Let’s Try This Again, Shall We? (A Soft Reboot)

It’s wild to me to think that it’s been over 15 years sinceI started this blog. It feels weird just writing the word ‘blog.’ Who blogsanymore? Everyone who writes is on Substack or Ghost these days. Fifteen yearsago, my kids were tiny, now they’re grown. Back then, my hair was brown; nowit’s going grey and there’s less of it. In 2008, I was starting my PhD; now I’man Associate Professor at MacEwan University. Back then, I was learning whatsteampunk was; now I’m an “expert” who’s written a bunch of articles and a bookon the subject.

It's also wild to me that it’s been about five years since Iposted here, in January of 2019. I was all set to start posting about steampunkagain, and then got an offer to submit an academic article to a special journalissue focused on Neo-Victorianism and steampunk. That wound up becoming aproject I completed with two of my brightest students, and while the journey tocompletion was one of the worst editorial experiences I’ve ever had (with thepeople who ran the journal, not the guest editors of that issue), the finishedproduct was worth the trip.

By the time that was wrapping up, the world was headed intothe pandemic. I spent the next three years learning how to teach all overagain. I posted my lectures as videos on YouTube and the audio on a podcastcalled Triple Bladed Sword. At the tail end of lockdown, I taught acourse on steampunk for the first time. Someone might question why it’s takenme so long to teach a course solely on steampunk: I simply never wanted to beone of those profs who inflict their PhD on their students. And while the coursewas a delightful experience with a wonderful group of students, I don’t know ifI’ll ever do it again. It’s weird to teach content that keepsreferencing me. I mean, that was the goal back in 2008 – to research somethingnew and become one of the voices future steampunk scholars would reference. Allthat said, you can check out the video lectures from that course here.

When lockdown ended for good in the fall of 2022, I wasteaching new courses and working on another academic publication on steampunk(the editorial process was lovely this time around). The book was just releasedby Brill, and I’m really excited about it. I wrote my chapter about the bookand film Mortal Engines; it’s also an updated version of my SteamWars article from back in 2010.  

Last fall, my first academic article on steampunk, “FindingNemo: Verne’s Antihero as Original Steampunk” got a reissue in print in GaryWestfahl’s Jules Verne Lives: Essays on His Works and Legacy. It was anhonour to be included in that book, given that Westfahl was one of the firstacademics I used in my steampunk research. The book was also a tribute to theEaton Conference, which was the first academic conference I presented any workon steampunk at. Consequently, that publication had me thinking back over mywork as “The Steampunk Scholar” and reflecting on how fortunate I’ve been in mycareer.

And just when I was convinced I should probably cull mysteampunk shelves and get on with some new avenues of research, I received aseries of invitations that made me wonder if the steampunk boiler is gettingfired up again. The first was for an interview on NPR radio in Connecticut onthe show Where We Live. The second was to teach a University stylecourse to seniors here in Edmonton (which was sadly canceled due to lowenrollment). The third was to give a talk on steampunk at an event at the TelusSpark Science Center in Calgary. This morning, I was in a Zoom meet with a bunch of steampunk luminaries talking about the state of the aesthetic. I haven’t been thinking and presenting about steampunkthis frequently since 2014.

And while all of that’s happening to me, I’m seeing friendsfrom the steampunk scene at conventions in the States. Critical Role is doing CandelaObscura, a campaign that has serious steampunk vibes. Netflix had a hitwith Arcana, which was unabashedly referred to as steampunk. Imagecomics had two big hits with steampunk properties: Bitter Root, set inthe Jazz era in the US, and Monstress, set in a secondary world of AsianArt Deco steampunk. What gives? Is this the swell of the third wave ofsteampunk? A steampunk scholar can only hope.

Regardless, it’s been too long since I ‘ve attended to this dusty old virtual space, and high time to start writing again. While I love a good academic publication, there’s nothing like writing here, in the freedom of my own editorial lethargy or vigour. If nothing else, I’d like to redress some of the sloppy work I did at the outset of this project when I was still figuring out what the hell academics do and how academics write. After fifteen years, I know what I do and how I write, and I’d like to revisit some of the books I wrote about way back when (particularly Westerfeld’s Leviathan, as I was playing the pretentious “associate the argument with an ‘important’ work of literature’ game, and consequently failed to write about the book at hand). There are just so many wonderful works of steampunk I never properly wrote about, and many great ones still being produced, and I want to talk with you all about them. Again. 

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