Tea & Automatons

Over Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I attended The World Steampunk Expo in Dearborn MI.  It was very nice.  I gave four talks about various topics, so I had a good amount of my gear with me, including some of my gun mods.  We shipped a box and two trunks back to Seattle at the end of the convention, but somehow Fed Ex managed to lose one of the trunks.  As luck or Murphy would have it, this trunk contained two of my gun mods, including the one I am the most proud of.  I have worked with them to try and find the trunk, but to no avail.  I would ask that if you see this gun, the Suffragette, please let me know.  I would really like to get it back.  I know this is an enormous long shot, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.  The rest of the contents of this trunk are in this  Flickr gallery.  I am trying to replace as much as I can, but most of it will be impossible.  I am devastated by this loss.  What’s worse, I am having a hard time planning our trip to Dragoncon now that I don’t trust shipping methods and I have never trusted the airlines.  Boots, hats, and props are all difficult things to transport.    There just isn’t any way we can take enough time to drive from Seattle to Atlanta.  These are the woes of a traveling steampunk.  I am sure at least some of you can relate.

I am still quite behind on the updates I have promised you.  Steamcon tasks and wrists that are being problematic, are only a few of my excuses.  I will soon be back on track but in the meantime, I give you some lovely photos from Butchart Gardens in Victoria B.C.  We spent a pleasant morning there before heading off to Victoria Steam Exposition.  You can see the full gallery here.  I borrowed the lovely parasol from Designs by Victoria.

Last year in March, we, that is Steampunk Conventions Inc., the organization behind Steamcon, held a little day of classes that we called Steampunk University.  So many people had questions about steampunk and where to find clothing and how to make props that it seemed like a good idea.  We held it on a Sunday and had seven classes and a vendor’s room.  We had a little under a hundred students.  It seemed to go over well, and we had planned to try and have another one but the convention took most of our energy and focus.

Ericka of Steampunk Exhibition Ball, decided to hold a film festival as a fund raiser to help replace the clockworks that were taken from the gorgeous Carroll clock in front of the Museum of History and Industry.

Although it seemed like a good idea to hold another Steampunk University in conjunction with the film festival, we were very busy.  Luckily Nathan Barnett decided to take the reins.  In a very short period of time, the university and film festival became a reality.  There were five classes in the regular curriculum and five more that were a bit more advanced.  There were also two vendor’s areas.

I was pleased to be asked to do a talk on “Introduction to Steampunk”, a talk that I’ve given many times in the past, although I have added a lot to it recently.  I took the opportunity to do my first PowerPoint presentation since the facilities lent themselves to it.  I had also never done a talk on a stage, in an auditorium with lights and a wireless mic.  It was a whole new level of nerve wracking, but I think it went well.  I was also the first speaker of the day.  All in all, I felt it went over well.  People were educated and entertained.

After my class, I chatted with folks and wandered the vendors areas.  Lunch was Dante’s tasty hot dogs from their cart and some delicious tea from B. Fuller’s wonderfully well appointed stand.  My husband and I took a few pictures of the day which you can find here.  I also made a photo pool here for Steampunk universities past and present.

I sadly couldn’t stay all day, but I have it on good authority that in the evening they showed Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Time Machine, had a silent auction and intermission entertainment.  I am told that their goal for fundraising was reached, so the clock will be repaired.  It’s wonderful when the community can right such an indecorous wrong and have fun doing.  Kudos to Ericka, Nathan and all the crew that helped to make it happen.

Oh my, May is looking very busy indeed. I have a steampunk event almost every weekend. And I am speaking at all of them. And then of course there is the costuming…! My favorite part!  Now my husband is muttering something about brier patches. Heh. Yes, it’s going to be a very long and fun month.   Click on the links to find out more about any of the events.  I hope to see some of you there!

• May 2nd – May Steamcon Organizational Meeting
• May 8th – Steampunk University and Film Festival
• May 22-23 – Victoria Steam Expo
• May 28-31 – World Steam Expo

There is an awful lot of confusion about what this thing steampunk really is.  People trying to understand this newly popular genre are often confronted with vague statements that it’s “whatever you want it to be” and “you’ll know it when you see it”.  While these sentiments are very open and welcoming, they aren’t really very helpful to people trying to join in.  With only that to go on, people could assume that neon skeletons in go-go boots are steampunk.  It helps to narrow it down a bit further for the sake of understanding.  As someone who is often asked what steampunk is, I have pondered this question a lot.   I have spent the last three years, paying attention to the growing pains of the genre and I have begun to distill things down to some succinct answers.  For the purpose of this article, let’s say we are determining if a story, book, movie, what have you, is steampunk.  I hope that some of this will be of help to you.  These are just my observations.  Your mileage may vary.

