Editing The Difference Engine

{{short description|1990 alternative history novel by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling}}
{{about|the novel|the machine designed by Charles Babbage|Difference engine|the album by Beaver|The Difference Engine (album)}}
{{all plot | date = May 2025}}
<!--This is added because there is a need for the current Background section to be weaned of content—now hidden—that is essentially further unsourced plot-related material, in compliance with (MOS:NOVELS).-->
{{more citations needed | date = May 2025}}
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{{Infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name = The Difference Engine
| image = TheDifferenceEngine(1stEd).jpg
| image_size = 240px
| caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
| author = [[William Gibson]] and [[Bruce Sterling]]
| cover_artist =
| country = United States
| language = English
| genre = [[Alternate history]], [[steampunk]]
| publisher = [[Victor Gollancz Ltd]]
| release_date = September 1990
| media_type = Print (hardback and paperback)
| pages = 383 pp (Paperback – 429 pages)
| isbn = 0-575-04762-3
| oclc= 21299781
}}

'''''The Difference Engine''''' (1990) is an [[alternative history]] novel by [[William Gibson]] and [[Bruce Sterling]].<ref name=WWEnd/>{{better source|date=May 2025}}<!--See note regarding this source in the main body.--> It has been described as an early work of the [[steampunk]] genre,<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/><ref name=WWEnd/>{{better source|date=May 2025}} and is regarded as having helped to establish that genre's conventions.{{not verified in body|date=May 2025}}

It posits a [[Victorian era|Victorian-era]] [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] in which great technological and social change has occurred after the mechanical [[computers]] of [[Charles Babbage]] make widespread impact, there and globally, resulting in [[history|historical]] individuals taking on markedly different roles ([[Lord Byron]] instead surviving the [[Greek War of Independence]] to lead Britain, the late [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Benjamin Disraeli]] instead becoming a tabloid writer, etc.), and European and American continents of markedly different political dispositions (e.g., the [[United States]] being, rather, several competing nations). Behind the manifest progress, ''Kirkus'' writes, "20th-century crises brew", providing context for a "cops-and-robbers plot".<ref name=KirkusDiffEng/>

The novel received nominations for several major science fiction awards in the years following its publication,<ref name=WWEnd/> and has been the subject of continuing scholarly interest for its approach to history and particular historical characters, and for its relationship to the [[Benjamin Disraeli|Disraeli]] novel, [[Sybil (novel)|''Sybil'']].

== Background ==
{{cleanup| reason = to move the hidden plot-related material that follows to the actual Plot section, editing to remove WP:OR and redundancies, and to then to add further sourced material here that complies with [[MOS:NOVELS]]—presenting Background that presents a "history of the novel's writing and development" that "report[s] the writings of significant and reliable sources"|date=May 2025}}

