RetroSpeculation

Steampunk Your Avatar

2010-02-15T04:40:00.000-08:00

I've said before and I'll say again that I'm at my happiest when the two worlds of Steampunk and gaming collide. After the widespread reports on the shelving of FuzzyEyes Steampunk game Edge of Twilight, the revelation that you can now Steampunk your Xbox 360 avatar went a little way to assuaging that disappointment and strengthening the increasing connection of the Steampunk aesthetic and mainstream gaming.

You can find the customisation kit via the Xbox dashboard if you click through the following tabs:

profile>customise avatar>marketplace>lifestyle collections>styles>steampunk.

Or you can browse the collection online here.

Below is an image depicting the clothing options available:

This one shows the final result of my avatar customisation:

Probably not the most Steampunk of ensembles I've ever seen but...I don't really do dresses, even on my avatars.

So if you have a few Microsoft points spare and your fancy a change for your Gamertag, don a pair of goggles before you start playing Bioshock 2 and Steampunk your avatar. It's guaranteed to make your play better (but not necessarily a better player).

The Steampunk avatar customisation was pointed out to me by @alan_hook. Thanks for brightening up my Sunday!

Oxford Steampunk Exhibition

2010-01-18T03:10:00.000-08:00

Being car-less and Manchester based, it was always going to be a bit of a trek to get to the Oxford Steampunk exhibition but I finally made the journey at the weekend and it was well worth suffering the unique traumas of the National Express. If anyone is considering going to see the exhibition I would strongly urge you to do so before it close on the 21st February 2010. The exhibition is being held at the Museum of the History of Science, or the Old Ashmolean. The museum was built in 1693 and houses thousands of fascinating science related instruments and documents, making it worth a visit in itself, without the added benefit of the Steampunk exhibition.

When I began working on Steampunk as an academic venture, the main problem I faced was convincing people that Steampunk was a cohesive and popular enough aesthetic or fictional genre to be worthy of study. Now it seem you can't escape the term; the Steampunk's have launched a successful assault on the mainstream consciousness from a variety of angles. Note the exhibition's triumphant proclamation on the historic building's facade:

The exhibition is curated by Art Donovan, a New York based artist who work with brass, glass, and light. His Siddartha Pod Steampunk Lantern was a particular favourite of mine in the exhibition. I took a rather awful photograph of it that fails to apprehend its beautiful detail so to head over to the artist's blog to see a more fitting likeness. In a special issue of the museum's Broad Sheet, Steampunk is described as a movement 'rooted in the aesthetics of Victorian technology' without being a 'nostalgic recreation of a vanished past'. The Broad Sheet proclaims that the driving impetus of Steampunk is celebratory rather than cynical, pertinent rather than nostalgic. Certainly, in his choice of artists and artifacts, Donovan has managed to capture that sentiment.

There are far too many outstanding pieces to discuss here. Again, check it out for yourselves before the exhibition closes. There are a few artists that particularly resonated with my own perceptions of the aesthetic that I will pick out here. The first of these is Tom Banwell, a leather worker and resin caster whose range of fantasy masks combine his interests in 'history, costuming, mechanics and fantasy'. This image is of the Pachydermos Gas Mask, my favourite of his works on display. There's something about the potential type of being that would utilise such a mask and the dystopia that they would be inhabiting that fits in with the darker side of Steampunk that I am drawn to in my work on the subject. On the other hand, has there ever been a more triumphant and celebratory animal that the elephant? This mask fits in at one and the same time with the strong dystopian elements of much Steampunk fiction and the more light-hearted impetus that this exhibition proclaims to capture.

Interestingly, on his website Banwell states that while Steampunk began as a literary genre in the 1980s, he has not read 'a single 20th century author writing in the genre'. Rather, the Steampunk works he has read are those that inspired the movement: those by H.G Wells & Jules Verne. I find it fascinating that contemporary Steampunk literary works aren't as instrumental in the motivation behind Steampunk art as I had originally expected in the early stages of my research. In fact, I think the reverse is true, that visual Steampunk work's have far more influence on the direction of the movement than do literary pieces.

The next artist I want to flag up is Stéphane Halleux. His blogged about his work some time ago so it was excellent to see a number of his pieces on display at the exhibition. I think what surprised me about see his work in person was the size of them. While they are by no means huge, they were generally much larger in scale than I had imagine. Seeing the images on the web, and recognising the intricate nature of the sculptures, I had imaged model sized pieces. But many of the pieces were approximately two thirds of my height and all had a visual bulk to them that had passed me by in the 2d images I had seen before hand. The below image is entitled Robot Pet and for me implicates a much larger Steampunk world to which such a creature would belong. Such a world draws strong parallels with the world of Shane Acker's recent 'StitchPunk' film 9.

Finally, I was pleasantly horrified by this piece by Molly 'Porkshanks' Friedrich. It's called The Complete Mechanical Womb and as you can see in the close up image, the true horror is in the detail. Again, this piece appeals to a more sinister apprehension of the Steampunk aesthetic and may be at odds with the 'celebratory' impetus identified by the exhibition's curators, as the three previous pieces do. However, I have chosen these three pieces because they stood out particulary for me; the exhibition certainly contains many less macabre artefacts than Friedrich's.

The Oxford Steampunk exhibition is, in my opinion, excellent and I hope to see more exhibitions and events as a result of its success. Again, I urge you to see it for yourself as there are many more fantastical pieces on display that can only be fully appreciated by seeing them up close. You can also purchase a copy of the museum's special edition of its Broad Sheet for the reasonable price of £1. The Broad Sheet contains a specially commisioned double page strip of Sydney Padua's Lovelace and Babbage comic. If you are unable to get down in person, the Broad Sheet is available to download in PDF format. And, if you like the comic, Padua's Lovelace and Babbage series can be found at her website: http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles

Edge of Twilight - Cancelled?

2009-12-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

According to Destructoid and Kotaku, it looks like the Fantasy/Steampunk RPG I've been keeping my eye on has been cancelled. This is disturbing news indeed as this supposedly upcoming game from FuzzyEyes Studio has been getting a fair bit of attention online and the trailers and screenshots have looked very promising indeed.

To be honest, I'd had my suspicions. I've been checking the official site now for some time and the 'under construction/come back soon' sign has been speaking volumes. Volumes I didn't care to listen to but there you go.

Let's hope the rumour is unfounded. If anyone is listening, put the game out; I'll buy it.

Riese: The Series - episode 1 (spoilers)

2009-11-04T03:40:00.000-08:00

Well, Riese: the Series is finally here. Episode 1 - The Hunt - has been posted. What do you think?

