Operation Steelpunk! Front view

After I asked about the wooden handles, I placed a vote to see what you, the reader, thought about the design. You all decided that the touch of wood was a good one. I noted that I wanted the ends capping off otherwise it looked just like cut down forks and not an amalgamation of formed metal.

So Dan had a wonderful idea to use the ends of the handles and attach them to the base of the fork. It means that the ends have curves to them and aren’t sawn off.

Operation Steelpunk! isometric right view

Operation Steelpunk! side view

Operation Steelpunk! Top view

I always like to hear from readers, so please take a look through the pictures and tell me what you think. We’re close to completion and I’ve already started imagining our next project.

Related articles

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• Operation Steelpunk! Part One
• Operation Steelpunk! Part four

Otto the Octopus and Victoria figurine

Brian Kesinger, the creator of well known illustrated novel Walking Your Octopus featuring Otto the Octopus and Victoria, has started a campaign on Indiegogo to begin funding for the creation of a collectible figurine.

He hopes to raise $90,000 in 30 days to fund the project.

The 1/6th figurine of Victoria will stand roughly 12 inches tall and be made from various materials such as metal for Victoria’s goggles and earrings, velvet for her hat and fabric for the under skirt, over skirt, apron and under drawers. Otto will stand around six inches tall and have a leather leash with metal name tags.

Otto and Victoria artwork

For your donation, there are many wonderful prizes from being listed as a contributor if you donate $1, to limited edition prints, T-Shirts, joining the design team for lunch and if you pay the most amount of $10,000, Brian will place you as a character in his forthcoming Otto & Victoria book.

Should the project be over funded, the additional money will go towards paying for the next project.

If you want to get involved, follow the link here: Otto and Victoria Walking my Octopus figurine Indiegogo campaign

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San Francisco Flower and Garden show Nautilus land submarine

The San Francisco Flower Show is underway at the San Mateo Event Centre and it can easily be said that the star of the show is The Nautilus.

The submarine featured in the Captain Nemo stories by Jules Verne is part of landscape designer Nathan Beeck’s garden, named Vulcania “An Oasis for your Soul”, which he hopes will win Best in Show.

San Francisco Flower and Garden show exhibit Nautilus

From his website, Beeck describes Vulcania:

Cover of Jules Verne

The dense foliage of exotic plants reaches to the sky, enveloping you and the sounds of falling water. Light from a glowing lagoon plays across the surfaces of this whimsical, fantasy oasis, vibrating with a new energy. Then you see it: Captain Nemo’s Nautilus, reborn out of the imagination of Burning Man, has returned to its island home. The creative wonder it discovered on the Playa has infused the landscape and now radiates from all the botanical, sculptural, and exotic treasures that Captain Nemo has collected from his adventures around the world.

San Francisco Flower and Garden show exhibit Vulcania steampunk mannequin

The Nautilus is a land submarine, built by Christopher Bently, Sean Orlando and Five Ton Crane (an artistic collective from Oakland). It has a top speed of 13MPH and the chassis is actually a tow tractor used for moving aeroplanes.

San Francisco Flower and Garden show exhibit Vulcania

It also comes equipped with a Harpoon water cannon, iPod interface, programmable LED lighting system, Specimen lab, Night vision periscope and Poop deck with custom made canopy.

You can learn more about the San Francisco Flower and Garden show which is running at this moment, by following this link: San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

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@support #00704129

It took a number of weeks of working in between projects to get this done, but the goggles are finally ready. They look divine when on, but do carry a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration.

For example, the front of my hat us now incredibly front heavy. I have to be careful when looking at the floor which means I can no longer avoid giving money to people in the street.

They’re not an exact fit, but it would have been nearly impossible to get it right.

Dan Revitt is a professional welder and metal fabricator. He is available for commissions, please get in touch with Steampunk Journal for more details and how to contact him.

Methley RiversMEET cafe is the location of a steampunk mini market 18th May, 2014

Rivers MEET Craft Cafe are holding a steampunk Mini Market on the 18th May, 2014 and are calling for additional stallholders to join the current traders.