Definition

“Steampunk” the term was coined by K.W.Jeter as a tongue in cheek play off of the then popular genre cyberpunk in the 1980’s.  He was referring to the altered history science fiction stories that he and some friends were writing.  He felt if there were a collective term for them, it might help set them apart.  I’ve always felt that the term was inelegant, inaccurate and clunky, but it is the one that has persisted.  Steampunk, as we will explore in a moment requires neither “steam” nor “punk” as most people conjure the image.  The “punk” in steampunk leads the average person to think of the punk rock culture and music, which it has little to do with.  In much the same way that punk culture was counter culture, our punk is a divergence from the norm.  The average Victorian gentleman didn’t have a science lab in his basement, an airship at his disposal or thoughts of exploring the darkest continent with his automatons. As for the absence of steam, we will get to that in “power sources”.

Premise

Steampunk is at its core Victorian science fiction.  So, the first element to seek out in any story is the element of science fiction. In other words, elements of the story that are anachronistic, speculative or fantastical.   While entertaining and often a ripping good read, Sherlock Holmes stories are generally not steampunk as they lack any element that is not possible.  Doyle’s writing is about the improbable but not the impossible.  Even the current movie, while containing aspects that at first glance seem supernatural, manages to explain all its seemingly science fictional aspects except for one minor plot detail towards the very end.  Since the story doesn’t hinge on this point, I state fairly confidently that it isn’t steampunk.  It’s a wonderful period piece, but no more steampunk than any other Holmes story.  Steampunk is not a veneer or a feeling, but a quantifiable genre.  It is a subgenre of science fiction, so the first thing that must be present is the science fiction or at the very least fantasy aspect.

Settings

Steampunk, as originally defined, is based in the Victorian era, and perhaps a bit into the Edwardian era as well.  It’s not a huge expanse of time, but it was a very exciting, and verdant one, especially for those motivated individuals that often populate steampunk tales.  There was still so much to explore, discover or create.  Also, when we say Victorian era, I feel we refer to a time period, not a place, so anywhere in the world during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901), not just London, although it is a very apt setting.  India, Japan, or the American west are also perfectly acceptable, if often overlooked settings for steampunk stories.  You can also have an alternate reality with as much or as little resemblance to Earth as you wish.  “The Golden Compass” for example is often considered steampunk for its ambiguous time period and imaginative transportation.  Post apocalypse settings are not really appropriate unless the apocalyptic event happened in the Victorian era.  All the elements that make up steampunk diminish the further from that era you get.  “Mad Max” for example has diesel as the main power, but we can get into that in the next segment.

Power Sources

Steam is obviously the most common steampunk power source; steam engines, steam powered riverboats etc.  This is a fairly large indicator of steampunk, but you can have several other power sources that also work equally well.  Clockwork is often used, and cogs or gears are a major symbol of the steampunk genre.  Magic is another possible power source for a more fantasy based steampunk story.   You can even have a completely made up source often referred to as aether, but the level of tech should still remain fairly primitive, just verging on the industrial revolution.  Once you get into other actual, historically valid power sources, you have stepped beyond steampunk.  I consider the rise of diesel power to be the end the steampunk era, and the beginning of dieselpunk.  Beyond that you have atompunk, cyberpunk and postapocalypticpunk; all based on the type of power that is prevalent in the era.  Take “Firefly” for instance.  It is science fiction, but not era appropriate and the presence of much more sophisticated technology, takes it out of the steampunk genre.  “Mad Max” is dieselpunk, since the existing power, depleted though it is, is still diesel.  You can’t unring the technological bell.  People fighting for survival aren’t going to reinvent old technology; they are going to try to salvage what exists first.    I’m going to state here that cases can be made for scenarios which will work, but it’s going to be very rare and a lot of work on the part of the writer.  There’s nothing wrong with postapocalypse stories, I enjoy them immensely but they are very rarely steampunk.

Scenarios

There are several scenarios that are exemplary of steampunk.  Exploration is a very Victorian adventure scenario.  “From the Earth to the Moon”, “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”, and “Journey to the Center of the Earth” are examples of Jules Verne’s work that could arguably be called the first steampunk stories.  Invention or mad science is an excellent steampunk scenario.  Creating life as in Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein”, building robots or inventing time travel are all perfect examples of steampunk style stories.   Fantastical modes of transportation make up wonderful story bases.  Altered history is often a key scenario of steampunk.  Books like Cherie Priest’s “Boneshaker” take us to a past that never happened.  These stories often feature slightly anachronistically accelerated technology or tech which has taken a different path than ours.  It should however still seem like something that could have been invented in the Victorian era.  Gleaming brass pipes, gauges and spigots spouting steam and rattling merrily as they perform whatever task they are about.

Elements

Anachronism, as I mentioned before, is often a steampunk element.  Airships or dirigibles are a favorite element of steampunk stories, but in reality weren’t common until much later in history.  Automatons or robots are a fascinating element of steampunk stories.  Goggles have become quite ubiquitous in the steampunk community, but like a not so secret hand shake, they serve to help us identify one another.  They are also completely practical when it comes to most steampunk characters going about their endeavors, whether it be flying in an airship or practicing mad science.  Also gears, cogs and keys are touches that work as identifiers.