Personally, I enjoyed it. The opening episode has high production values for a low-budget web series and I was pleasantly surprised by how realistic this fantasy Steampunk world appears. Loved the 'passport' scene. Such a little incident but it fills in quite a bit of detail about the kind of world Riese inhabits.

There's a CGI frame depicting of a settlement seen by Riese from afar which is perfectly understated and fits right into the forest location used for the shoot. I enjoyed the twisting setup of the relationship between Riese and the wolf. It made for an opening that hooked me right in.

I admit I was beginning to grope around for the Steampunk element in Riese until what I can only assume was a suitably nefarious mechanical automaton/hybrid showed up mid-way through. That such a character spoke the first line of dialogue in the show was a compelling touch.

It's only the first episode so how the rest of the series pans out is anybody guess at the moment. Let's hope it lives up to the quite considerable promise this initial installment shows.

Visit http://riesetheseries.com for the latest episodes and info.

SteamPunk's Dead! Long Live JunkPunk!

2009-10-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

Not true, in my opinion, but since watching Shane Acker's 9 (2009) and playing around on Amanita Design's Machinarium (2009) I can imagine that these two fabulous texts will be filed away under a brand new portmanteau descriptor. JunkPunk is as good a name as any.

I first blogged about 9 back in May after catching both the trailer and the original short film on YouTube. I finally got to see it at the cinema last night and it did not disappoint. I would rank it up with the best example of CGI animation I have ever seen and the story - although seeming quite short - was engaging and pertinent.

Essentially, 9 is a reworking of that ever-popular SF trope - man vs. machines. It seems that the fear of a 'technological singularity' heralding the point humans will be superseded by their mechanical creations is increasing rather than diminishing, even as we become more and more engaged with technology on a personal level in everyday life. Briefly, a selection of miniature creatures awake in an apocalyptic world from which mankind has been erased during its war with a vast army of robots. The creatures - mechanical/ragdoll hybrids - make their way to safety in the dead world and try to avoid a menace known only as 'The Beast'.

When '9', the last of these creatures, awakens, he challenges the logic of the others, hiding from rather than tackling the Beast head on. While his willfulness and bravery win out in the short-term, a much more dangerous entity is disturbed as a result of his actions.

image from http://www.filminfocus.com/article/images_from_9_1

Machinarium is a 'point and click' adventure game by Czech indie developers Amanita Design available on Windows/Mac/Linux. Head over to their site and try the demo for free. The full version costs £11.73 - this includes the rather stunning sountrack as an additional MP3.

Machinarium is an enthralling experience. The player character is robot dumped from a aircraft landing scattered across a junkyard strewn with mechanical waste. After reassembling your avatar, the game takes you into a polluted, mechanical, citadel populated by various other robots. Your mission is to save the city, and your robot girlfriend - from the machinations of the dastardly Black Cap robots you encounter soon after entry into the city.

Machinarium screenshots (Machinarium 2009)

One of the most incredible aspects of this game is the way that the narrative is delivered without recourse to language - written or spoken. Instead, the story unfolds visually and audibly through thought balloons, atmospheric sound, and the non-diegetic score. Even the help manual - which I have had to resort to on more than one occasion - is composed of images or symbols rather than words (and the fun sideways shooter you are compelled to play to gain entry to the help manula is another little twist that makes this game so good).

9 and Machinarium have much in common. Most obviously the portrayal of an apocalyptic post-human landscape of junk and pollution, hence the JunkPunk of this post's title. Ray Kurzweil has already referred to the 9's characters as 'stitchpunk' creations in an article he wrote for Film in Focus, emphasizing their material components. However, disputing these kinds of distinctions is part of a larger concern I have with the vast majority of Steampunk inspired texts being classified out of the still nascent genre (diesel, sandal, stitch, junk, candle, elf etc etc). My opinion is that there has always been exceptions to any rigid categorization of what is and is not Steampunk, even from the beginning. For instance, The Anubis Gates (Powers 1983) is often cited as being one of the genre's formative works, but I'll be damned if I can locate a recognisable steampowered machine within its pages.

I am much more interested in what works like 9 and Machinarium share with Steampunk. While the temporal locale is not specifically Victorian - 9 being post-apocalyptic and Machinarium occupying a fantasy space - neither are the locales of various other texts I certainly count amongst the Steampunk corpus...Casshern (2004), Perdido Street Station (Mieville 2000), City of Ember (2008). What counts are the themes imported from the more traditional Victorian aesthetic. In the case of 9, the fears over the mechanisation of society and the fusion of occult practices with Tesla devices; in the case of Machinarium - the almost Dickensian characterization of the criminal enemy NPCs along with overt observations of technological obselescence inherent in its mise-en-scène.

As far as I'm concerned, and many people will disagree, 9 and Machinarium make welcome additions to the Steampunk fold, while remaining unique in their own individual ways. That's how genres function. They evolve or they die. And Steampunk is, I'm happy to report, alive and kicking.

Riese: The Series

2009-10-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Here's the newest trailer for upcoming Steampunk inspired webseries Riese: The Series. Looking pretty smart, I think. Can't wait to watch and review.

Check out the series' offical website for all the details. And for those interested in Augmented Reality Games, Riese has you covered. Find out more at The Sect is Here.

Steampunk Wedding Cake

2009-10-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

It's great when you've got friend's that are getting married. They can trawl through the sites not on my radar. It's even better when they come up trumps.

Cheers to @rachyconks for sending me the link to the pretty awesome Steampunk wedding cake. Pity she hasn't offered to help me out and have one made for her own impending nuptials. *Wink Wink. For research, obviously...

The cake was found over on Offbeat Bride and the image comes from the Flickr stream of exoskeletoncabaret who kindly gives permission to use her excellent photograph.

Now...where did I put the chocolate and cogs?

Cog's coming to iPhone

2009-09-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Cheers to @anclove for this heads up about the impending release of Steampunk puzzler Cog's for the iPhone.

According to Eli Hodapp over at www.toucharcade.com:

Cogs is a game that takes unique spin on the Pipe Mania formula for the PC currently available via Steam and Direct2Drive. In the game, players move around pipes and gears to transfer either rotational or steam power from one side of the game board to the other. The twist is, instead of simple 2D game fields, Cogs has you solving puzzles on a 3D cube.

No release date as yet but check out this gameplay trailer for a tantalising taste of what's to come.

Waterstone's gets Steamier

2009-09-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

The recent lack of posting on this blog is entirely due to a recent change of address and the lack of broadband access that came with it. While I wait for Sky to hook me up, I'm trying out this BlogPress iPhone app for intermediate postings. Seems great so far.