''The Difference Engine'' is a [[novel|fictional work]] of [[alternative history]] (alt history),<ref name=WWEnd>{{cite web | author = WWend Staff | date = 8 May 2025 | title = Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Books: The Difference Engine | work = WorldsWithoutEnd.com (WWEnd) | format = book database entry | url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=180 | access-date = 8 May 2025 | archive-url =  | archive-date =  | url-status =  | location=  | publisher=Tres Barbas, LLC | quote = }}</ref>{{better source|date=May 2025}} what Kirkus describes as a "Victorian alternate history".<ref name=KirkusDiffEng/> It been assigned to the genre of [[steampunk]],<ref name = PointAAS_1991/><ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/> and has been described as an early such work.<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/> The novel "takes the reader to London in 1855 where an Industrial Revolution unlike any seen in a history book is in full swing".<ref name = PointAAS_1991>{{cite web | author = Point, Michael | date=April 28, 1991| title=Cyberpunk Heroes | newspaper=[[Austin American-Statesman]]| page=53| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/139303110/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122073714/https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman/139303110/ | archive-date=January 22, 2024| access-date=January 22, 2024| via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}{{better source needed|date=May 2025}}</ref> Matt Mitrovich, writing for ''AmazingStories.com'', describes it—rather than as a novel—as being a "collection of three short stories and several snippets at the end all connected by a box of punch... cards [Engine cards]...", narrated in those stories by a distinct trio of [[First-person narrative|POV character]]s: first, Sybil Gerard, daughter of an earlier executed [[Luddite]] agitator, drawn into a conspiracy involving an [[alt history]] [[Sam Houston]], here a "[[Texian]]"—a repurposed term meaning, in history, residents of former province of Tejas, [[New Spain]], and its later derivative political entities<ref>{{cite web| author = Tarin, Randall | date = 2007 | title = The Texian Web: Texas History on the Internet | work = [[Texas A&M University]] (tamu.edu) | url = http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/txweb/txwebmain.htm | access-date = 2025-05-03 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111205164025/http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/txweb/txwebmain.htm | archive-date = 2011-12-05 | quote = male and female citizens or the culture of the former province of Tejas, New Spain, the Texas section of the state of Coahuila y Tejas, Republic of Mexico, and the subsequent Republic of Texas}} For a currently maintained website of the same apparent information, see [http://www.sonsofdewittcolony.org/txweb/txwebmain.htm this link].</ref>—Houston now exiled and in London; second, the esteemed "savant" paleontologist and [[alt history]] discoverer of ''[[Brontosaurus]]'', Edward “Leviathan” Mallory, serially attacked to attempt retrieval of a parcel with which Mallory is entrusted; and third, a fictional representation of [[Laurence Oliphant (author)|Laurence Oliphant]], still a spy and diplomat, but introduced as Mallory's protector, who continues in the final story to pursue investigations into earlier events in the book.<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013>{{cite web | author = Mitrovich, Matt | date=April 30, 2013 | title=Review: The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling | work= AmazingStories.com | url=https://amazingstories.com/2013/04/review-the-difference-engine-by-william-gibson-and-bruce-sterling/  | archive-url= | archive-date=  | access-date= 2025-05-03 }}</ref>
<!--FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS HIDDEN as expanded plot content, rather than MOS:NOVELS Background—content that is rife with WP:OR editorialising and WP:VERIFY violations:
The fictional historical background diverges from our timeline around 1824,{{original research inline|date=May 2025}} at which point [[Charles Babbage]] completes his [[difference engine]] and proceeds to develop an Analytical Engine. He becomes politically powerful and at the [[1830 United Kingdom general election|1830 general election]] successfully opposes the [[Tories (British political party)#1783–1834|Tory]] Government of the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]]. Although Wellington stages a ''[[coup d'état]]'' in 1830 in an attempt to overturn his defeat and prevent the acceleration of [[technological change]] and social upheaval, he is assassinated in 1831. The Industrial Radical Party, led by a [[Lord Byron]] who survives the [[Greek War of Independence]], comes to power. The Tory Party and [[hereditary peerage]] are eclipsed, and British [[trade union]]s assist in the ascendancy of the Industrial Radical Party (much as they aided the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] of Great Britain in the twentieth century in our own world).{{original research inline|date=May 2025}} As a result, [[Luddite]] [[Neo-Luddism|anti-technological]] [[working class]] revolutionaries are ruthlessly suppressed.

By 1855, the Babbage computers have become mass-produced and ubiquitous, and their use emulates the innovations that actually occurred during our [[information technology]] and [[Internet]] revolutions. Other [[steam power|steam-powered]] technologies have also developed and so, for example, [[Goldsworthy Gurney#Gurney's steam carriage|Gurney steam carriages]] become increasingly common. The novel explores the social consequences of an information technology revolution in the nineteenth century, such as the emergence of "clackers" (a reference to [[Hacker (hobbyist)|hackers]]{{original research inline|date=May 2025}}), technologically proficient people, such as [[Théophile Gautier]], who are skilled at programming the Engines through the use of [[punched card]]s.

In the novel, the [[British Empire]] is empowered by the development and use of extremely-advanced steam-driven technology in industry, and are thus more powerful than in "our reality".{{clarify|date=May 2025}}{{original research inline|date=May 2025}} In addition, similar military technology has enhanced the capabilities of the armed forces ([[airship]]s, [[dreadnoughts]], and [[artillery]]) and the Babbage computers themselves. Under the Industrial Radical Party, Britain shows the utmost respect for leading scientific and industrial figures such as [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]] and [[Charles Darwin]]. Indeed, they are collectively called "savants" and often raised to the [[peerage]] on their merits, causing a break with the past as regards social prestige and class distinction. The new patterns are also reflected in the educational sphere: classical studies have lost importance<!--Relative to what? According to whom?--><!--to more practical concerns such as [[engineering]] and [[accountancy]].{{original research inline|date=May 2025}}