Based in Methley, West Yorkshire (between Leeds and Castleford), the cafe will be host to the market which currently has some regular traders from the gift and craft fayres held there, but the organisers really want to get some more steampunks in the mix.

Organiser Margaret Fiddes said: “We have a group of exhibitors/traders already
who are mostly regular attendees at our craft and gift fairs. They also
happen to be steampunks, but for the Mini Market we are looking for
more people to bring wonderful things for our shoppers and visitors.”

If you want to be part of the market you can find out the price of a 6ft or 4ft table by getting in touch with the cafe on 01977 279 729 or e-mail riversmeet.methley@gmail.com

The address of the cafe is:

Rivers MEET,
102 Leeds Road,
Methley,
Leeds,
LS26 9EP

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• Leeds Steampunk Market

Tahlullah Manhattan hides in Ostrich feathers

Sheffield‘s most popular burlesque event celebrated it’s 6th anniversary last night and I went along on behalf of the Journal. The event has been brought from the ground up to be a very popular night of cabaret, burlesque dancing, striptease and comedy. Compered by Warren Peace, Secrets of the Boudoir is the brainchild of burlesque performer Deadly Nightshade.

The doors open at 7pm and with any event like this, you have to wait around an hour for it to begin. This is so any late arrivals can get a drink and settle into their seats.

Compere Warren Peace opens the evening with a song

The night opened with the song ‘Wilkommen’ and a comedy routine from Warren Peace who conducts himself as though the stage was made for him. After a little crowd interaction he began to announce the performers. We started with a splendid dance from Raven Noir and her Medusa act. Her exquisite head piece featured writhing snakes. We then moved on to an amazing fan dance by Luna Diosa featuring Ostrich feathers (arguably a more recognisable burlesque accessory) and was a welcome part of the show as it illustrated to me that the original roots of burlesque are still well and truly alive.

Deadly Nightshade is the founder of Secrets of the Boudoir

The third act, titled ‘Windmills’, was by none other than Secrets of the Boudoir Burlesque founder Deadly Nightshade. If you’re interested in burlesque dancing in any way, such as watching performances, booking lessons or holding a Hen party, chances are Deadly Nightshade is in the background somewhere. She’s a tidal wave in the scene and is helping turn burlesque into being more roundly accepted by the general public. Her typically smooth performance led to an interesting routine from Baroness Guillam. It involved a slow strip tease and fluid dancing with lots of emotion and what appeared to be an overdose through injection!

All the way from Germany, Cleopatra Rose performed a lovely dance called ‘Invocation of Bast’ which incorporated some belly dancing with strip tease.

Warren Peace and Baroness Guillam perform Money Makes the World Go Around

To start the second section, we got a cabaret song and dance from Warren Peace and Baroness Guillam which again thrust my imagination back to the days of cabaret. So precise were the dance moves, singing style and facial expressions.

Pansy Cheung performed a Charleston dance

Some fantastic light relief was brought to us by Pansy Cheung who performed a wonderful Charleston dance. The moves were spot on and I always think that if you can watch something or someone and then imagine you’re there in the scene that they’re creating, then they’re doing an amazing job.

A slow pole dance called ‘The Night Elf’ came from Sir Midnight Blues and he showed everyone how a type of dance that has such notoriety for being sleazy can in fact be something tremendous to watch. Pole dancing is also notoriously difficult to do and he made it look so easy.

Tahlullah Manhattan brought some balloon popping fun to the night

Before the end of the first section (the night was split into four) I got to see a hilarious routine from Tahlullah Manhattan with her balloon popping. I managed to capture a burst of photographs as she pops the last balloon which I’ve posted below. Finally, we were all treated to Pam Galactic who gushed energy and fun throughout the performance.