Ahh...the title. Well, I was killing time in Waterstone's this afternoon and, further to my recent posting on the Steampunk section I saw there last time, the store have increased their selection. I picked up Jake Lay's Mainspring, Robery Rankin's The Witches of Chiswick and an anthology of Verne inspired shorts called, unsurprisingly, The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures. Waterstone's also had a kind laminated guide to SF and Fantasy hanging from the shelves as a buyer's guide. Inside, sandwiched between the 'Military SF' and 'Near Future / Neo-Noir' section they had information on 'Time travel, steampunk and alternate history'. Both The Anubis Gates and The Difference Engine were listed as prime examples.

And they said Steampunk was dead. Not in my local bookstore it ain't!

The Falcon: Steampunky Stop-Animation

2009-08-03T02:05:00.000-07:00

I'm loving the creativity of those working within the flexible boundaries of the Steampunk field at the moment, and I'm always happy to see anything filmic as my bookshelves are groaning with Steampunk primary texts that I'm actively trying to counterbalance in terms of my research. This Steampunky stop animation short was a pleasant surprise this morning. Found via a #steampunk search on twitter, via @shawnroos. From the blurb on The Falcon's website that this film will be the first in a series, so bookmark the link and keep an eye on the progress.

The Falcon from The Shamptonian Institute on Vimeo.

Waterstone’s Goes Steampunk…kinda

2009-07-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

I went to Waterstone’s (Deansgate branch, Manchester UK) today to exchange a copy of Consider Phlebas I had been brought and which I already own. What did I find in the SF/Fantasy section? A little Steampunk stand. It was such a surprise that I captured it on my phone, just in case I was dreaming it. The section header says:

'Fancy a Steamy Summer? The best Steampunk has to offer'.

Click on the image for a closer look at the titles.

I had pretty much everything on the stand, bar Vandermeer's Shriek: an Afterword and The Physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford so I picked those up in exchange for the Ian M. Banks.

I didn’t think of it at the time but I’m going to contact Waterstone’s and ask whether the idea came from a member of staff or public interest. Regardless, it’s nice to be assured of the continued rise and rise of Steampunk.

Any other bookstores out there doing similar promotions?

Of Progress, Gaming, and Costume

2009-07-24T04:21:00.000-07:00

It’s been a little while since my last update as the two weeks or so have felt incredibly busy for some reason, although I’m not sure there’s been an actual corresponding increase in my workload. I’m starting to think about the classes I’ll be teaching in September and the worrying a bit about finishing my PhD before my AHRC funding runs out, which all adds to the perception that there aren’t enough hours in the day.

In which case, I probably shouldn’t have purchased Fallout 3. I’m not even going to pretend that its retro-futuristic elements were necessary to experience first hand for the completion of my thesis. The footnote I will end up including on it will not be sufficient to justify the 100+ hours of gameplay I will eventually expend on it. In fairness, I intended to pick up the Steampunk title Damnation for research purposed but the reviews I’ve read have all been so terrible that I couldn’t convince myself to fork out the thirty odd pounds in HMV. Anyone got a used copy they want to get rid of cheap? I probably should play it, even if I hate it.

Speaking of Steampunk videogames, I’m anticipating the release of The Edge of Twilight later this year. The trailers and gameplay videos look exciting enough to take the bitter taste of Damnation from my mouth. We’ll see. I found out about this game originally via Brass Goggles. The official game website www.edge-of-twilight.com has been under construction for at least the last few weeks but you can view trailers all over the place. Here’s a couple:

Edge of Twilight – The Fall

Edge of Twilight - Someone Special

In terms of my current progress on the PhD, I had a positive meeting with my Director of Studies Linnie Blake over my draft the second chapter (The Haunting of the Architects: magic, myth, machinery and the spectre of Mayhew). As always, work to be done but she was really supportive, liked the draft and gave me a bunch of books to read that would fit really well and help with the theoretical framework. So mainly I’ve been and will be reading:

Metropolis by Emrys Jones
Visions of the Modern City edited by William Sharpe & Leonard Wallock
Social Theory and the Urban Question by Peter Saunders
The Sphinx in the City by Elizabeth Wilson
Decadence and the 1890s edited by Ian Fletcher

Hopefully, these will help me get a handle on the Steampunk city in the early works and a sense of how it has pervaded and evolved more recent texts within the genre.

Nothing to do but get on with it. The a further draft of the chapter and we’ll see where we stand then. Incidentally, I had huge misgivings prior to the meeting. A massive bout of self-doubt had materialised. My advice to fellow postgrads experiencing similar feelings? See your supervisor. They’ll set you straight.

Further to my request for input and experiences from Steampunk cosplayers (see http://retrospeculation.blogspot.com/2009/07/call-for-input-from-steampunk.html) I have had some great responses but more are welcome. I would also add that I am interested in not only those who identify themselves as cosplayers but those that simply dress in a manner and style that most appeals to them that others deem to be Steampunk. Thanks to L. Christopher Bird for pointing out my faulty phrasing. Not all Steampunks are in costume.

La Main des Maîtres

2009-07-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

How on earth did I miss this? La Main des Maîtres is a short film co-directed by three French students: Looky, Clément Delatre, and Adrien "CaYuS" Toupet. Four of the most sublime minutes of Steampunk animation I have ever experienced.

La Main des Maîtres official website

A call for input from Steampunk cosplayers.

2009-07-08T05:38:00.000-07:00

I’m currently sketching out the next chapter of my PhD in which I’m looking at the mechanisation of bodies within Steampunk fiction, both in terms of the biological bodies of individual characters and character types as well as the body as represented by particular urban cityscapes. But I also want to think about the use of real-life bodies as the sites upon which fictions play out, as in the case of cosplay.

Without predetermining responses by setting out a rigid framework of questions, I’d like to invite Steampunk cosplayers, or cosplayers from other genres/areas, to relate their particular experiences and motivations for the practice. Any images or textual accounts of your cosplay experiences would be greatly appreciated, how ever brief or involved, and I will accredit any and all accounts that I utilise in my research accordingly.

I would also, with your permission, like to post any accounts here at RetroSpeculation, again with the proper accreditation in place. If you're interested in sharing your thoughts, please send any correspondence to:
vee ‘dot’ uye ‘at’ touchmyface ‘dot’ net

Photo by everfalling
available under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Please distribute this request to any or all it may interest. Many thanks!

