Anyone interested in this genre? I'm going to a Steampunk convention in Seattle this weekend, mainly to support my friend, Rif, who builds crazy bicycles. He's entering a piece in the art show there. But I finally looked at the official website for the thing last night and saw that one of my favorite writers, Tim Powers, is going to be a guest of honor! Now I'm super-stoked! I think I'll fanboy out and bring a couple books for him to autograph. :)

Yay!! I do like this genre. I also think the art/design/fashion stuff is great fun. Take some pictures!

Tim Powers! Oh yeah! Love him.

I'm more interested in the literary side of the genre, because I have no artistic ability and the costumes look expensive to create. I'm still crazy envious that I live in an area that has at any given time four or five gun shows and arts/crafts shows a month and absolutely nothing like a steampunk convention. *shakes tiny fist in impotent rage*

Jacks knows a lot about this steampunk thing, if I remember correctly...they had a steampunk party at a Milwaukee bar not long ago...people all dressed up and the like, I guess...

I like this guy's stuff A LOT:
http://steampunkworkshop.com/

Especially this:


That sounds awesome! Have fun KD!

I'm getting into it. I've picked up a couple of books that were considered Steampunk but, IMO, were barely there: Perdido Street Station and The Somnambulist. I want to read more.

It has been a long time, but I seem to remember liking 'The Difference Engine' by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, although I wished that Gibson had written it by himself.

Well, Tim Powers remains my favorite, followed by his good friend, James P. Blaylock. Joe R. Lansdale has a couple of fun books in the genre, too - "Zeppelins West" and "London's Burning".

I'll try to get some pics! :)

I love Tim Powers - I'm very jealous. I don't think of his work as particularly steampunk, though I've seen him linked to it a lot. I really liked Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, if we're bringing up other stuff in the genre.

Lansdale's "Zeppelin's West" was one of the best books I read this year. There was a lot of LOL'ing and delighted exclamations of "holy shit!"

Paul diFillippo's "Steampunk Trilogy" is also pretty decent for anyone new to the genre.

Ack! Book Fest! Steam Con! Nerd overload!

::head explodes::

I would love to go to this but I just found out about it & my schedule is full. And the web site doesn't say when Powers will be talking/signing or if he'll just be wandering about all weekend looking authorly.

I'm reading Steampunk now (which has stories by both Blaylock & Landsdale). Philip Reeve's Hungry City Chronicles were pretty good. Have fun. Get your geek on for me.

I love steampunk. Does Gormenghast count?

I thought the name Tim Powers sounded familiar. I've read The Stress of Her Regard, which is about Byron and Shelley and Keats, Greek mythology, and a muse-like female spirit that sucks the life out of them. Or something like that. It's been awhile.

I mostly am familiar with steampunk for teens and kids, like Philip Reeve's book Larklight A Rousing Tale of Dauntless Pluck in the Farthest Reaches of Space, although I've also read The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1, which was a cool mash-up of Victorian monsters and literary figures. The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde), Mina Harker, and Capt. Nemo are all members of a team hired by a mysterious gentleman...

I think Gormenghast either counts or I've read somewhere that Mervyn Peake was a huge influence on the writers of the genre. I have the Gormenghast trilogy but have never managed to get through it. I quite enjoyed what I read so far, though.

Jaimie, I stalled out after the first two books of Gormenghast, myself. Titus Alone was one too many for me.

I haven't read a lot of steampunk, but I love the whole idea of giving SF and fantasy a Victorian slant. My NaNoWriMo project for last year was vaguely steampunk, or would have been if I had ever gotten to that part of the story.

I wish I had the money to go over to Seattle for the weekend. A steampunk con sounds fun.

I've read a fair bit of steampunk in the last few months. Stephen Hunt's series is good if you can push through the first book, The Court of the Air. It's good but has a little too much going on. The later volumes are much better. The series has a nice pulp adventure feel to it.

Jackie, you got farther than me. I couldn't finish the first one. I'll go back to it someday.

Dan, I have The Court of the Air but I haven't read it yet.

I'm back. I'm tired.

I can sum up Steamcom Seattle 2009 in two words:

Corsets; goggles.

Regarding Tim Powers - not only was he personable and funny in the two panel discussions I saw, but he signed my copy of "The Anubis Gates" and took the time to speak with me personally about writing, going so far as to give me his personal email address for further communication and advice. Just a nice, nice man. I'll write more about my experiences later and try to post some pics.

Remember: Corsets; goggles. :)

Got it.

So glad Tim Powers was a nice guy!! Yay.

That's great, KD, about Tim Powers.
Any pictures?

Steamcon 2009

Hah! Awesome!

Wow.

Those are really cool, thanks. Is that band Abney Park? I just stumbled across them on youtube awhile back and thought that they sounded pretty good.

It is Abney Park! I'd never heard of 'em, but apparently they have a huge following. The line to see their show was all the way around the hotel! :)

I really don't know much about the genre, but I love the costumes! And all the geeky-cool trinkety-objects. The guitar in the background of the third pic looks incredible.

I may have to start looking into this. Hmmmm.... :]

Ditto what Sher said.

It also made me go, "Awww I want my life partner to go to a convention with me!" Hopefully I can find someone like that. (And just so that doesn't seem totally random, I'm referring to the couple in maroon/gray who are even holding hands...)

Very cool...I like goggles. I wish I were wearing some right now.

Goggles. Neat word.

Have you ever goggled yourself?

I like the phrase geeky-cool trinkety-objects.

Here are some more:












And there's Tim Powers! :)

Tim! That is SO COOL about Tim Powers being such a great guy, now I love him even more. It's so disheartening to find out an author who is at the top of your favorites is in reality a total shmuck.

Great great pics, KD.

Kind of reminds me of Wild Wild West.

Me, too, Jim.

Hey, yeah! Like "The Wild, Wild West" with Robert Conrad, that was totally steampunk, wasn't it?

It was.

It was, I have now learned.

I learned something too.

KD - Is that whole Strat customized, or just the pickguard?

That particular Strat just has a customized pickguard, but check out the bass in the background. There are even more crazily designed guitars, too. I'll try to find some pics of those. And you should see the amp... :)

"I like the phrase geeky-cool trinkety-objects." Bun, I liked that phrase too. :)

KD, you are my hero of the week. I didn't realize all that stuff was steampunk and it's all styles that I've loved in passing. Now I'm stoked because I can see some chars to write about in all this... I'll have to do my "research" first, but this is really cool!

BTW, there is going to be a new web(?) series called Riese the Series which is a steampunk inspired show. Check out the clips & whatnot on their site. I'm really excited to watch it now. :)

p.s. I love the dude with the Hypnotizer! He rocks!

I knew Wild Wild West was steampunk but I didn't know it was based on a book. You learn something new every day.

reminds me of Baron Munchhausen

King Dinösaur wrote: "That particular Strat just has a customized pickguard, but check out the bass in the background. There are even more crazily designed guitars, too. I'll try to find some pics of those. And you should see the amp..."

Pictures, I hope?

I don't think Wild, Wild, West was a book.

it was a song by kool mo dee