Britain, rather than the [[United States]],{{original research inline|date=May 2025}} opened [[Japan]] to [[Western world|Western]] trade, in part because the United States became fragmented by interference from a Britain that foresaw the implications of a unified United States on the world stage. Counterpart successor states to our world's United States include a (truncated) United States; the [[Confederate States of America]]; the [[Republic of Texas]]; the [[Republic of California]]; a [[Communism|communist]] [[Manhattan|Manhattan Island]] [[Intentional community|commune]] (with [[Karl Marx]] as a leading light); [[British North America]] (analogous to [[Canada]], albeit slightly larger in this world); and [[Russian America]] ([[Alaska]]).{{original research inline|date=May 2025}} In the novel, an entente exists between[[Napoleon III]]'s [[Second French Empire|French Empire]] and the British, and Napoleon is married to a British woman.

In the world of ''The Difference Engine'', France occupies [[Second Mexican Empire|Mexico]], as it [[Second French intervention in Mexico|did briefly]] in reality during the [[American Civil War]].{{original research inline|date=May 2025}} Like Great Britain, it has its own analytical/difference engines (''ordinateurs''), especially used in the context of domestic [[surveillance]] within its [[police force]] and [[Intelligence agency|intelligence agencies]]. As for the other world powers, [[Germany]] remains fragmented, with no suggestion that [[Prussia]] will eventually form the core of a [[German Empire|unified nation]], as it did in our own timeline in 1871,{{original research inline|date=May 2025}} which may be caused by French sabotage analogous to that pursued in the case of the fragmentation of the United States noted above.{{editorializing|date=May 2025}} Japan is awakening after the British ended its isolation, and looks, as in our timeline,{{original research inline|date=May 2025}} set to become one of this world's leading industrial and economic powers from the 20th century onward.

The intervention of Lords Byron and Babbage provide [[famine relief]] with grain confiscated from the landed aristocracy. The [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine of Ireland]] never occurred, there is no agitation for [[Irish home rule]] or [[Irish Free State|Irish independence]] and the Irish instead have become enthusiastic supporters of the Radical regime. A Spanish Civil War is mentioned to be taking place in 1855 with one side being the Royalists, and in 1905, possibly as a result of that conflict, there is an [[Catalan separatism|independent Republic of Catalonia]].

Among other historical characters, the novel features "[[Texian]]" [[President of the Republic of Texas|President]] [[Sam Houston]], as an exile after a political coup in [[Republic of Texas|Texas]], a reference to [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]] (as a [[Luddite]]), [[John Keats]] as a ''kinotropist'' (an operator of mechanical [[pixellated]] screens), and [[Benjamin Disraeli]] as a publicist and [[tabloid journalism|tabloid]] writer.-->

==Plot==
{{cleanup section|reason=[[MOS:NOVELPLOT]]: A summary for a full-length novel should be between 400 and 700 words.|date=May 2025}}
First Iteration. The Angel of Goliad.<ref>This is an allusion to a woman who worked to heroically save individuals who otherwise would have died during the executions of historic Texans at Goliad in March, 1836, an event known as the [[Goliad Massacre]]. See {{cite web |first=George O. |last=Coalson |date = August 1, 2017 | orig-date = 1952 | title=Francita Alavez: The Angel of Goliad and Her Heroic Acts |work=Handbook of Texas Online |url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fal53 |accessdate=March 12, 2021 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref> In 1855, Sybil Gerard, going by the name of Sybil Jones, daughter of an executed [[Luddite]] leader, is a [[wikt:dollymop|dolly-mop]] targeting respectable gentlemen, and is recruited by one, Mick Radley, a secretary to an [[alt history|alt historical]] [[Sam Houston]], to assist Mick in support of Houston's cause in Britain. Mick has confronted Sybil regarding her hidden past, says she is no longer a [[wikt:dollymop|dolly-mop]], but rather is now Mick's "[[apprentice|prentice]] adventuress", although Sybil remains with mixed feelings regarding him. Mick is a schemer with two ongoing plays, a set of [[punch card]]s that purport to encode a betting system, or "modus", and a second set of "kino[punch]-cards" encoding visuals for a presentation. Before one of Houston's speeches, Mick has Sybil send the betting system set on to Paris. Meanwhile, Houston is preparing to give one of a series of presentations in support of his hoped for return to Texas, presentations that in this era require support of a "kinotropist" and kino-cards, the latter encoding images for the presentations. (What the technician operates is termed a ''kinotrope'', which ''Kirkus'' describes as "a new art form, motion pictures by way of programmed arrays of changing, clacking tiles", this driven by a steam-driven "Engine", a mechanical computer.<ref name=KirkusDiffEng>{{cite web | author = Kirkus Staff | date = March 1990 | title = The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling ‧ Release Date: March 4, 1990 | work = [[Kirkus Reviews]] (KirkusReviews.com) | format = book review | url = https://www.KirkusReviews.com/book-reviews/william-gibson/the-difference-engine/ | access-date = 8 May 2025 | archive-url =  | archive-date =  | url-status =  | location=  | publisher= | quote = }}</ref>)