Steampunk Roundup and the Battle of the Chapter

2009-06-30T04:16:00.000-07:00

This post is later than expected as I wanted to crack an early draft version of my second chapter into my supervisor. It’s entitled ‘The Haunting of the Architects: magic, myth, machinery and the spectre of Mayhew’ and analyses the trio of Steampunk texts that have come to be considered the formative texts of the genre: Morlock Night (Jeter 1979), The Anubis Gates (Powers 1983) and Homunculus (1986). I’ve focused down on excavating the early appropriation of Gothic tensions and tropes in these fictions together with the profound and distinct influence of Victorian journalist Henry Mayhew on the three authors and their novels. Currently, my structuring of this chapter really needs some more work. The strands aren’t as cohesive on paper as they are in my head and recognising that has been a little demoralising but the remedy to this, as ever, is to keep at it. I’ll try to apply my filming mantra to my PhD: ‘It’s all in the edit!’.

So besides working on my chapter and trying to keep my chin up in the wilting (for England) heat, I’ve been keeping my eye on various manifestations of Steampunkery on the web as it filters through my Twitter and RSS feeds. I thought I’d do a quick round up of some links that lit up my radar.

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‘Pump up the volume: the Sound of Steampunk’ by the author SF/dark fantasy author Kim Lakin-Smith has been posted on her website. An insightful piece on the nature of Steampunk music. I must say that the music side of this subcultural movement has been the hardest for me to appreciate. The definitions are so blurry and, being picky with my music choices at the best of times, I just haven’t liked a lot of what I’ve heard. However, I won’t name any bands because music – attached to a genre/movement or not – is a personally choice that everyone should explore for themselves.

http://www.kimlakin-smith.com/post/Pump-Up-The-Volume-The-Sound-of-Steampunk.aspx

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Courtesy of the mighty BoingBoing:

I very much enjoyed these Steampunk artifacts. Steampunk junk (Steamjunk?) sculptures by artist Marque Cornblatt

image from http://gomistyle.wordpress.com

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/25/junk-steampunk-sculp.html

http://www.marquecornblatt.com/art/sculpture/imagetwo.html

I also wanted to own all of these Steampunk robot sculptures by Stephane Halleaux

image from wired.com

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/22/steampunk-robots-wit.html

http://stephanehalleux.com

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Bruce Sterling’s Flickr set ‘Studies in Atemporality’ is well worth a look

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brucesterling/sets/72157619722832388/

His images mediate a search for the usefulness of ‘atemporality’ as a term to usurp ‘postmodernity’ and the photos serve almost as a definition of such, ranging from recognised empty juxtaposition to unique examples of non-fictional anachronisms, or to paraphrase Sterling ‘prepostmodern archeofuturism’.

This set has resparked my hope for a Bergsonian inspired reading of Steampunk texts. Maybe atemporality will prove to be the way in.

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I’m sure there’s more but I’ll leave it there for today. I plan to take a 24hr break from editing my chapter and fooling around with Bookends to get on with some reading. I’ve had Kim Lakin-Smith’s Tourniquet: Tales from Renegade City (2007) ready to go at my bedside for months and so I’ll crack on with that. Non-fiction wise, I’ll be starting Literature, Technology, and Modernity, 1860 – 2000 (2004) by Nicholas Daly.

Steampunk Tales: The Penny Dreadful for your iPhone

2009-06-12T03:16:00.001-07:00

I came across this content via Steampunkopedia, a definitive online chronology of Steampunk. Unfortunately, this site no longer updates in English but its still useful for keeping up to date on the publication and occurance of all things steamy. It's written in Polish it's organised in a manner so that if you don't speak the language - as I don't - you can easily glean dates and titles.

Through a recent update, I learned that Steampunk Publishing LLC has released what it claims is "the world's first electronic pup fiction magazine created exclusively for iPhone and iPod Touch"

images from www.steampunktales.com

The issues are due to come out monthly, priced at $1.99 or £1.19. A bargain. According to the publication's website, Issue #1 contains:

1. The Mask of Tezcatlipoca by G D Falksen

2. Benedice Te by Jay Lake

3. Stormada: Red Blossoms for the Queen by Phil Brucato

4. The Anachronist’s Cookbook by Catherynne M. Valente

5. A Grain of Sand by Mark Rossmore

6. Lowlands Low by J Flesher

7. The Reanimation Emporium by Brian Rappatta

8. Project Möbius-5 by K. E. Kendall

9. The Man and the Robot by Noel Black

10. Tempus Fugit by Jennifer Wilson

This collection of fiction seems like an interesting idea both in terms of the direction of publishing ventures and the proliferation of Steampunk in new media formats. I've been following Jay Lake on Twitter recently and so am excited to see he is one of the contributors for the first issue. I've just purchased my copy and shall review when fully digested.

Get yours through the iTunes App Store.

Morlock Night by K.W Jeter: Review

2009-06-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

K.W Jeter's novel Morlock Night has been considered one of the three foundational Steampunk texts, alongside The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers and Homunculus by James P. Blaylock. It is by now well documented that it was Jeter who coined the term 'steampunks' in Locus magazine as a joke to describe Morlock Night as well as the work of his friends Blaylock and Powers. As revealed by Powers at the LX2009 panel 'The appeal of steampunk' in April this year, the three authors were influenced greatly by Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor, originally published in 1851, a copy of which Jeter owned and loaned to Powers and Blaylock.* Published in 1979, Morlock Night was the first of the three novels to emerge in print.

I'm currently working on a chapter for my PhD that looks at these three novels and seeks to determine the apparent influences and precursors of early Steampunk and how accordingly, the themes of Steampunk were consolidated across the novels. In particular, I focus on the gothic landscapes and preoccupations of the work and trace how these aspects mutate into and influence the Steampunk fictions that have followed.

The premise of Jeter's novel is promising and the first few pages of the novel certainly enthrall. The story picks up directly after the events of H.G Well's The Time Machine. The question posed on the cover of my copy sums it up: 'What happened when the Time Machine returned?' Edwin Hocker, an attendee at the Traveller's extraordinary dinner, walks home through the mist of London, accompanied by a fellow diner to whom he refers as the 'Pale Man'. This strange gentleman relentlessly questions Hocker over his incredulous opinion on the Traveller's story and intimates that not only is the story true but that there are drastic consequences in store for civilisation, not merely in the millenia to come but in Hocker's nineteenth century present.

Hocker is shown a glimpse into the future, a devastated and crumbling London succumbing to an invasion by Morlocks, who have gained control of the Time Machine and used it to launch their attack on the past.

At this point - and I realise how as a Steampunk scholar this may sound - the novel takes a turn for the ridiculous.

