself on Victorian Britain and in Star Wars: Dark Empire II there’s a cool steam-powered spaceship – and also in movies like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (based on the comic series), Wild Wild West and Steamboy. Primarily it’s located in books though – Philip Reeve’s Hungry City Chronicles is an example of it for young adult/adult readers, while Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age mixes nanotechnology, AI and neo-Victorianism.

Basically, think airships, goggles, steam-powered computers, clockwork robots and difference engines.

Wired has a nice selection of pictures of contemporary steampunk inspired projects with current technologies – I love the steampunk laptop.

See Steam-Driven Dreams: The Wondrously Whimsical World of Steampunk.

Of course, Wikipedia has an extensive section on Steampunk. I tried Britannica Online, but alas, no information there.