If you’ve cleaned your goggles this morning, you may have noticed something a little different about Tor.com. Namely, there’s a shiny new logo and masthead at the top of this page. The fancy duds mark an exciting development for our little website: October 2009 is Steampunk Month on Tor.com.
I have a strong suspicion that this pronouncement has prompted some of our readers to sigh, “Steampunk! That’s so [1987/1990/2008]!” But there are just as certainly others who are saying, “Steampunk? What the heck is steampunk?” There’s no simple definition that works for everyone—at our staff meeting the other day, we wound up reverting to that old saw about pornography—but I usually start off with something along the lines of “a Victorian-influenced speculative fiction subgenre set in a world where steam power is still in common use; and the aesthetic derived thereof.” But for the full story, I strongly recommend you to Cherie Priest’s formidable “Steampunk FAQ.”
One thing that almost everyone can agree on is that steampunk is really damn cool. So cool, in fact, that a half-joking suggestion at a meeting several months ago has turned into one of the biggest events in Tor.com’s history, incorporating nearly a dozen new bloggers, original fiction, scads of giveaways, and So. Much. More.
Here’s a list of just some of the things in store during Steampunk Month:
- Musings on the genre from a host of esteemed guest bloggers, including G. D. Falksen, Stefania Forlini, Lev Grossman, Jah’Meia, Jay Lake, George Mann, Joe Monti, Cherie Priest, Ann VanderMeer, and Jeff VanderMeer, as well as steampunk posts from many of our regular bloggers.
- Original steampunk (and steampunk-esque) fiction from Eileen Gunn & Michael Swanwick and G. D. Falksen, plus a rarely-seen comic by Sydney Padua of “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage” fame.
- Coverage of the steampunk exhibit at Oxford’s Museum of the History of Science, Steamcon (Seattle’s first Steampunk convention), and the Brooklyn Indie Market Steampunk II event.
- Interviews with luminaries such as Tim Powers, Scott Westerfeld, and Keith Thompson.
- Process posts from steampunk writers, artists, designers, costumers, and tinkerers.
- Articles on and reviews of new, upcoming, and classic books/movies/etc., including Boilerplate, Candle Man, Dream of Perpetual Motion, Leviathan, and Tetsuo.
- Steampunk wallpapers!
- An absurd amount of giveaways, including books, posters, buttons, costume elements, and gadgets.
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• Steampunk wallpapers!
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Finally, lest you think we’ve just caught on to this whole steampunk craze, here are some highlights from Tor.com’s existing steampunk coverage:
- 10/10/09: “Review: Shane Acker’s 9“ by Bridget McGovern
- 8/7/09: “Steampunk novellas from Kage Baker and James P. Blaylock” by Mark Graham
- 7/9/09: “Steampunk Tales: More fiction for the iPhone Crowd” by Rajan Khanna
- 5/20/09: “SF Theater: Futurity“ by Megan Messinger
- 3/8/09: “CG Society Steampunk Myths & Legends winners announced” by Irene Gallo
- 1/20/09: “CG Society’s Steampunk Challenge” by Irene Gallo
- 12/31/08: “The Shattered Teacup” by Lou Anders
- 12/18/08: “The Oldest Computer in the World (That’s Not My Desktop)” by Genevieve Valentine
- 11/15/08: “Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello and World War” by Irene Gallo
- 11/16/08: “We’re living the steampunk of the future” by Rowena Cherry
- 10/1/08: “Warren Ellis Talks Freakangels” by Pablo Defendini
- 9/13/08: “Weekend Getaway: Dr. Roundbottom” by John Klima
- 8/18/08: “Eric Freitas” by Irene Gallo
- 8/17/08: “Steampunk in the Hamptons” by Irene Gallo
- 8/15/08: “Design Observer Humbugs Steampunk” by Irene Gallo
Happy Steampunk Month! Keep it brassy.
Liz Gorinsky is an editor at Tor Books. She is spending way too much time these days attempting to fine-tune her steampunk publisher costume before Steamcon.
Awesome!
Brilliant!
Would have missed the exhibition in Oxford if you’d not highlighted it.
This month should be lots of fun.
Sweet! Bring on the Steam!
Awesome, indeed. :)
Sounds great! I love everything steampunk!
You should also feature photographer Kyle Kassidy as he is the foremost steampunk photographer (at least in my mind!). The wikipedia page on Steampunk features one of his photographs.
Fun! But I’ve had mixed feelings about steampunk ever since it was pointed out to me that in steampunk works there are usually no black people, no Native Americans for sure, and any Asians are “exotic foreigners.” I mean, steampunk can be a lot of fun, and I enjoy the aesthetic in clothes, techtoys, etc… but I want my fiction to have a healthy mixture of people of all races, not ignore other races altogether. (It would be really cool if some of the upcoming blog posts and fiction here address that!)
Strictly speaking, was Sam Waterston’s “QED” steampunk? It’s set in 1912. My personnal cutoff point for steampunk is 1903’s technological level, because that was the year of the Wright Brothers and also of the War of the Worlds, but I’ve made exceptions if it suited me.
Thanks, all!
dwndrgn: I hadn’t thought about asking Kyle (my brain is clearly addled by all of our preparation), but I love his work. I can’t find a specific repository of his steampunk stuff, but all of it is gorgeous.
aedifica: That’s an excellent point, and there’s certainly a dearth of those perspectives in a lot of the work that’s currently out there. But I think as we start to see more steampunk that’s taken out of the “high Victorian” milieu it will be a lot easier to incorporate them: to use an example I’m exceptionally biased toward, Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker has a fair number of PoC characters and (IMHO) treats them fairly well. And I’m also hopeful that your concerns will be reflected in our blogger pool: perhaps Cherie will talk a bit about her choices in this regard, and Jha’Meia has done some excellent writing in this arena. Ay-leen the Peacemaker’s “‘From the Wilds of America’ – Analyzing the Idea of ‘British Colonial America’ in Steampunk” is also a must-read if you haven’t seen it yet.
aedifica: Ay-Leen will be embarking on a series soon featuring non-Eurocentric steampunk projects, too. (I hate to put pressure on her like this, but it’ll be for the best of all! ;D)
Thanks for the introduction, TooMuchExposition!
TooMuchExposition and Jha: Oh, cool! I haven’t read Boneshaker, I’ll have to check it out. And I’ll go read that link of Ay-Leen’s.