Mick has surreptitiously laid hands on the kino-[[punch card]] set needed by Houston's kinotropist, and so Mick has been of value to Houston. To disenfranchise Mick, Houston steals that card set, and Mick enlists Sybil to steal them back again. Sybil distracts the hotel concierge by composing in his presence a telegram to Charles Egremont, an MP and a former lover, boldly confronting him for his past abusive behavior around the time of her father's death; Mick uses the diversion to obtain the key to Houston's hotel room. Sybil, acting alone, gains access to the room and finds a [[Texian]] assassin lying in wait to kill Houston. He interrogates Sybil, and disarms, knifes, and murders Mick when he arrives. When Sam Houston arrives, the Texian thrice discharges Mick's small [[pepper-box]] pistol into him, direly wounding him, ruining a punch card set Houston has tucked in his waistband, and breaking Houston's heavy, [[raven]]-headed [[walking stick|cane]]. The assassin escapes after breaking a window, Sybil assigning him the monikor of "Angel of Goliad"; Houston appears to be dying, but readers are left unclear as to his fate. Sybil finds a missing fortune, taken from Texas by Houston, a spill of large diamonds from the hollow cane, which she retrieves (along with Paris tickets from Mick's dead person). Mick Radley dead, Sybil departs alone for Paris, and some indication is given that Houston may too have survived.

Second Iteration. Darby Day. Edward Mallory, a [[paleontology|palaeontologist]] and explorer, while visiting his friends participating in a [[Gurney's steam carriage|gurney]] race derby, encounters [[Ada Lovelace|Lady Ada Byron]] being mistreated by a man and a woman. After Mallory fights the man and woman over their treatment of Lady Byron, she gives Mallory a case containing punch cards and returns to her family. Mallory hides the case in the skull of the exhibit of the dinosaur he discovered, the [[Brontosaurus]]. The man, fashioning himself '[[Captain Swing]]', threatens to 'destroy' Mallory unless he returns the punch cards. As part of his attempts, Swing spreads rumours that Mallory was responsible for the death of Mallory's rival, Rudwick.

Third Iteration. Dark Lanterns. [[Laurence Oliphant (1829–1888)|Laurence Oliphant]] meets Mallory to offer him police protection. Oliphant argues Rudwick died as a result of a conspiracy and Mallory could be the next target, given that both received sponsorship for their research work in return for supplying arms to Native American tribes thereby checking the expansionist ambitions of the United States. Mallory agrees to Oliphant's offer after he is tailed and attacked. With the help of Andrew Wakefield, Oliphant's contact at the Central Bureau of Statistics, Mallory identifies Florence Bartlett, the woman he saw with Lady Byron at the derby. It is suggested that Bartlett brought the case of punch cards that Sybil Gerard had sent to France back to England. Mallory sends Lady Byron a letter which reveals where the case of punch cards is hidden. "[[Great Stink|The Stink]]", a major episode of pollution in which London swelters under an [[Inversion (meteorology)|inversion layer]] (comparable to [[Great Smog of London|the London Smog of December 1952]]), causes much of London's elite to leave the city. Mallory is accompanied by Ebenezer Fraser, a [[secret police]] officer, as he goes about his business in the city, but Fraser is wounded after confronting a gang of youthful looters, as civil order begins to break down.

