Wings of Steam

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!

Abney Park’s upcoming album, Æther Shanties, was announced four days ago by Captain Robert. The album does not have a set release date but is expected to be out sometime this summer. Included with the announcement of the album was the following list of 12 tracks:

1. Under the Radar
2. Wanderlust
   
3. Building Steam
   
4. Until The Day I Die
   
5. My Life
   
6. The Derelict
   
7. Throw Them Overboard
   
8. Victoria
   
9. Aether Shanty
   
10. The Clock Yard
    
11. Everything That Came Before Is Ending
    
12. To Far To Turn Back

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

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.

Further developments on the aforementioned October 31st airship ride that Abney Park is taking fans on:

The band put tickets on sale today at 12 pm, pst. Tickets will be on sale for two weeks or until all are sold. There are “very few” available, but ticket prices are $785 dollars each. Tickets can be found on the Abney Park’s website.

The band also reported that they will perform acoustic renditions of music from their albums in mid-flight, as well as vintage airship music from the early 1900s.

Other steampunk celebrities who will be aboard this historic flight will include Phil and Kaja Foglio, authors and artists of the Gaslamp Fantasy comic Girl Genius.

The following day on November first, and not coincidentally the second day of the California Steampunk Convention, Abney Park and Platform One will be playing an all-ages show at a stadium-sized venue. Admission is included with a ticket to the con, or can be bought separatley for$22.50.

On October 31st, Airship Ventures will be launching the first commercial airship flight in the US in over 70 years. Abney Park will be along for the ride and is planning a historic mid-flight performance over the San Fransisco Bay. At the time of this posting, Abney Park’s website states that eight seats are still available, but doubtless, they’ve been snatched up pretty quickly. There’s bound to be a YouTube video of the performance and when it’s posted, it will show up here.

October 31st also happens to be the first day of the California Steampunk Convention, also taking place in San Fransisco.

Original article.