The night then carried on with alternate performances from the previous dancers as well as some from other performers such as Whimsy Blue and Two Too Many. All performances were simply stunning to watch and a lot of fun and that’s what a lot of people don’t realise about these nights if they’ve never been to one. They hear the word burlesque bandied around and think it’s just stripping, but there’s much more to it than that and thanks to nights like this, more and more people are beginning to realise it.

Tickets are usually around £7 if you get them in advance and £9 on the door, so you it’s accessible for anyone. Go to the Secrets of the Boudoir website by following this link: Secrets of the Boudoir website to discover when the next night is to be held.

Take a look at some other pictures from the night:

Raven Noir opens the night

Luna Diosa at Secrets of the Boudoir

Deadly Nightshade

Baroness Guillam performed an entrancing dance

Baroness Guillam was joined by a lone guitarist

Cleopatra Rose

Cleopatra Rose

Sir Midnight Blues

Sir Midnight Blues performed a pole dance

Tahlullah Manhattan goes to pop the last balloon

The pin approaches

Tahlullah’s expression is priceless

Energy and fun was brought to us by Pam Galactic. And glitter.

Warren Peace

Warren Peace and Baroness Guillam

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Abney Park‘s new book Retrograde

Pirate steampunk band Abney Park are due to release their next novel Retrograde on 12th April, 2014. It is the sequel to The Wrath of Fate.

Each book chronicles the story behind the songs from Abney Park’s 14 albums and Retrograde is the second in a series titled “The Airship Pirate Chronicles”.

There’s little information about the book on the Abney Park website, so if you know any information and wish to share it, please post a comment in the box below.

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Jenna Whyte’s Illustrated Guide to the Elements Vol 2

The delightful Jenna Whyte got in touch with me recently to tell me about her new book, The Illustrated Guide to the Elements vol 2.This second book has more illustrations of the elements portrayed as Victorian women.

The book is written as a case book, much the same way a Sherlock Holmes book may be written. Each lady represents a chemical element and their personalities reflect the characteristics of that element.

Jenna said “The volume is an easy to understand guide through the Alkaline Earth Metals, and Transition Metals as well as their sub fractions: Coinage Metals, Refractory Metals and Platinum Group Metals.”

She continued: “The Guide provides a glimpse inside the chemical world driven by the buying, selling, begging, stealing of electrons and includes a hand painted portrait of each femme fatale.”

The A5 sized booklet costs £15 and is available on Etsy and Amazon via the following links:

Jenna Whyte

Jenna Whyte Illustrated Guide to the Elements Vol 2 on Etsy

Jenna Whyte Illustrated Guide to the Elements Vol 2 on Amazon

You can show Jenna some admiration via her Facebook page here:
Jenna Whyte Facebook page

Or via her website here:
Jenna Whyte website

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In this day of computer technology, we still need to retain an air of grace and elegance. That’s why using a certain font in your written work can make your literature more pleasant to read.

Below I’ve collected a selection of what I consider the finest in steampunk themed fonts. Not all of them are for download, but if they are, the link will take you to the appropriate page.
 

There are plenty of ways to get a good photograph of a steampunk
Image copyright photofairground.co.uk

As a photographer, I’m always on the look out for subjects to photograph and that’s one of the many reasons why steampunk appeals to me. I love the creation, the Victorian splendour, the smart clothes of the gentlemen and the shape that a corset produces on ladies. I have to admit that sometimes I feel a little ashamed of that previous point. I feel as though it somehow brings me down to a more primal attitude to women because I’m looking at the shape of their body and not the photographic element. But then as I sit back and look in more detail, I realise that in fact, I like how that shape looks in the rectangular frame of a photograph.