Fourth Iteration. Seven Curses. Mallory leaves Fraser at the police station and meets Hetty, another courtesan who knew Sybil. Mallory spends the night with Hetty in Whitechapel, and leaves the next morning to notice that the persisting Stink has led to further collapse of order in the city. Making his way back to the Palace of Palaeontology, he notices advertisements, commissioned by Swing, that claim Mallory murdered Rudwick and decry the excesses of the rule of savants. After meeting his brothers at the Palace and hearing that their sister's engagement was broken thanks to rumours spread about her infidelity by Swing, Mallory gathers them and Fraser, who has recovered, to attack Swing. They infiltrate Swing's location, noting that communists from Manhattan are supporting him. After recognising Florence Bartlett as a lecturer among them, Mallory and his group fight them off until rain ends the Stink and a river [[ironclad]] fires at Swing's location. Fraser apprehends Swing.

Fifth Iteration. The All Seeing Eye. A year later, Oliphant pursues his investigations into the disorder accompanying The Stink, while having persistent visions of an all-seeing eye. He identifies the assassin responsible for murdering Mick Radley and Rudwick.<!--DOES NOT MAKE SENSE: having been himself poisoned by Bartlett--> After the Prime Minister, Lord Byron, dies during the Stink and is replaced by Brunel, Charles Egremont has begun removing old associates in an effort to hide his past as the one that betrayed Sybil Gerard's father to his death. Florence Bartlett is informed by Lady Byron of the location of the long-sought case of Ada Byron's cards—the paleontologist Edward Mallory had hidden them, encased in plaster, within the reconstructed skull of ''Brontosaurus''. Bartlett attempts, with a crew, to steal the cards, but is thwarted, and dies in a firefight with soldiers and policemen as she attempts to escape. Oliphant, secretly having secured the cards, further uses the organs of Engine-driven state security (Wakefield's offices) to lay hands on the telegram that Sybil sent Egremont, thus learning of Egremont's past heinous crimes, and defining for Oliphant a means by which he might bring him down.<!--One of Oliphant's officers is captured by members of an agency affiliated with Egremont.{{what}}--> Oliphant confronts Wakefield, who is clearly fearful, and their discussion reveals that as a part of their efforts on behalf of state security, the two of them have had individual identities of those deemed enemies fully erased from records, and thus from a history of existence. Oliphant heads for Paris to meet with French intelligence, and to meet Sybil, intending to get testimony with which to blackmail Egremont. Oliphant's meeting with his French counterpart reveals that the case of punch cards, when sent to Paris, appears to have been run through France's equivalent Engine by a 'clacker', causing it to malfunction. After meeting and persuading Sybil that his cause is dedicated to their mutual safety, Oliphant returns to London, but falls ill; his Japanese protege{{who|date=May 2025}}<!--He should have been introduced in name, earlier. Japanese technology as presented in TDE is a common mention in reviews of the book.--> next appears, to the good humor of the recipient, and presents Egremont with a communique, presumably the testimony of Sybil, via Oliphant.<!--THE FOLLOWING DISPUTED, and hidden as WP:OR interpretation, until quotations and/or third-part sources in clear support are provided: The punch cards contain proof of [[Gödel's incompleteness theorems|two theorems]], which, in reality, would not be discovered until 1931 by [[Kurt Gödel]].{{says who}}{{cn}}--> Ada, Lady Byron delivers a lecture in France, the narrator there describing her as "The Mother".{{verification needed|date=May 2025}} She is chaperoned by Fraser; Sybil, who attends Ada's lecture, seeks her out afterward, addresses her with undue familiarity, and after giving offense, expresses sympathy for her challenges, and gives her a gift of a ring, bearing a large, uncut diamond. Frasier and Ada return to their apartments, take stock of their finances, contemplate their next speaking tour, and in a moment of vulnerability, Lady Byron asks if the familiar insults of Sybil actually characterise who she is; Frasier responds, no, Ada, you are "La Reine des Ordinateurs”" (The Queen of Computers, or "of Machines").<ref>{{cite journal | author = Oramus, Dominika | date = October 1, 2020 | title = Strangers in Togetherville–Women, Physics and Popular Culture | journal = Prague Journal of English Studies | volume = 9 | issue = 1 | pages = 133-153, esp. 147 | via =  Sciendo Team, Paradigm Publishing Services | doi = 10.2478/pjes-2020-0007 | issn = 2336-2685 | url = https://webkajl.pedf.cuni.cz/documents/journal/volume-9/PJES2020-0007.pdf | access-date = 8 May 2025 | location = Warsaw, Poland | publisher = De Gruyter Brill | language = en}} The full journal article was, as of this retrieval date, also available at [https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pjes-2020-0007 this link]. Note, there is an internal discrepancy in this citation, in that it also associates volume 9, issue 1 of the journal with the date July 2020.</ref> Using a reflection in a mirror as the point of segue, the narrative shifts to 1991, where a vast Engine is now described as simulating the lives of all of humankind in London.<!--THE FOLLOWING DISPUTED, and hidden as WP:OR interpretation, until quotations in clear support are provided:  that preceded its existence to produce new conclusions. This Engine reveals itself to be the narrator,{{cn}}{{request quotation}} as it achieves [[self-awareness]],{{cn}}{{request quotation}} its Eye examining the records of people, documents, and artefacts.{{request quotation}}-->