The activities of the Time Machine have created a vast furrow through time connecting the nineteenth century with the far future of the Morlocks and Eloi. This furrow, while stable enough for the launch of the Morlock's invasion, will eventually cause 'the implosion of Time itself' (p.35). The Pale Man is revealed to be none other than Merlin. Yes, that Merlin. Next are introduced the once and future King Arthur and not one but four Excaliburs. Oh, and it is claimed that at least part of lost city of Atlantis lies in the sewers beneath London.

The mess of ideas eventually swallows up the intially quite interesting proposition posed at the beginning of the novel. That's my first criticism.

My second is that there is something fundamentally worrying about the activation of Arthurian legend in the text. Merlin's concern is not for the fate of humanity but rather of the English, in whose 'blood and soil' is inherent 'a certain spiritual power', 'an embodiment of the highest Western values' (p.34). in contrast, the Morlocks are likened to Southern Europeans...'unrestrained and excitable' (p.89). Hope came when Author delivered an impassioned speech, demanding why he should fight, in his many incarnations, for a country that enslaves at home and abroad and condemns the many to poverty for the sake of the few. This outburst, however, is brief and it is soon revealed that this Arthur if a decoy, the real Arthur redivivus being of a nature much opposed to the former's liberal plea.

My final criticism is that the plot is just littered with holes, the most annoying of which is the fact that at the novel's start, Merlin is able to transport Hocker to different moments in time. Later on, when travel to the past is necessary, it is claimed that only the Time Machine can facilitate such movement, although it has also been stated by Merlin that the Time Machine is can only move between Hocker's present and the future time of the Morlocks. Head spinning.

As a text central to the development of Steampunk as a genre, it's hard to say how influential the novel has been, as opposed to Homunculus and, particularly, The Anubis Gates. Certainly, the Mayhewian element is strong. In Morlock Night, a sewer-man named Tom Clagger claims to have been interviewed by Mayhew for London Labour and the London Poor. In fact, he owes his fortune to Mayhew who pointed out to him the error of his gambling and drinking ways and showed how, if he just saved a little, he could elevate himself from poverty. Simple!

Morlock Night also features several passages of classic description of steam machinery, in the case a submarine that surfaces in the depths of the sewer:

The compartment in which I lay bound appeared to be the submarine’s engine room. Several yards away was a maze of pipes and shafts, some covered with black grease, some glowing red with heal, all twisting and intertwined about the great cylindrical mass of the main boiler, from whose various gauges and apertures gouts of steam hissed out as though a covey of dragons had housed themselves in it. Long bass rods for the purpose of controlling the engine’s valves and other parts were connected to the machinery by intricate systems of gears and chains, then led through metal rings on the ceiling toward the other end of the vessel. (p. 86-81)

However, the submarine's Atlantean origin is, within the context of the plot, both unnecessary and more than faintly ridiculous.

In summary, the novel is useful for me in terms of my research and interest in the origins of Steampunk and its early fictions. But usefulness does not equate with good, I'm afraid, in this case. And while it is referred to alongside the works of Blaylock and Powers, the comparisons will only ever serve to magnify the novel's many faults. A great shame for a novel with such an excellent opening.

------------------------------------

Selected Sources:

Jeter, K.W. (1979) Morlock Night. Daw Books: New York.
Mayhew, H. (1985) [1951] London Labour and the London Poor. Penguin Classics: London.

Notes:

* Cory Doctorow blogged this connection previously at Boing Boing, immediately following the panel.

Lovelace and Babbage - a webcomic

2009-06-03T03:23:00.000-07:00

I came by this via Jake Von Slatt's post at The Steampunk Workshop who in turn came across it via Twitter (@nathanfhtagn). It's a webcomic by Sydney Padua over at 2D Goggles - although Padua describes it as less a webcomic than 'a really, REALLY long punchline. With footnotes'.

It's well drawn and manages to cram in quite a few facts with its fiction. Plus (and most importantly) it's very funny.

Well worth keeping an eye on.

Two for One Monday: Tim Powers and China Miéville

2009-06-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

I was reminded by Cory Doctorow's post over at Boing Boing that Secret Histories is out. It's John Berlyne's annotated bibliography of the work of Tim Powers. The Boing Boing post also alerted me to the fact that there is a free PDF sampler of Secret Histories available online at: http://news.pspublishing.co.uk/2009/05/29/free-sample-excerpt-from-secret-histories/

After attending a panel/interview of Powers by Berlyne at LX2009, the book was already on my 'to-get' list. However, having dipped into the PDF sampler I see that Secret Histories includes an article written by China Miéville on how influential The Anubis Gates was for him. It's a stunning tribute by one of my favourite authors for one of my favourite books. I'm going to order my copy ASAP. If you have an interest in Tim Powers' work...this is the book to get.

Progress Update

2009-06-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

An update on my PhD progress:

Just handed in an early draft of my second chapter. It was painful to do so because I was aware of lots of places where expansion was needed and structure reorganising. When writing anything, the first flow is almost blissful in comparison to coming face to face with your shortcomings later. I hate rereading my work. It's like looking into a circus mirror...

Hopefully, the feedback from my DoS won't be to hard to hear and will help with the rewrite. In fact, I've already started that process but feedback will be critical to what stays and what goes. I'm hoping that I will have this chapter in the bag by the end of June. Unfortunately, its my birthday this month and the sun is shining but sacrifices should and shall be made!

In other news...I'm reading K.W Jeter's Morlock Night at the moment. As the chaper I'm currently writing focusses almost entirely on the work of the early Steampunks, I had to exclude the book until my very delayed copy arrived from Abe books. Even though it's work related, I'm enjoying reading something easy and light. The opening is fantastic but the direction since taken is a bit worrying...Author Pendragon and Merlin have turned up in a Morlock infested late Victorian London. No further comment until it has been fully devoured. I'll post a review here as there is a distinct lack of commentary on a novella that has been consistently quoted as one of the formative Steampunk texts.

It's a bit hard to make out but I thought you might appreciate the pure pulpiness of my edition:

You'll notice a twitter bar at the side of the page. Follow me if your so inclined. I'm particularly interested in those working or consuming all things Steampunk but my interests are quite varied.

Shane Acker's '9': upcoming Steampunk animation

2009-05-14T03:17:00.000-07:00

I saw this trailer in a post by Nefthys on the Brass Goggles forum (thanks for the heads up!). Looks fantastic and can't wait for the release. It's an animation called 9, directed by Shane Acker, and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (of Nightwatch fame). I'm always excited about speculative Steampunk, especially when its so blatantly dystopian in flavour. Should be in cinemas 09.09.09.

