Wings of Steam

I first ran across the always weird Veronique Chevalier at last year’s SteamCon, where I was fortunate enough to catch her rather rousing and brilliantly bizarre rendition of “People are Strange”. Now Mademoiselle Veronique is back, this time with an animated music video dedicated to the pursuit of romance within the realm of the aethernet — internet dating.

Excuse me while I indulge you with a piece of local interest. Recently, the Colorado Steampunks were in attendance at the Railroad Museum in Golden, Colorado. On top of a great photo session, this was also a perfect opportunity to share steampunk with the masses, as the local news channel was there as well:

The Colorado Steampunks Facebook Group was started a year ago as a place to gather and unite various steampunk groups and individuals in Colorado.  Also of interest is the Colorado Chrononauts’ League, where one can find current news of anachronistic happenings in Colorado.

This subject is a bit more dieselpunk than the normal content of this blog, but if that bothers you, just pretend it’s being powered by a steam engine.

The Armstead Snow-Motor was developed in the 1920s as a solution to the problem of hauling objects during the winter months. Sitting atop two screw-shaped cylinders which turned in unison, a Fordson tractor would be able to navigate over deep snow drifts without losing its grip. The silent film below demonstrates just how maneuverable it was and goes on to show the Snow-Motor design being used on a Chevrolet car.

This design became known as screw-powered vehicle technology and was even used by the Germans during World War II.

Thanks to Ezra Moreau for the video.

Early in the year there was discussion throughout the community over whether or not steampunk was dead. This was apparently spawned by a lull in the popularity of the word “steampunk” as a search term on Google. However, a look at Google Trends right now shows that steampunk is certainly NOT dead, and is, in fact, more popular than ever. Just as we have done in 2008, here we will take a look back at the last year and see just exactly how we have kept the steampunk community alive.

As with many things in this list, there were far too many steampunk events to mention, but arguably this year’s biggest and best was Steamcon in Seattle. Although not the first con specifically dedicated to steampunk, Steamcon seemed to set a new precedent for all future steampunk conventions. Too much happened to write about here, but there are many reports available on the aethernet.

The steampunk community was delighted when the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University adknowledged our form of alternate history by running an exhibition of steampunk art and inventions by creators from around the world.

The CGSociety concluded their Steampunk Myths & Legends contest in Februrary. We were treated to beautiful videos and images, and the winning entries can be seen here.

October was declared Steampunk Month on Tor.com. Authors and bloggers from the steampunk community joined up with Tor’s staff to discuss everything steampunk and share short stories.

Two of the most anticipated steampunk novels this year were Leviathan, and Boneshaker. Set in World War I Europe, Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld tells of Alek, an Austro-Hungarian prince on the run as his path crosses with Deryn, a common girl disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service. Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest takes place in the ruins of Civil War-Era Seattle. Briar Wilkes must rescue her son from zombies and airship pirates after he enters the city to clear his father’s name.

This year brought us the addition of two new periodicals. Steampunk Tales is a short-story fiction magazine released specifically for iPhone. Alternatively, exploring the non-fiction side of steampunk, Exhibition Hall made its debut this year as well. On a sad note, due to the depressed economy, The Willows, a magazine devoted to speculative and dark Victorian fiction, went out of business early in the year.

Abney Park was quite busy this year. Dancer and backing vocalist Finn Von Claret left the band, and was replaced by Jody Ellen. After months of delay, the anticipated new album Aether Shanties was finally released on December 1st.

Previously a solo act, Vernian Process spent the last year reinventing itself. With the addition of Martin Irigoyen in late 2008, VP is now a full-sized band, and have released a reworked version of their album, “Behold The Machine“.

Sepiachord released a compilation, “The Sepiachord Companion”, showcasing fifteen of today’s steampunk musical acts. Steampunk bigband Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society released their first album, “Infernal Machines”. Steam Powered Giraffe released their first album, “Album One”. The Clockwork Dolls played their first live show and released their first album, “Dramatis Personae“. Deadly Nightshade Botanical Society released their second album, “Accoutrements and Oddities”, as well as a Christmas EP, “Clockwork Carols”.

In the world of gaming Atlus online released it’s first title, a free steampunk MMORPG called Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent. The biggest flop of the year may have been Damnation, a steampunk shooter released on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Our hopes for a great steampunk game were restored however with the announcement of the forthcoming game, Epic Mickey, along with some apocalyptic-looking concept art. Epic Mickey is expected to be released in September 2010.