There are others who simply don’t see it that way, though and if you have a look around you’ll see that some models are approached by photographers who have a dubious moral attitude. What has concerned me more recently is some of the horror stories that have come from Whitby Goth Weekend – an event that will be frequented by many steampunks. It’s an event for people to go and get dressed up, appreciate other people getting dressed up and show off your creative ambition. People of all ages and backgrounds will visit and they won’t all be there as goths or steampunks. There are tourists milling around who will want to take photographs and there will be photographers looking to expand their portfolio. So what do you do if you have someone wanting to take your picture? There are a number of different types of people approaching you that you will have to deal with:

1. Polite Most people will politely ask if they can take a photograph of you. In most cases, steampunks are more than happy to pose. After all, we’re a bunch of posers, right? Or is that just me? Well it’s certainly not all of us, but I don’t think I’m alone. If you’re politely asked for a photo and you’re ok with it, no problem. Have a chat with them, give them an email address and ask to get a copy of the picture. Or say no. You have the right and you don’t have to be pressured into having a photograph taken. Politely refuse though. We should still be splendid even when asked to do something we don’t want to do.

2. Background Some people will take photographs in the background. I admit, I’ve done this when I was very new to the scene and it’s not something I’m proud of.
   

   Taking photographs in the background isn’t a very nice thing to do and the time I did it, I felt ashamed of myself as I looked at the photographs the following day. If you’re a photographer and looking for someone to shoot, approach them and ask them. Chances are, they’ll say yes and you can get some fantastic shots. If they say no, so what? They have that right and you have to respect that.

   Stripping all the emotion and politeness out of it for a moment, the law states that anyone is allowed to photograph anything and anyone else (exempting government/military sensitive buildings) while on public land. Bring back that sense of decorum and photographers should think about the person in the costume. Yes, they want to be seen and are proud of how they look and what they’ve (more than likely) made. That doesn’t give you the right to stand on the other side of the street and take pictures.

3. Thoughtless From the background photographers, we move on to the thoughtless ones. These are the photographers that will simply walk up to you and take a picture as you’re walking down the street, chatting to a friend or stuffing a large piece of fish into your mouth. They want a shot, they’re scared to ask or (worst case scenario) don’t care about whether you’re busy or not and so they walk up, take a picture, maybe give a patronising nod of the head as a thank you and walk away. The sheer arrogance of them is enough to make your blood boil.

4. Creep Like the ability to destroy a planet when compared to the Force, the arrogance of the thoughtless is insignificant next to the arrogance of the creep. These are the people that you really have to look out for. Especially if you’re a girl. These are the photographers that will actively hound you, chase you and invade all aspects of your personal space in order to get the shot. These are the worst people to encounter and, sadly, they’re a growing presence.

Whitby Gothic Weekend (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There was a story a couple of years ago of a young girl being chased into a shop by photographers who then stood outside blocking the doorway until she reluctantly emerged. She did so, because she felt bad that no customers could get into the shop. That’s simply just not cricket. Unfortunately it’s a sad truth that it’s the girls that get the Lion’s share of the problems. The photographers looking to get the shots are men and they’re not that interested in photographs of other men. In fact on a number of forums, there are posts where the photographers simply see WGW as a means to get a free model shoot.

As a photographer, I have to say that it’s not the way to go about things. A shoot isn’t opportunistic. A shoot is planned and well thought out. What these gentlemen are doing is taking snaps, not photography. They think that owning an expensive camera and understanding what an f stop is makes them a photographer, but that’s not true.

If you’re a photographer reading this article, you have to understand that you’re becoming a plague on events such as this. If this kind of harassment continues or exacerbates, the Goths and steampunks will simply stop going and WGW will die out. Then what will you do?

There’s nothing wrong with asking if you can take a picture. If you’re told no, then please respect the person’s wish because not everyone is there to have a picture taken and most certainly, they’re not there for your pleasure. If you do gain consent, don’t bring it down a level by trying to expose even more flesh. The person you’re photographing will be showing how much they’re comfortable with showing. If you decide to ignore these guidelines, you’re simply giving photographers a bad name.

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Image copyright Gary Nicholls

Gary Nicholls, the steampunk photographer who is running an exhibition in May, has revealed a segment of a new photograph that he will be showcasing next week. It features members of the Lincoln Steampunk group and the whole image has taken several weeks to edit using over 100 layers in photo editing to achieve the require result.

If the rest of the image can be judged on this segment, we should be in for a real treat.

The whole image will be posted on Gary’s website.