Also, here the original 10 minute short - written and directed by Acker - that inspired Burton and Bekmambetov to sign up to for the full movie:

Mancunian Steampunk

2009-05-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

I've just found out about an interactive show that has been commissioned for the 2009 Manchester International Festival. It's being called The Difference Engine...a steampunk adventure and, according to the website, promises to be an:

interactive journey through the courtyard of Manchester’s Town Hall. The audience will help inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage find the clues to repair his Difference Engine; solve the spider’s riddles, hidden in the worldwide web; persuade the counting madman to open the gates to the Hall of Shadows…and discover the secret workings of the steampunk arcade.

The organizers are intending to produce a 'family learning pack' to go with the production and are currently asking for '52' Manchester themed facts about:

• Charles Babbage and The Difference Engine
• Ada Lovelace
• Looms, weavers, and industrial heritage
• Punch cards and binary technology
• Steam punk
• The Baby and computers
• Manchester’s scientific heritage

You can find more details here.

It was quite nice finding out about this event. I'm currently working on a section of my thesis that stresses the playful and comedic nature of Steampunk, from the origins of its name to the colourful and lighthearted nature of its tinkerers and makers. While, personally, my taste for Steampunk fiction lies in the critically dystopian rather than the optimistically nostalgic, I do believe that what lies beneath the propensity towards anachronisms - temporal, social, technological - is a unabashed sense of play. It will be interesting to see how this family-orientated Steampunk event reasserts and explores that facet.

Plus, any opportunity to get inside Manchester's Town Hall I sieze with both hands. This stunning and multi-faceted Victorian building built in the Gothic style is the perfect venue for a Steampunk event.

Ironwerkz (2007)

2009-04-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of LX2009 was catching a screening of writer/director Mike Kehoe’s Steampunk short Ironwerkz . I wasn’t aware of the existence of this film prior to the event and so was able to sit down to it totally without preconception. I must say that I was so pleasantly surprised by the quality of many aspects of this film that I sat down for a second screening without hesitation and fully recommend it to anyone who can get their hands on a copy.

The 15 minute film opens with the introduction of an isolated, all-male family unit living and working on a visually impressive island of scrap, accessed by outsiders via cable car and steam truck. The three men make their living processing the scrap, aided in their work – in the case of the older two – by mechanically altered body parts. As isolated as their distilled industrial environment is, an affluent ‘outside’ of a very different texture is implied by the brief appearance of a well-dressed couple styled in the Victorian manner, taking delivery of the work they have commissioned. This scene is indicative of the simple economy with which Kehoe evokes an intricate and compelling back-story to his film.

The arrival of the outsiders and their stark and obvious contrast to the islanders compels the youngest of the three men – The Boy - to attempt to create something beautiful and secret for himself, from the off casts of his work and the waste in his environment. However, the discovery of his creation by the unit's patriarch leads to a set of events that threaten to permanently distance the Boy from the beauty that he so desperately seeks.

Ironwerkz is a powerful short film set within an original and convincing Steampunk universe. Completely without the use of dialogue, Kehoe’s film conjures a space in which mediations on family, tradition, technology, modification, class and capitalism and the necessity of beauty vie for the viewers attention. As would be expected with a film produced for £9000 – a figure on the low-end of a low budget – there are some aspects of Ironwerkz that show a lack of polish. Pa’s sideburns look tacked on and, while the various prosthetics are admirable realised, I never stopped being aware of the fact that they were props. Although these aspects are probably more obvious in the representation of a world that, visually at least, departs so drastically from our own, Shane Carruth’s Primer (2004), shot for a similar budget and with a run time of 77mins, shows just how much can be done for so little. In this respect, I wonder if the ambition of Kehoe was too much for his budget and resources to handle.

That being said, Ironwerkz is its own creature. The creativity of Kehoe and the Ironwerkz team to bring to life such an unusual environ cannot be overstated, nor the skill of the actors that brought such a distinctive cast of characters to life without recourse to words . Of particular note was Matthew Lockwood whose depiction of the Boy came across as suitably otherworldly.

To sum up, Ironwerkz is a darkly Gothic and distinctive example of dystopian Steampunk cinema with surprising splashes of humour and beauty. Well worth seeing.

Ironwerkz official website

Ironwerkz at IMDB

* Post-post qualification:

Just saw the online trailer for fan fic film The Hunt For Gollum (2009) over at Boing Boing. Made for a £3000 budget and it looks stunning. Ironwerkz, for reasons that Kehoe has explained concerning budget and funding restrictions, doesn't look up to spec in comparison but I maintain that there is something quite sublime about this film that doesn't come down to technical skills and effects but is entirely due to the execution of the narrative.

Mutation & Innovation: excess in Steampunk fiction and the presence of the Gothic

2009-04-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while between posts as I got busy preparing for my panel and paper at LX2009, the Science Fiction convention held in Bradford over the Easter weekend.

It was an amazing experience. The panel I was invited to speak on turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable and well attended, considering the early start. The topic was the appeal of Steampunk and I got to chat about my favourite subject alongside Tim Powers, Cory Doctorow, Toby Frost, and Peter Harrow (LX co-chair). The panel was moderated by Kim Lakin-Smith. There is a mp3 recording of this somewhere and as soon as I get hold of it, I will post it here.

I had the opportunity to watch a screening of Mike Kehoe's Steampunk short Ironwerks. I can't recommend this enough. It's a horrifying, beautiful, piece...an unholy mixture of body horror and expressionism. Catch it if you can.

I also presented a paper entitled 'Mutation and Innovation: Excess in Steampunk Fiction and the Presence of the Gothic'. As you will hear, the paper was altered from the abstract posted earlier. This was to do with a last minute change in the amount of time I had but I was able to deal with this and, as what I cut was discussed or covered in other panels, it wasn't such a huge problem. Again, this item was well attended and the Q&A time proved very interesting in terms of my research. I recorded this myself and so you can listen to it here. Below are the powerpoints I used.

Powerpoint Presentation Powerpoint Presentation vee_uye

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Presentations & Spre How-to-Guides & Manu 2007 powerpoint

Steampunk Cylons

2009-03-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite things come together in this competition hosted by DVICE...Steampunk and Battlestar Galactica.

Check out the Steampunk Cylons drawn, rendered and sculpted for the competition here.

I think this is the one I like best:

LX2009: paper abstract

2009-03-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

I've been invited by the good folks at the SF & fantasy convention LX2009 to present a paper on the Sunday the 12th April, the Steampunk day of the convention.

