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!

There are a large variety of steampunk webcomics out there, from the popular ones such as Girl Genius, Freak Angels, or The Phoenix Requiem, to the lesser-known ones like Monster Commute, Red Moon Rising, or The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allen Poo. But what if you want to just pick up a webcomic and start reading, without spending hours on old pages trying to catch up? You’re in luck! Right now there are several good steampunk webcomics out there that have just started or will be starting soon.

Mathema

The story, by Amy Pearson, tells of Mathema, a mathematician who has unlocked the power of magic. His dreams of sharing this gift with everyone, however, are challenged by a group of sorcerers who wish to protect their ancient art through any means necessary.

Mathema made its debut on June 1st and is updated on Thursdays.

The Continentals

The Continentals, by Darryl Hughes and Monique MacNaughton, takes place a year after the Jack the Ripper murders. Queen Victoria has commissioned a group of special agents, known as “Continental Operatives” to fight any further such crimes. This is the story of one of those agents.

The Continentals made its debut on August 31st and is updated every Monday.

Sidewise

Sidewise, by Dwight L. Macpherson and Igor Noronha, follows the story of Adam Graham, a teenager who borrows a time-travel device from his parents and slips sidewise through time into an alternate 1902 Lodon. Teaming up with the SteampunkX, a band of freedom fighters led by Nikola Tesla, Adam finds himself battling steam-powered robots and mad scientists under the control of Queen Victoria’s preserved brain, and must attempt to return to his world in time for a final exam.

The first eight pages of Sidewise can be found at Zuda Comics and provide a teaser for the series, which will officially debut on October 8th.

Brute Force Leather had an expensive art piece monocle stolen from them two weeks ago at DragonCon. He will be offering a reward for its return. If you have any information (saw someone wearing it, find it in a picture from the con) please contact him right away through his website. The following is quoted from his blog:

Some of you may have heard, I had a piece stolen from me at Dragon Con. Not just some ordinary piece but a one of a kind Monacle that was to be in featured in a Steampunk Exhibit at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford this October.

I will pay $200.00 for it’s safe return on a “no questions asked” basis.
I will pay $500.00 if it leads to the arrest of the one who stole it.

Remember, it is a one of a kind piece. There will never be another. If you see someone wearing it they are definitely connected to the theft and a felony.

I will also produce a custom piece for anyone who gets the thief arrested. Have you been looking at one of those arms thinking $1499.00 is beyond your reach? You get me this person and I’ll make one just for you.

Sincerely,
Thomas Willeford

While it will be impossible to mention everything that happened this year, I will do my best to cover the highlights. It seems the theme for 2008 among the steampunk community was growth. Anyone who had any doubt in 2007 over whether or not steampunk deserves the title of subculture will have had these doubts fully extinguished by the events of this year. Indeed, steampunks even have a couple of their very own holidays now, including Air Kraken Day on March 17th, and Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day on December 8th.

Understandably so, it seems more happened in the later half of the year. A large number of people who were previously unaware of steampunk now consider themselves part of it. This is apparent from the founding of many small, locally-based steampunk groups such as TerminuSteam in Atlanta, Indiana Steampunk, CS-Steampunk in Colorado Springs, the First Viennese Anachronistic Society in Central Europe, the Denver-based Wings of Steam Anachronistic Society, DC Steampunk, the Nashville Steampunk Society, Michigan Steampunk, and the Honorable Society of Phoenix Anachronists, to name a few. Adding even more depth to the subculture, we’ve even seen the founding of several more specialized group such as the Plus-Sized Steampunk fashion group and SteamPoof, dedicated to steampunks in the LGBT community.

In part this rise in popularity could be related to exposure steampunk has received in a couple of mainstream media outlets. on May 8th, the New York Times published an article on steampunk fashion and subculture. On October 2nd, MTV posted an article on steampunk music and fashion along with a photo gallery, and the channel MTV2 featured several video segments. A couple of acts of public performance art also helped raise awareness. In June, artist Paul St George allowed people in London and New York to communicate with each other by waving and gesturing into his giant Telectroscope device. In September, a giant steel spider crawled through the streets of Liverpool, scaling a building in its path.