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Lady Gaga

It seems that steampunk has been integrating it’s way into the lives of the influential and famous over the past three or four years. That’s if these articles over on Buzzfeed are anything to go by.

Repetitive French DJ David Guetta and talentless musical wonder Nicki Minaj made a steampunk video for the song Turn Me On back in 2012.

In 2011, everyone’s favourite hate male Justin Bieber decided to try and murder steampunk in his own special way by releasing a dire version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town set in a dystopian clockwork North Pole toy factory.

Lady Gaga posted two photographs of her wearing flamboyant Victorian clothing in 2012. Far from ruining the image, in her typical way, she’s managed to make it look quite splendid.

Prada fashion

Also in 2012 Prada went a bit Victorian/steampunk for their Autumn selection. The photos featured Willem Dafoe, Gary Oldman, Jamie Bell and Garrett Hedlund. One of these photographs featured in our Steampunk Boys article which you can go to via the related articles below.

In 2011, Panic! At the Disco released a song called Ballad of Mona Lisa where they all wore goggles and top hats.

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Press release

Clockwork Century cover

Bethesdsa, MD, April 23, 2014
GraphicAudio® A Movie in Your Mind® is pleased to announce the release of Hugo award-winning CLOCKWORK CENTURY 1: BONESHAKER by Cherie Priest, in an astounding full-cast, dramatized version complete with sound effects and music to heighten the experience of this steampunk adventure set in an alternate Seattle, Washington filled with zombies, giants and monster, spies, a hero with googles and dirigibles.

Author Cherie Priest says, “The folks at GraphicAudio have tackled Boneshaker, and I couldn’t be happier! Their productions are outstanding in every way, and I’m delighted that they’ve chosen some of my stories to receive their signature brand of dramatic illumination.”

In BONESHAKER, during the early days of Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commission inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice.

But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead. Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue’s widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.

GraphicAudio® has a history with other long-running successful sci-fi post-apocalyptic series and CLOCKWORK CENTURY adds a new dimension being a Steampunk adventure as well.

English: Cherie Priest author photo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Colleen Delany who both directs the series and participates as a narrator says: “It has been so energizing to work on this series so far. ‘The Clockwork Century’ inhabits this awesome niche in fiction which touches on so many elements we love to work with — fantastical machines, zombies, and a darn good yarn. Plus, who doesn’t love to riff on possibilities of quantum tangents from the historical record? Cherie Priest’s writing is immensely fun to dive in to. I hope this series will bring even more fans to GraphicAudio®.”

To celebrate the release of BONESHAKER, GraphicAudio is giving away a free pair of Steampunk Aviator Googles with purchase. For more details visit http://www.graphicaudio.net, where you can also find a Behind the Scenes Podcast Interview between Director Colleen Delany, Sound Designer Thomas Hogan and Author Cherie Priest.

Steampunk Laptop by Richard Nagy

According to a recent article by IO9, steampunk stories are in the top ten of the most reviled fiction genres by publishers at the moment. While there’s no hiding the current acceleration of steampunk as a fad by the general public, potential authors are using this spike in popularity to submit their works.If you’re a budding scribe looking to submit your work, don’t let this news put you off. The thing that the publishers hate in particular is faux steampunk. That is to say a normal story that has had airplanes replaced with airships and everyone is wearing welding goggles. The idea being that it will give the impression of being in a steampunk world and get automatically submitted.

It seems that the best thing to do is not worry too much about it. Continue to write your masterpiece and submit it. You never know. At least it’s not a zombie story.

You can read the full top ten in the io9 article here: 10 Science Fiction stories that publishers are tired of seeing

Want to test the water? Why not enter the Steampunk Journal writing competition here: Win! A copy of Steampunk Style

My thanks to Rob Bell for posting this article, without which I wouldn’t have seen it.

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Steampunk Journal Editor Lord Matthew deMaris

Many steampunks throughout the culture envelope themselves fully in the fashions, accessories, music and decor. I would love to live in a neo-victorian house. Recently a co-worker in my very modern job asked me an interesting question.