==Characters==
{{expand section|with = a formal, full presentation of the novel's characters as presented by published secondary sources|small = no|date=May 2025}}
* '''Sybil Jones''' / '''Sybil Gerard''',{{cn|date=May 2025}} [[first-person narrator|POV narrator]] in the First Iteration, daughter of an executed [[Luddite]] leader and so with a hidden past, recruited by one to assist [[Sam Houston]]'s cause,<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/> her aim of becoming a "[[apprentice|prentice]] adventuress" shortshrifted, but ending with her en route to Paris with Sam Houston's Texian riches.{{cn|date=May 2025}} 
* '''Mick Radley''', an ill-fated schemer,{{cn|date=May 2025}} Sybil's recruiter, secretary to [[Sam Houston]] in the First Iteration, assisting Houston in his cause to return to Texas to raise an army, seeking to capitalize on his possession of two sought-after punch card sets,<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/> one of kino-cards, the other purportedly for a gamblers "modus".{{cn|date=May 2025}}
* '''[[Sam Houston]]''', an [[alt history|alt historical]], fictional representation of the historic character, still a warrior, in the FIrst Iteration, a "[[Texian]]" now exiled and in London,<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/> and perceived to have absconded with Texian riches;{{cn|date=May 2025}}
* '''Edward “Leviathan” Mallory''', [[first-person narrator|POV narrator]] introduced in the Second Iteration, esteemed "savant" paleontologist and [[alt history]] discoverer of ''[[Brontosaurus]]'', pursued and attacked in Iteration Three to attempt retrieval of the parcel with which Mallory is entrusted; in Iteration Four, he takes the battle to Swing in his headquarters.<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/>
* '''[[Laurence Oliphant (author)|Laurence Oliphant]]''', an [[alt history|alt historical]], fictional representation of the historic character, still a spy and diplomat, introduced as Mallory's protector in the Third Iteration, and continues as the [[first-person narrator|POV narrator]] in the Fifth to pursue investigations into earlier events in the book.<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/>
The characters of Sybil Gerard, her father, Walter Gerard, Charles Egremont, and Mick Radley are borrowed from [[Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield|Benjamin Disraeli]]'s novel ''[[Sybil (novel)|Sybil]]''.{{according to whom|date=May 2025}}{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}<ref>{{cite book | author = Disraeli, Benjamin | date =  | title = Sybil | chapter =  | page =  | via =  | location =  | publisher =  | isbn =  | url =  | access-date = }}{{full citation needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>{{full citation needed|date=May 2025}} Sterling has reported that the novel's Michael Godwin character was named after attorney [[Mike Godwin]], as thanks for his assistance in linking Sterling and Gibson's computers, allowing their collaboration between Austin and Vancouver.<ref name=hackerdown />{{page needed|date=May 2025}}

==Reception==
{{expand section|with = a more thorough presentation of the both review and critical-scholarly receptions of this novel, based especially on syntheses (secondary and tertiary sources) |small = no|date=May 2025}}

===Awards and recognition===
The novel was nominated for the British Science Fiction Award in 1990,<ref name=wwe90 /> the [[Nebula Award for Best Novel]] in 1991,<ref name=wwe91 /> and both the [[John W. Campbell Memorial Award]] and the [[Prix Aurora Award]] in 1992.<ref name=wwe92 />