Besides these public displays, there were several gallery showings as well. In August was the Steampunk Art and Design Exhibition in Bridgehampton, NY. On the opposite coast in September, Seattle got to experience Anachrotechnofetishism, a similar art show. Both shows featured work from many prominent national and international artists. In November, Chicago steampunks attended a Steampunk Runway Show which featured the latest in steampunk fashion.

On top of several existing steampunk-friendly gatherings, such as Maker Faire, Dragon*Con, and Dickens Faire, 2008 saw the rise of two steampunk specific conventions. The Dances of Vice Steampunk Festival took place in New York on February 8th and 9th. California Steampunk Convention took place in San Fransisco from October 31st to November 2nd. Next year proves to be even better than the last, with the coming of Seattle’s Steam Con.

Quite a bit happened in steampunk’s musical scene, the heart of any self-sustaining subculture. There is quite a bit of music that steampunks listen to, but as far as this article is concerned, I’ll only mention artists who identify themselves steampunk. January brought us the first Clockwork Cabaret radio show and accompanying podcast, hosted by the Davenport Sisters. On March 1st, Abney Park released “Lost Horizons,” arguably the most important steampunk album of the year, which features their hit song “Airship Pirates.” Abney Park also played several important shows this year though their scheduled unplugged performance aboard a real airship was cancelled at the last minute due to weather concerns. In their final and biggest performance of the year, Abney Park will ring in the new year at the Edison Bar in Los Angeles, along with Lucent Dossier. We also saw the rise of several new steampunk bands this year. In September, Ghostfire released their first album, “Drunk Lullabies”. Joshua Pfeiffer of Vernian Process and Allison Curval of another new band, the Clockwork Dolls, have teamed up to form Clockwork Process, whose first project is the production of a musical score for a forthcoming video game, “Shades of Violet: The Incredible Adventures of Violet Vendetta.” And earlier this month, the Deadly Nightshade Botanical Society released their debut CD, “Clockwork Dreams”.

In the world of the aethernet we’ve seen the rise of several new steampunk websites. Steampunk Wallpaper offers a large selection of images for your computer’s desktop. Steampunk Pics features amazing sets of pictures collected from a variety of sources. And perhaps the most annoying thing to happen in steampunk this year was the creation of our very own meme, DRGBLZ. Oh, the huge manatee! Finally, to further attest to the growth of the culture this year, the Brass Goggles forum, the most widely visited forum in the world of steampunk, spent nearly two months down after exceeding it’s bandwidth. Fortunately us steampunks didn’t have to suffer through withdrawals for too long, as Spare Goggles popped up as a temporary replacement.

And last but not least, we must never forget that steampunk has its roots as a literary genre. Joining the ranks of SteamPunk Magazine and The Willows, this year we saw the founding of the Gatehouse Gazette. We’ve also been treated to regular doses of audio fiction through SteamPod. In printed literature, 2008 saw the publication of two anthologies of steampunk short stories, “Steampunk“, and “Extraordinary Engines“, both featuring work from many of the genre’s greatest authors.

Sure, with all this growth we’ll continue to see more articles talking about how steampunk is getting old and cliche, or how it’s no longer original because its gone mainstream, but at it’s heart, steampunk is just beginning to flourish. As long as we have new and original artists, musicians, events, and most importantly, literature, steampunk will always feel fresh and new. Have a happy New Year and go out and party like it’s 1899!

CGSociety.org, a digital artists’ community is currently holding a contest to create images and video which re-imagine myths and legends from across the ages in a steampunk style. This contest is the theme of their 23rd annual CGChallenge, which is being sponsored by big name companies such as Nvidia and Corel. There are many different categories and awards to win, with prizes totaling over $220,000 USD.

According to the contest rules, “steampunk is the application of advanced steam age technology to a modern or science fiction setting,” a definition which, to me, seems to be lacking. Despite this, there are many great entries so far, and I expect the results will be epic when the contest ends on February 3rd. Below are a few of the works in progress that can be found in the contest’s image forum.

Click here to see more.