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!

“Like a Wisp of Steam”, edited by C. Tan and J. Blackmore, is a collection of five short stories which explore the as-yet widely untapped world of steampunk erotica. Following a trend started by Steamy Punk, “Like a Wisp of Steam” is the first of two volumes which pioneer a new sub-subgenre of speculative fiction.

The first story, “The Innocent’s Progress” by Peter Tupper, follows the stage-acting career of Miss Alwyx, as told through the eyes of her employer, Ricar. The actors of the playhouse perform erotic plays which symbolically reenact human sexual emotions. Alwyx is frustrated when she doesn’t get to the role she wanted and Ricar struggles inwardly with himself as he tries to convince Alwyx to play a different role. Aside from a bit of light S&M, this story wasn’t very steamy, in terms of both erotica and steampunk. Only slightly Victorian and not very mechanical at all, this story would better fit the broader term of Speculative Fiction.

The next story, “An Extempore Romance” by Jason Rubis, follows a couple of days in the life of an author by the name of Amelia as she visits a daguerrographer and plays with her chimera, a type of machine created to look and act human. With little plot, the three main scenes of this episode seem more like a snapshot of someone’s life than a self-contained story.

“Hysterical Friction” by Thomas S. Roche is the first story in the set I enjoyed completely. Playing on the fact that the first vibrators were used as a medical device to treat hysteria in women, this story is about Victoria Barker, a sexually-frustrated wife who is taken to the doctor by her husband. Following some teasing by an overtly sexual nurse, Victoria is then strapped down and “treated” by Dr Charles Frizmartin with a vibrating device. Being quite well-written and with a satisfying amount of erotic content, this is one of the best stories in the book.

Next we have “In the Flask” by Vanessa Vaughn, a homo-erotic work about two scientists working on an experiment which goes horribly awry. One can only guess what happens when Dr Aubrey, working on a solution intended to repress sexual urges, drops a flask of this solution after his assistant Nicholas adds the wrong mixture to it. Leaving nothing to be wanted, this story will satisfy all readers of homo-erotica.

Finally we have “Steam and Iron, Musk and Flesh” by Kaysee Renee Robichaud, rounding out the collection with a bit of lesbian erotica. This was also the most steampunk of the stories presented. “Distracted” by her friend, Trista crashes an airship into her University. After being kicked out, Trista travels west and joins up with a traveling Wild West Show as a steam-engineer. As she grows close to Maggie, the show’s sharpshooter, Trista gets caught up in a plot by a group of criminals to rob a bank using the Wild West Show’s own steam-powered cogwork man. The most well-written of the set, this story balances perfect amounts of steampunk, eroticism, and adventure.

After being disappointed by the first couple of stories, “Like a Wisp of Steam” began to pick up momentum mid-way through, ending with a strong finish. Readers of erotic fiction will find that the later stories more than make up for the first couple, though the average reader of steampunk may be disappointed by the overall lack of steampunk content, especially in the first half of the book. Available online in an electronic format through Fictionwise, Amazon, and the book’s publisher, Circlet Press, the affordability of this work makes it worth the download. Hopefully, the trend of each story being better than the last will continue into the next book, “Like Clockwork,” due to be published later this summer. All in all, if you like erotica and love steampunk, and have been waiting for a combination of the two, this book will be for you.