A while ago as I was catching up on my steampunk blog readings and drying my hair at the same time I came across an post with a title that caught my attention like flying magnets, "Steampunk Tech and Teens." Oh. Fabulous. Exactly what I…

There was a strong Egyptian influence in the 19th century with the translation of the Rosetta stone, all the English and European Egyptologist and their rich discoveries, the Egyptian obelisk erected alongside the Thames, and the quaint mummy unwrapping parties. Egypt even influenced Victorian clothing, furniture and furnishings. In turn, there no question aspects of the Steampunk culture have been influenced by ancient Egypt. In the entertainment field Steampunk…

Nevins, Jess (2009). The Nineteenth Century Roots of Steampunk. In The New York Review of Science Fiction, 21(5), 1, 4-5.

Although this article wasn’t published in an academic journal, its overview of steampunk’s “boy inventor” roots offers steampunk scholars some interesting insights and further paths for exploration. An earlier version of the article was published in Steampunk (2008), edited by the…

Since we're mostly writers here, I wanted to share this with you all.   Today is "Teen Lit Day" -- to celebrate YA books and encourage teens to read.  Today people all over the nation are going to "rock the drop" -- leave a YA book in a public place for someone to take home and enjoy.  http://bit.ly/cWIztH  If you leave a Steampunk YA book, please email me pics, (suzannelazear (@) hotmail) we're collecting them for the steamed blog. 

Read…

Dear Coppélia,

I've been sick.

Dear oh dear.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been keeping up with my readings!

The automata motif is probably my favourite, ranging from the giant 8-armed mechanized goddess in Behemoth or the moving armor in Fullmetal Alchemist. You can't deny that they're all pretty freakin' cool to look at. It's all in the details, I say, the intricacies and elaborate designs, which brings me to recommend this…

How about it?  We at SWAG could promote it, call for submissions, and build a clientele for the best.  We could have several categories - best overall story, best gadgetry, most technically plausible; the Dru Pagliassotti best in social critique; best use of humor in steam; must 'punkish'.

What do you think?

At some point we might be as big as the Hugos!  ;-)

At the moment of impact, I wasn’t surprised when a life flashed before my eyes.  I just expected the life to be my own.

The silver Porsche must have been doing eighty when it hit black ice.  I couldn’t swerve, couldn’t get out of the way.  There was nowhere to go as the Porsche whipped around, skidding toward my little car.  Headlights rushed toward my windshield, flooding everything with brightness, obliterating the night.  And then I was – someplace else.  A home that once belonged…

Here's some things that are often repeated about the Victorian era that aren't true:

Sometimes people were buried alive.   Not that anyone can discern, but there were rare cases of people who'd been declared dead reviving a few hours later.  Eventually the urban legend…

Well ... I think they're fun, anyway.  Beta-readers for my Past Lives Trilogy will recognize some of these.

Pollution:  Most homes burned coal in their…

Dear Coppélia,

How you must think me primitive for wanting to write this using pen and paper instead of typing this up on a typwriter to enjoy the rhythms of clinks and clacks it makes, but I hesitate not to remind you that Leonardo da Vinci the Renaissance man, the Italian polymath and genius inventor, penned all his designs and sketches personally with his own hand. After all, is writing not a form of technology?…

Last week offered a multitude of author-flavored treats for me. Two…