===In review===
{{one source|section|date=May 2025}}
In a non-contemporaneous review, Matt Mitrovich, writing for ''AmazingStories.com'', describes ''The Difference Engine'' as "a rich and imaginative glimpse at a world dealing with the opportunities and pitfalls that come with advanced technology", describing it as written in "superb prose [that] helps paint a gritty, but believable setting", and applauding the novel's presentation of realistic, flawed characters, and the authors' "amazing depth of knowledge about the culture and technological capabilities of the era".<ref name=MitrovichAmazStor_2013/>

=== In scholarship ===
The novel has attracted the attention of scholars. [[Jay Clayton, critic|Jay Clayton]] explores the book's attitude toward hacking, and its treatment of Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace.<ref name=clayton /> Herbert Sussman argues that in the ''The Difference Engine'', Gibson and Sterling rewrite<!--people rewrite, books don't rewrite--> [[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s novel [[Sybil (novel)|''Sybil'']].<ref name=sussman /> [[Brian McHale]] relates this work to [[postmodern]] interest in finding a "new way of 'doing' history in fiction."<ref name=mchale />

===In popular culture===
The 1993 [[video game]] ''[[The Chaos Engine]]'' (released as ''Soldiers of Fortune'' in the USA) was based on ''The Difference Engine''.<ref>{{cite news | last = Locke | first= Phil | date = December 2013 | title = Creating Chaos | work = [[Retro Gamer]] | issue = 122 | pages = 72 | publisher = [[Imagine Publishing]]}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name=hackerdown>{{cite book | author = Sterling, Bruce | date = 1992 | title = The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier | chapter =  | page =  | via = [[Project Gutenberg|gutenberg.org]] | location = New York, NY | publisher = Bantam Books | isbn = 0-553-08058-X | url = https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/101 | access-date = 3 May 2025}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}}</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2025}}
<ref name=clayton>Clayton, Jay, ''Charles Dickens in Cyberspace: The Afterlife of the Nineteenth Century in Postmodern Culture'', [[Oxford University Press]] (2003), pp. 105-18</ref>
<ref name=sussman>{{cite journal | last1 = Sussman | first1 = Herbert | year = 1994 | title = Cyberpunk Meets Charles Babbage | journal = Victorian Studies | volume = 38 | pages = 1–23 }}</ref>
<ref name=mchale>{{cite journal | last1 = McHale | first1 = Brian | year = 1992 | title = Difference Engine | journal = ANQ | volume = 5 | issue = 4| pages = 220–23 | doi=10.1080/0895769x.1992.10542775}}</ref>
<ref name=wwe90>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1990 | title = 1990 Award Winners & Nominees | work = Worlds Without End | access-date=2009-07-17 }}</ref>
<ref name=wwe91>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1991 | title = 1991 Award Winners & Nominees | work = Worlds Without End | access-date=2009-07-17 }}</ref>
<ref name=wwe92>{{cite web | url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_year_index.asp?year=1992 | title = 1992 Award Winners & Nominees | work = Worlds Without End | access-date=2009-07-16 }}</ref> }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web | author = Kirkus Staff | date = March 1990 | title = The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling ‧ Release Date: March 4, 1990 | work = [[Kirkus Reviews]] (KirkusReviews.com) | format = book review | url = https://www.KirkusReviews.com/book-reviews/william-gibson/the-difference-engine/ | access-date = 8 May 2025 | archive-url =  | archive-date =  | url-status =  | location=  | publisher= | quote = }}
* {{cite journal | author = Kraus, Elisabeth | date = 1997 | title = Gibson and Sterling's Alternative History: The Difference Engine as Radical Rewriting of Disraeli's Sybil | journal = Node9 [E-Journal of Writing and Technology] | volume = 1 | url = http://node9.phil3.uni-freiburg.de/index1.html | access-date = 3 May 2025 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20011216222637/http://node9.phil3.uni-freiburg.de/index1.html | archive-date = 2001-12-16 | url-status = dead }}
* {{cite web | author = Gunn, Eileen | author-link = Eileen Gunn | date = 2003 | orig-date = 1990 | title = The Difference Dictionary | work = EileenGunn.com | format =  | url = http://www.eileengunn.com/difference-dictionary/ | access-date = 8 May 2025 | archive-url =  | archive-date =  | url-status =  | quote = [While currently available from this self-published site,] ''The Difference Dictionary'' was first published in slightly different form in ''Science Fiction Eye'', and is included in the Japanese translation of ''The Difference Engine''.}}