So to sum up, the below list includes the very essence of what comprises steampunk, an ingredient list, if you will.

Premise

• Science fiction

Settings

• Victorian era, but anywhere in the world
• Alternate universe, but still fairly equivalent to the technology of Victorian times

Power Sources

• Steam
• Clockwork
• Magic
• Made up power sources

Scenarios

• Exploration
• Mad science
• Invention
• Transportation
• Altered history

Elements

• Anachronism
• Airships
• Automatons
• Goggles
• Gears
• Cogs
• Keys

If the story contains something from each category, you can fairly confidently call it steampunk, but like all good recipes, a single ingredient is not enough.  The presence of steam in a story wouldn’t make it steampunk without the right setting, scenario and elements, just as a pair of goggles doesn’t turn a random outfit into a steampunk ensemble. All the flavors must combine to make it truly steampunk.  It is a marvelously rich, imaginative, fertile genre in which to tell stories.  The dirigible filled sky is the limit really.

On April 17^th, my husband and I and several friends attended the Deadly Nightshade Botanical Society’s CD release party at the Vogue, a local night club.  It was to be a steampunk themed costume night and I am always up for those.  Attendance was good, but the number of folks in costume was small.  The band had a table and was selling their CDs.  The music was good so we danced and made a night of it.   My husband took photos of anyone dressed up, who was willing to be photographed.   A little after midnight, Dizzy, of DNBS came up to run the costume contest.  The best female costume category had about six or seven contestants, the largest turnout.  A couple of outfits were on the verge of not really being steampunk, but one was so definitely, beyond a doubt not steampunk.  I often try to think up what to use as an example of ludicrously NOT steampunk and now I have my poster child.   She was a tall Twiggy clone in an orange and purple mini dress complete with knee high black go-go boots.  I’m not sure what she thought was going on, but she was definitely in the wrong place.  When it came time to select winners, they did the one thing I absolutely hate about costume contests in bars.  Voting  by applause.  So the person with the most friends wins.  How is that a costume contest?  Half the time you can’t even tell which one gets the most applause.  My fabulously dressed

friend Claire Hummel, won with her enormous bustle, causing Dizzy to say “I like big bustles and I cannot lie.”  Another friend Andrew Wilson wonfor best dressed male, and I think it was mainly for his pith helmet.  His outfit is from a large costuming group, who are the crew of the airship Andoria, if memory serves, so I have seen it before many times.  The best accoutrement or oddity category only had two participants, me and another girl.  She had a crystal pendant that she called “crystal machinery”.  I feel good back stories are at the heart of good steampunk costuming so I greatly approved.  I had a monocular in a holster and a brass compass.  Rather than ask for applause, Dizzy decided to call it a tie.  That was fine with us.  I got their latest CD, fittingly called Accoutrements and Oddities as a prize.  It was a good night if not as well represented as I might have hoped.  Any excuse to dress up works for me.

You can go and view the rest of the photos here.

Emerald City Comic Con was bigger and better than ever.  Last year, I shared a corner of a booth with friends, and it was alright, fun even but less than lucrative.  Getting a space in artist’s alley didn’t seem like a great idea at the time, but I took a chance.  This year, while I still didn’t make a lot of money, I made back my investment, which is a start.  I was worried that my art isn’t really the kind of thing that ECCC attendees are looking for.  I don’t draw superheroes.  I don’t draw renditions of other people’s characters, preferring to do my own thing.  But my whimsically dressed up anthropomorphics seem to appeal to folks.  I got my share of fans, and some were downright exuberant about it.  It was heartening.  I dressed both days in steampunk attire and it got lots of notice, which I used to promote my convention, Steamcon II.   For the most part, I’d say it was a success on a personal level and very fun.  Much thanks to Pell for helping me with the booth since my husband was needed elsewhere.

In the two days worth of sitting the booth, I had a few rather odd and/or wonderful moments.  I was asked to sign a guy’s cell phone.  I signed a lot of other things as well, but they were to be expected.  The phone was a unique thing to sign.  I talked to a lot of young people, mostly girls about my art.  One old friend brought his daughter and we chatted about what I do and what she might do in the future.  She was quite enchanted, I think.  Another man stood with his little daughter for a long time looking, and then said “You see.  If you keep drawing, you can do this someday.”  She nodded.  He went on to say “Do you see how pretty she is?  You will be that pretty too.”   *blush* I guess I’m a role model.   Who knew?

I got my picture in the Seattle Weekly slideshow for the con.  And there’s this nice shot of me on Saturday from a fan.  So maybe spandex isn’t necessary to get noticed?  I’ve already got my table for next year.  Can’t wait!