The Difference Engine

This article is about the novel. For the machine designed by Charles Babbage, see Difference engine. For the album by Beaver, see The Difference Engine (album).

The Difference Engine
Cover of first edition (hardcover)
AuthorWilliam Gibson and Bruce Sterling
LanguageEnglish
GenreAlternate history, steampunk
PublisherVictor Gollancz Ltd
Publication date
September 1990
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
Pages383 pp (Paperback – 429 pages)
ISBN0-575-04762-3
OCLC21299781

The Difference Engine (1990) is an alternative history novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. It is widely regarded as a book that helped establish the genre conventions of steampunk.

It posits a Victorian era Britain in which great technological and social change has occurred after entrepreneurial inventor Charles Babbage succeeded in his ambition to build mechanical computers.

The novel was nominated for the British Science Fiction Award in 1990, the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1991, and both the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Prix Aurora Award in 1992.