“If I had the opportunity to live in a parallel steampunk universe, would I do it?”

I gave it some thought, considering the glamorous aspects of life in a science fiction landscape, travelling by dirigible, admiring ladies, living off cake and shooting from the hip.

Then I considered the real-life issues such as sanitation, hygiene and lack of modern necessities. I wondered whether, given that a neo-victorian utopia (I wouldn’t want a dystopia) is based on modern items in a Victorian theme, modern necessities and hygiene would be part and parcel of it all anyway.

Satisfied with that line of thought, I imagined the scenery, the people I would live with, the technology and fine craftmanship. I dreamed about the wonderful build quality, the fairness to each other, being terribly polite and not having to rush around everywhere.

Finally I gave my answer no.

The reasoning behind this is because to me, steampunk is about being different. It’s about standing out from the crowd for just one day. Getting the public to admire the outfits and ask questions while taking photographs. For that one day I can be a different person to everyone else, I’m not just part of the crowd.

If I lived in a steampunk reality, I’d be just like everyone else. In fact, because I don’t go in for all the flamboyant dressing up and accessories, I’d be less so. No, I enjoy my time on this Earth because every so often I get to go somewhere in the bitter cold or driving rain and stand around smiling for people as they point an iPhone in my face.

But at least I’m getting noticed.

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Silver Mirrors by A.A. Aguirre

I posted on Facebook earlier that I have received four copies of Silver Mirror for review and to give away, thanks to Titan Publishing that sent them.

The story covers two CID Inspectors; Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko and their adventure to prevent chaos sweeping the planet. Silver Mirrors is a sequel to Bronze Gods. Below is the summary:

Criminal Investigation Division inspectors Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko were lucky to make it out of their last mission alive. Since then, strange troubles have plagued the city of steam and shadows, apparently as a result of magic released during the CID inspectors’ interruption of an ancient ritual. The fabric of the world has been unsettled, and Mikani and Ritsuko must investigate.

I will begin reading the book soon and get the review up.

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Dead Man’s Hand

Titan Books publishes Dead Man’s Hand – An Anthology of the Weird West, an exclusive “weird western” collection edited by John Joseph Adams, that includes stories from many of today’s most celebrated authors – some new to the genre.

The twenty-two original works — produced specifically for this volume — ranges from a brand new Orson Scott Card tale (his first “Alvin Maker” story in a decade), to an original adventure by Fred Van Lente (creator of Cowboys & Aliens). It also will include stories such as Elizabeth Bear’s account of a steampunk bordello, and new writer Rajan Khanna’s exploration of sorcery found in a magical deck of playing cards.

“The weird western is the forefather of steampunk, with a history that includes Stephen King’s Dark Tower and Card’s Alvin Maker,” editor John Joseph Adams explains.  “But where steampunk is Victorian, weird westerns are darker, grittier, so the protagonist might be gunned down in a duel, killed by a vampire, or confronted by aliens on the streets of a dusty frontier town.”
“The phrase “dead man’s hand’ refers to the poker hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot and killed by the coward Jack McCall. 
“What the hand actually was seems to be open to some debate,” Adams continues.  “I suppose the only way we could ever know for sure would be to reanimate his corpse or to travel back in time … both of which are the stuff of the “weird western” tale—stories of the Old West infused with elements of the fantastic.”

Other contributors include Jonathan Maberry, Mike Resnick, Kelley Armstrong, Jeffrey Ford, Tobias Buckell, Seanan McGuire, Walter Jon Williams, David Farland, Alan Dean Foster, Beth Revis, Laura Anne Gilman, Charles Yu, and Alastair Reynolds.

JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS (www.johnjosephadams.com) is the bestselling editor of popular anthologies such as Epic: Legends of Fantasy, Wastelands, The Living Dead, By Blood We Live, and Oz Reimagined.  A six-time Hugo Award finalist, he is the editor and publisher of the magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare. John co-hosts Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

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