The Steampunk Librarian

somewhere, it is always perpetual oyster standard time

nobody@vox.com(Steampunk Librarian) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:54:18 -0700

One of my spam messages yesterday had the subject line of "oyster perpetual cosmograph." Sounds vaguely steampunkish, doesn't it? And off we go...

I was reading details of William Gibson's induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and noticed that steampunk was mentioned as a literary genre. I poked around a bit and found that the Hall even lists a steampunk bibliography. I guess the term really has made it! However, the genre discussions continue, as detailed in this post on Futurismic. An excerpt that caught my eye:

For example, Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) might be dismissed as needlessly fantastical if seen as a detective story, but if seen as a work of steampunk cinema, it takes on a whole new set of meanings - despite the fact that it is rather unlikely that the writer or director had even heard of the term at the time.

11-Young_sherlock_holmes

(I have a deep and abiding love for this film, as anyone who knows me can attest, and seeing it listed as "steampunk cinema" delights me no end.)

The steampunk portals are arriving, slowly but surely! The Steampunk Feed is open for business, and the brand new SteamList aims to catalog the steampunky stuff available on Etsy. Another source of inspiration is the Steampunk Lab, which shows off items from all over the web. And Coilhouse, which has all sorts of great bits to it, has a steampunk category.

From Cassandra: Gogbot looks like a steampunk-oriented festival taking place this fall in the Netherlands. The site is in Dutch, but I did see that one of the bands performing is named Singing Tesla Coils, so you know it's going to be an interesting time!

Marconi News specializes in collages of "visual fabrications, chronological confusion and technological deception." Of course, I love it.

I also love the Process Indicator. It's for indicating processes, it is!

And lastly, space westerns may be a bit of a tangential interest, but many a steampunk story has a space and/or a western angle to it. It's a great site, regardless of your leanings.

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a quick swarm of links

nobody@vox.com(Steampunk Librarian) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:04:55 -0800

The steampunk link of the week is, of course, the beautiful Mac Mini that was customized as a wedding gift. It's beautiful, and the "lid" design is one of my favorite parts! Apple should look into that as a retro logo.

I had read bits and pieces of a pneumatic travel system in the 19th century, but the wonderful Damn Interesting has consolidated the parts into a fantastic article on New York City's pneumatic transit system of the 1870s. I envy the people who had the chance to try it out!

Mounted trophies from hunting expeditions are very Victorian. So it would make sense that neo-Victorians would have robotic trophies, wouldn't it? Much more technologically advanced, and much more humane!

And finally, for the true tinkerers: the Dihemispheric Chronaether Agitator!

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brief bits and bobs

nobody@vox.com(Steampunk Librarian) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:31:14 -0700

Steampunk Magazine just came out with its third issue, and you should read the back issues, too.

John Danforth makes daguerrotypes out of modern images, and they are amazing.

The Mad Scientists make trivets using computer chips, and they are also amazing!

This water-cooled PC, however, may be the most amazing thing yet. I am in awe.

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the countdown to Halloween begins

nobody@vox.com(Steampunk Librarian) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 11:39:47 -0700

Hello hello! During our Labor Day travels, we found that the Halloween stores have opened, huzzah. It's not too early to start plotting and scheming. Also, there's a lovely new Victorian Halloween site for the historically and/or steampunkily inclined.

Today, it's all about the gadgets! Steam bicycles (oodles of them), steam-powered salon carousels from days gone by, a steampunk lightsaber (from an even more civilized age, evidently), the amazing Phonofone for amplifying the sounds from headphones, and the even more amazing Inteli-Tube Pneumatic Transportation System are all presented for your examination.

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