In the spirit of laying it all out there, I'm posting the abstract and title I have provided them with. After the convention, I'll post up the full text of the paper and some photos of the day if I can settle my nerves long enough to take any. I've posted the abstract here - despite the fact that it may get rejected or need altering - because I'm keen to document my progress over the course of these 3 years and this seems a fitting venue. You might want to consider anything put up here as elements of a continuing work in progress.

----------------------

Mutation and innovation: the trans-media proliferation of Steampunk fiction and the presence of the Gothic

Abstract:

As the popularity and proliferation of Steampunk fiction and practice increases, so too has the desire to define and demarcate it, to explain away its constitutive parts and to delineate its still forming canon. This paper will focus on how the very practice of extracting a Steampunk identity from a disparate set of texts and traditions has consequently led to an interrogation of the generic orthodoxy of texts such as Bioshock (videogame 2007) or Casshern (film 2004). I will argue that these texts function as necessary generic exceptions, counterbalancing Steampunk archetypes and enabling the production of consistently productive and original work within the genre. Furthermore, I will claim that texts such as these are as important for the perception and persistence of the genre as Gibson & Sterling’s The Difference Engine (novel 1990).

While it is accepted that steam powered technologies and specific geographical and temporal locations are indeed fundamental to the fiction of Steampunk, an analysis of the apparent appropriation of Gothic preoccupations, locales, and characteristics within Steampunk allows for more open definitions to become available. I will propose that such definitions rely upon and demonstrate the vital impulse and permeability of Steampunk as a genre whilst uncovering a Gothic genealogy behind Steampunk fiction running alongside and enhancing its commonly accepted SF ancestry. Finally, this paper will consider the timely convergence of Steampunk in its multiple outlets from literature to videogame as an expression of the increasingly self-conscious necessity to rethink our individual and collective experiences of and relationships towards history, technology, and culture.

Is Bioshock Steampunk?

2009-03-16T03:45:00.000-07:00

It's taken me a long time to get my hands on a copy of Bioshock (2007, 2K Games), mainly because I knew that as soon as I started playing it, I wouldn't want to stop. It is with some surprise then, that I find myself in the office on a Monday morning rather than at home, 360 controller glued to my hand.

First off, it's a fantastic game and deserves all the credit and acclaim it has garnered since its release. I don't need to devote a post telling the world how great it is since it has done very well without my interjection thus far. I will say that I have so far experienced the narrative and gameplay as being seamlessly integrated, on a whole. The opening sequence is excellent and, like any well-paced story, you learn the details and backstory on the fly. Delivering narrative content through audio tapes and radio transmissions can - in another titles - seem contrived but in Bioshock it comes across as both authentic and fitting.

Ok, is it Steampunk? Arguable not. Then why bother posting on it at all? One thing I'm currently thinking about is that there are certain people researching Steampunk fictions and subculture at the moment - myself included - who are grappling with the definition of Steampunk. It strikes me that this process of imposing a definition on to a body of art and fiction that is constantly mutating and evolving is very problematic in itself. When we designate, or attempt to designate, this or that as Gaslamp, Steampunk, Biopunk etc, I wonder how much the people producing and/or consuming what they happily accept as Steampunk are affected by these restrictive definitions. Generic works are, by their very nature, both archetypal and atypical.

Which leads me back to Bioshock. Steampunk has not yet, I would argue, consolidated its canon. I positive thing, I feel. Part of the early stage of my PhD has neccessitated a gathering together of works that have been labelled Steampunk and a critical assessment of that status. Bioshock is a game that people have consistently talked about when referring to Steampunk works, even if it is just to highlight the uncertainty of its status. Therefore, when considering Steampunk, I would include a text like Bioshock because the general conception that the game has a place of some kind in the body of Steampunk fictions evidently exists and the importance of this conception for the future development of the genre cannot be overestimated . More importantly, and this is where my research interests lie specifically, while lacking some of the more overt Steampunk tropes and indentifiers - namely a19th Century locale and contemporary/futuristic steam driven technologies - Bioshock demonstrates Steampunk preoccupations that are, ordinarily, overlooked. These are the generic markers, tropes, and structures that unearth Steampunk's emergence from and continuously fruitful relationship with the Gothic.

Bioshock is a first-person shooter set in 1960. You play the role of Jack, a passenger of a plane that crash lands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at the start of the game. Jack appears to be the only survivor and, as the wreckage burns on the ocean around him, he makes his way to a structure protruding from the water. He has found an entrance to Rapture, a failed utopia built under the sea. The city was envisioned as a breeding ground for the arts and science but the leaking, dark, and dilapidated environ Jack finds himself in and the immediate attack on his person by an obviously crazed and mutated human attest to an ambitious project gone terribly wrong.

A Big Daddy & Little Sister
Psycopathic surgeons, murderous and autonomous defense systems, a liberal coating of gore, and the presence of sinister, seemingly cannibalistic, girls called Little Sisters protected by groaning pieces of mecha known as 'Big Daddies' all lead to the exquisitely constructed sense of pervading horror and doom that qualifies Bioshock as an exemplary work of contemporary Gothic. These are also features that could be mapped out onto any number of Steampunk fictions, from China Mieville's Bas-Lag trilogy with its bio/mechanical Remade, to Ian R. Macleod's The Light Ages, replete with aether mutated Changelings. It is the anachronistic use of high concept steam technology that proves to be the sticking point for any unequivocal categorisation of Bioshock as Steampunk. Bioshock's narrative is set in the 1960s, after all, and the main technological advancement - and the reason behind the unravelling of the denizens of Rapture - has been the breakthroughs in genetic engineering and biotechnology.

Does this mean then that the Steampunk tag needs to be jettisoned entirely in favour of Biopunk or, to use Di Fillipo's term Ribofunk? I wouldn't like to be so hasty, although there is a good case to argue the alternate. Rather than inventing a different '-punk' for every type of fiction that deviates from the archetype, I am more interested in tracing the similarities and noting the mutations. In this way, the genre stays open and the possibilities for new experiments in Steampunk is vastly increased.

So, in answer to the question 'is Bioshock Steampunk?', I categorically affirm the following:

Yes
No
Maybe

Discuss...

Steampunk in Bizarre Magazine

2009-02-24T03:18:00.000-08:00

It still seems that virtually no critical work on Steampunk is being or has been undertaken, with the exception of Rebecca Onion's article 'Reclaiming the Machine' and Steffan Hantke's 'Difference Engines and Other Infernal Devices: History According to Steampunk'. Bizarre Magazine, on the other hand, are all over the Steampunk buzz, devoting a significant section of the February 09 issue to various manifestations of Steampunk in the UK and abroad.