* {{cite book |author = Jagoda, Patrick | date=2007 | editor = Bowser, Rachel A. & Croxall, Brian |series=Special Issue: Steampunk, Science, and (Neo)Victorian Technologies |title=Neo-Victorian Studies | chapter = Clacking Control Societies: Steampunk, History, and the Difference Engine of Escape | volume=3 (1) | pages = 46–71 | location=Burnaby, BC |publisher= [[Simon Fraser University]] Open Journal Systems/Public Knowledge Project  |issn= 1757-9481  | url = https://neovictorianstudies.com/article/view/250/239 | access-date = 6 May 2025 | archive-url =  | archive-date =  | url-status =  }} Patrick Jagoda was affiliated with [[The University of Chicago]] at the time of the publication of this work. See [https://neovictorianstudies.com/issue/view/9 this link] for the homepage of the special edition of the journal from which this article was drawn.
<!--Note, cite book used because this was a special journal edition, with title and guest editors, and so the book citation better presents the needed fields.-->
* {{cite book | author = Singles, Kathleen | date = 2013 | title = Alternate History: Playing with Contingency and Necessity | pages = 50, 62, 116, 140 | series = Narrating Futures | volume = 5 | editor = Bode, Christoph | location = Berlin, Germany | publisher = Walter de Gruyter | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-BLoBQAAQBAJ | access-date = 9 May 2025 | isbn = 9783110272475 }}
* {{cite web | author = Tillman, Peter D. | date = 2019-09-03 | orig-date = 10 July 1999 | title = The Difference Engine, William Gibson & Bruce Sterling, Bantam Spectra Books, 429 pages | work = SFSite.com | format = book review | url = https://www.sfsite.com/08a/dif62.htm | access-date = 8 May 2025 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190903123204/https://www.sfsite.com/08a/dif62.htm | archive-date = 2019-09-03 | url-status = dead }} For the date of the original review and an additional path to this source, see [https://web.archive.org/web/20180812211442/http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/diffeng.htm this link].
* {{cite journal | author = Oramus, Dominika | date = October 1, 2020 | title = Strangers in Togetherville–Women, Physics and Popular Culture | journal = Prague Journal of English Studies | volume = 9 | issue = 1 | pages = 133-153, esp. 147 | via =  Sciendo Team, Paradigm Publishing Services | doi = 10.2478/pjes-2020-0007 | issn = 2336-2685 | url = https://webkajl.pedf.cuni.cz/documents/journal/volume-9/PJES2020-0007.pdf | access-date = 8 May 2025 | location = Warsaw, Poland | publisher = De Gruyter Brill | language = en}} The full journal article was, as of this retrieval date, also available at [https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/pjes-2020-0007 this link]. Note, there is an internal discrepancy in this citation, in that it also associates volume 9, issue 1 of the journal with the date July 2020.
* {{cite web | author = Nolte, David D. | date = June 26, 2023 | title = Ada Lovelace at the Dawn of Cyber Steampunk | work = Galileo Unbound | format = blog, book-accompanying | url = https://galileo-unbound.blog/2023/06/26/ada-lovelace-at-the-dawn-of-cyber-steampunk/  | access-date = 9 May 2025 | via = Wordpress | archive-url =  | archive-date =  | url-status =  | location=  | publisher= | quote = }}
* {{cite web | author = WWend Staff | date = 8 May 2025 | title = Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Books: The Difference Engine | work = WorldsWithoutEnd.com (WWEnd) | format = book database entry | url = http://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=180 | access-date = 8 May 2025 | archive-url =  | archive-date =  | url-status =  | location=  | publisher=Tres Barbas, LLC | quote = }}

==External links==
* [http://www.worldcat.org/title/difference-engine/oclc/23145044/editions Editions of ''The Difference Engine''] at [[WorldCat]].org

{{William Gibson}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Difference Engine, The}}
[[Category:1990 British novels]]
[[Category:British alternative history novels]]
[[Category:British steampunk novels]]
[[Category:Charles Babbage]]
[[Category:Collaborative novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in London]]
[[Category:Novels by Bruce Sterling]]
[[Category:Novels by William Gibson]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1855]]
[[Category:American Civil War alternate histories]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 1850s]]
[[Category:Victor Gollancz Ltd books]]