DragonCon this year has reconnected me with one of my favorite forms of speculative fiction. It is one of the Old Ones, one of the foundations of modern science fiction that drew me into my lifelong obsession in the first place!
After nearly a century of slumber, steampunk is maturing! I will never forget being five years old and reading a child's version of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea." It was abridged, but the illustrations are probably what captured my imagination and forced me to explore classic literature more. Captain Nemo had a submarine! A fantastic machine that only existed in fiction. Not only was it an astounding work of science, it kept the victorian sensibilities of the time, being largely iron decorated with brass and sumptous wood. It was a palace beneath the sea! A monument to futuristic technology, while at the same time, firmly rooted in that era's current technology, the industrial revolution. Brilliance! In the days before gasoline, nuclear power, or even the battery, our society was fuelled by a more primal technology...steam.
The steam engine, regardless of who gets credit for inventing it, made our current world of technology possible. It gave us the power to automate tasks and increase accuracy and consistency of products. It gave us the means to create the materials that would move us forward past steam to more efficient and powerful fuels.
Steampunk asks the question, what if technology never moved past water power, yet surpassed what we currently know? Robots fuelled by steam and coal, clockwork prosthetics, weapons using crystals and light. In steampunk, we live in the Victorian era, yet we have the steam powered technology of the distant future! Technology that is as artistic as it is futuristic! Copper, brass, wood, natural, mechanical objects that transcend their anachronistic appearance and become nearly magical in their technological magnificence! It's all about human ingenuity and craftsmanship!
An air of civility and manners surround Victorian steampunks! An adventurous lady will carry a pouch and a teacup on her belt, because no one should be without a cup of tea when all is dark. Men in tophats sporting goggles to deal with the winds while navigating their flying contraptions through the sunset clouds!
It has sparked my imagination as long as I can remember, and this year, I find that it has matured and begun to leak into the mainstream! The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, Brisco County, Jr., Captain Nemo, and even Wild Wild West have carried the tradition quietly and with great dignity, but I feel like steampunk is finally coming into its own! When I red William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine in the late 80s, I was astounded that someone had written a book in a genre that I believed was destined to be exclusively on the fringe of fandom, but now, there's hope that it might be stepping into the spotlight after all these years!
Chumley and I have been talking about going all out and designing some beautiful steampunk costumes for next year, and I've never been so excited! (His, of course, is going to be amazing and talked about for years!)
Maybe I should trim my beard into a more victorian look!
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