The articles cover conventions, fashion, artifacts, music, and briefly delves into literature and sequential steampunk. Some great images and well worth a look if you're interested. I think it is both fascinating and fitting that it is places like Bizarre and in the nooks and gathering points of the internet, as well is in nightclubs that Steampunk is thriving and evolving. When I started thinking about putting together this project, in a way it seemed as though Steampunk as a literary genre at least, was over. What is becoming clear now is that there has been a massive cross media bleed that has served to re-invigorate Steampunk fictions both on-screen and on the page which is in turn feeding back into and refreshing the sub-culture. At no point has it been an easy and simple matter to say 'this is what Steampunk is' and as long as that continues, we're going to see more 'definitive' pieces of work produced by authors and artists alike.

I look forward to it.

Steampunk as virtual coexistence?

2009-02-22T09:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was ready to leave behind, at least for the time being, this fixation on Bergson in relation to the representation of time in Steampunk fictions. Today, however, I delved back into Gilles Deleuze's Bergsonism and got swayed again. Best summed up by this sentence:

'The past and the present do not denote two successive moments, but two elements that coexist' (59).

The past and the present as represented in terms of succession would more properly belong to the domain of alternate history (the past is altered but in relation to a linear and successive temporality), time-travel (the past/present/future are represented as existing along a road we can travel along, in both directions, related to each other in terms of succession), and SF (the far or immediate future are portrayed as succeeding the present of the text).

In much Steampunk, is it not correct to say that the two 'temporal' elements coexisting are signified by the technological capabilities of the present and a particular historical/geographical location that is past (a past)?

Bergson/Deleuze describe duration as subjectivity, and it is difficult to square memory (individual) with a communal and fictionalised history. However, the intention for me has never been to map the philosophy onto the fiction - or visa versa - but to show the analogy at work.

The purpose of making the analogy? For the authors and contributors of Steampunk Magazine, it is often political, and expressed most fully in the Apocalypse issue in relation to environmental concerns. The whole of the past is contained in the present and can be utilised. For others, the analogy is accidental but not incidental to the fictions produced.

It isn't Bergson or Bergson-Deleuze that can fully explain the significance of the genre, however. As they expressed, the present is that which never ceases to pass. The contemporary present that Steampunk conflates with its preferred historical moment (a long, century long, moment) is already always passing. Is this adequately represented in the works I am looking at. There may be a case to be made for the ending of The Difference Engine and its projection of a future, or in the retro-futurism at work in Casshern and Brazil. As always, further thinking is required.

Uplifting moments

2009-02-20T05:52:00.000-08:00

I had a chat with my Director of Studies today. Doesn't seem like much but it is nice to touch base. It's been a while too, as my teaching on Narrative Skills for Videogames really knocked me for six in terms of the PhD research. I'm only now getting on to my second chapter and it seems like I'm way behind.

The meeting was really just a supportive chat. We're aiming to have me hand over the first draft of the chapter by the end of Easter, which I think is very doable. I was also given a heads up about an alternative history/Victorianan style novel which is by all accounts a great read: The Domino Men by Johnathan Barnes. I'll check it out.

Tasks at hand:
1. Blocking out chapter 2 - 1 week schedule
2. Complete 1st draft - by easter.

Time & Free Will - concluding thoughts

2009-02-18T14:44:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished reading Henri Bergson's Time & Free Will. My initial thoughts are that there is room in the text to think around the role of literature as a way of presenting a non-spatialised time. Imperfectly, I think Bergson would say, as language attempts to crystallise what is essentially opposed to crystallisation - our experience of duration. Still unsure of whether or not the reading is warranted or justifiable, I want to read the Steampunk texts I am working on, as an example of thinking time in terms of duration and, in contradiction maybe, of representing the ludicrous nature of eliding time with space...in the case of Steampunk, a historical period with a geographical location (London/19th century).

The main problem I have is strengthening a Bergsonian conception of time as it relates to narratives, especially the genre(s) I am working with. I feel that I can read Bergson through Rocoeur to acheive this and am currently looking at 'Time, Self & Meaning in the works of Henri Bergson, Merleau-Ponty, and Paul Ricoeur' by Mark S. Muldoon. We'll see what, if anything, I can make of that.

-----

I finished the graphic novel Steampunk: Manimatron by Chris Bachalo and Joe Kelley. I hated the main antagonist, I just couldn't buy into him. Also, the lettering used was often confusing...too much font colour and face change to make sense of the words. But the artwork is beautiful and I really did buy into this reconceptulisation of London. I ordered the next in the series Steampunk: Drama Obscura but by all accounts the story ends abruptly there due to a lack of popularity.

I'm also reading The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (novel). Not sure yet. Both the Anubis Gates and the graphic novel have unnerved me because of the heavy use of the time travel trope. I have been working with the idea that Steampunk is not about travelling from the present to the past via time travel (which belongs to the realm of SF) but that it represents a present that encompasses the past and therefore the two 'moments' coexist. I may need to rethink this.

The Why

2009-02-18T12:28:00.000-08:00

Hi.

First, the why...

Following a seminar I attended today at the University of Salford in which Dr. Siân Bayne spoke on the uncanny & virtual learning environments, I decided to set up this blog as a way of analyzing my learning processes and tendencies, to attempt to decipher the connections between my interests and my studies that at times seem very connected and at other times desperately disparate. I have also been influenced by the McKenzie Wark's book GAM3R 7H30RY published online and open for comment as it was being written (pointed out to me by a friend and colleague who found a fascinating interview with the author in the stunningly concieved mechinima talk show This Spartan Life).

I am already into my second year of researching my PhD and so this blog begins abruptly mid-way through my studies. I think this is fitting as the sense of disorientation that I feel at this stage of my research might be equivalent to that of a reader dropped into the midst of my often meandering directions of thought. This blog will therefore be a space in which my anxieties about my learning and attitude towards academia can be managed and reflected upon.

I will include links to online discussions, articles and other content that I am exploring and the focus of this blog will shift between my PhD - centred on Steampunk and the Gothic in fiction - and my teaching and continuing interest in Game Theory. The two may be irreconcilable although the upcoming release of this game may just change that.

What I will not do is use this blog to write about my personal life or non-research related experiences. However, it may be hard to keep this boundary clear especially as I necessarily consume media, reflect, and respond in writing and elsewhere.

I invite comments and connections of constructive persuasion and hope that the process of writing this blog is both useful to me and to others. Time will tell...