A couple of web series made their debut. Riese, a production featuring top actors from the Sci-Fi genre, tells the story of a wandering traveler and her canine companion who are on the run from an evil religious order known as The Sect. Also, the League of S.T.E.A.M., steampunk ghostbusters, already famous for their con appearances, began documenting their comedic travails in “Adventures of the League of S.T.E.A.M.”

For new webcomics this year, check out The Continentals, about a group of special agents battling violent crimes, Sidewise, about a boy lost in time in an alternate Victorian London, and The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, about Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage teamed together as a crime-fighting duo.

There are scores of new steampunk websites out there, and three of them deserve mention here. Steampunk Empire is a social networking site just for steampunks where one can go to chat, post photos and video, and interact with other steampunks across the globe. Likewise, Dieselpunks.org has been created for the dieselpunks among us and on top of social networking, also features new and interviews in the worlds of both steampunk and dieselpunk. Finally, “Steampunk Events is a forum for advertising steampunk events anywhere in the world. Though currently a bit inactive, the site has much potential, as long as people start using it.

Now that you’re caught up on what’s been happening in steampunk, here’s a glimpse of what’s to come:

• Perpetual Steam Punk, a web series set in San Francisco.
• Steampunk Quarterly, a new fiction e-zine.
• A steampunk version of Hamlet, performed by the Butterfield 8 Theater Company in May.
• A miniseries version of Neal Stephenson’s “The Diamond Age“.
• A movie version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, starring Natalie Portman.

We here at Wings of Steam hope everyone had a great year and will have an even better next year!

It’s been a while since I presented any videos on this blog, so this time around I decided to show an entire web series.

Wormtooth Nation is a loose steampunk adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream which premiered between May and June 2008. Being a low budget film by a couple of college students, this series is amazingly well-done. It has won Openfilm.com’s Filmaker of the Month Award and is expected to be a nominee for Best Drama in the first annual Streamy Awards.

Be sure to check out the series’ website where you can find more info on the setting and characters, and buy a DVD of the series re-edited into a feature length movie.

There is no doubt music plays a large part of any subculture, and as steampunk culture grows, we will certainly see more steampunk bands which collectively will carve out their own aural identity that we will be able to call “steampunk music.”

Abney Park, Dr. Steel, and Vernian Process are three of the most prominent musical groups pioneering a new genre. In this episode, we will explore their origins and listen to a bit of their work.

Abney Park:

Dr Steel

Vernian Process

Here’s a few steampunk horror films for your Halloween…

First up is Jasper Morello, the first episode of an animated series available only in New Zealand. A worldwide release is expected after the four episode series is complete.

Following this is Fallen Art, a super twisted CG animation from Poland. In an old forgotten military base far from civilization, a group of deranged military officers nurture their insanity.

Final is The Macabre Opera of Elysium Grove, an artistic student film in five parts, shot on a $5000 budget. Unfortunately, this is a film where each part needs explaining and doesn’t make sense otherwise, so please read the description for each part before watching it.

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello

Fallen Art

The Macabre Opera of Elysium Grove: The Scorned Bride

A man alone and wrought by his need for love creates a bride for himself out of previous wives he has married and murdered on his wedding night. However, when he sees what he has created – it is not as pure as the memory he is trying to bring to life … jaded by this, he rejects his creation in search for another bride.

See the rest of The Macabre Opera.

I’m introducing a new recurring feature in this blog called “Victorian Sci-fi Theatre,” where every so often, I will post the latest and greatest of Steampunk short films. Submissions are welcome by emailing me at captain_jules@wingsofsteam.net.

Our debut episode of Victorian Sci-fi Theatre features two films that were shown last weekend at the HP Lovecraft Film Festival. It doesn’t get much better than Lovecraft, steampunk crossovers.

First we have The Book Dealers about a couple of occult book collectors who use 18th century technology to fight an evil force unleashed on a prairie home. Following this, we have The Amazing Screw On Head, a witty show originally aired as a pilot to a series, by Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy.

The Book Dealers:

The Amazing Screw On Head:

MTV had a recent article on steampunk, reporting on the growth of the movement as a subculture. As is to be expected, MTV focused the mainly on the fashion and music aspects of the culture and didn’t mention steampunk’s ideals at all. They also made a few mistakes, misspelling Jake Von Slatt’s name and making Steamcon sound like it’s taking place this month when it’s not until October of next year. The video (posted above) did a better job introducing steampunk than the article, and even included a couple of music videos by Dr. Steel and Abney Park.

MTV article: here. Accompanying photos: here.