Teslagrad – Laws of Attraction
This puzzle game sounds really fun and it has a definite steampunk look.
PLATFORM: PC – Windows ¦ DEVELOPER: Rain Games ¦ RELEASE DATE: 13/12/2013
Teslagrad says everything it needs to say within the first five minutes. The fact that in spite of this you will play for the next five hours is a testament to the games design.
This is the first outing for indie developer RainGames,but in Teslagrad, they have shown the design prowess of veterans. 2D puzzle and skill based platformers have become a crowded genre in the indie scene, even so Teslagrad manages to stand out with a combination of new wave aesthetic and old school functionality. The visuals reek of modern indie charm and the narrative is told in an all too familiar minimalist build. However, at its core, Teslagrad functions with the trial and error, fidelity based gameplay of a classic platformer.
Set in an indistinguishable time period that is visually reminiscent of…
View original post 651 more words
Be Still My Clockwork Heart
For the most part, I find the valentine heart shape to be overused and cliche in the same way putting the word “dream” on everything is super lame. But, I had faith that there were Steampunk artists out there that would give me some interesting, evocative and beautiful heart-themed art and jewelry to enjoy so in honor of the impending feast of St. Valentine I created this gallery of Steampunk hearts. Most of these lovelies are available for purchase. Click on the thumbnails to open a larger gallery or hover over the them to get the artists’ names (most are from Etsy).
Superpowers ‘n Steam
It was really cool to read about what these authors feel is compelling about writing in the steampunk genre. A couple of them emphasized the feelings of discovery and paying homage to a time when anyone could be an inventor, technology was still intuitive and the inner workings knowable.
During a forgotten time when the world was powered by steam and clockwork, heroes arose to do battle against the forces of evil. Some were outfitted with the latest technology. Others were changed by the mysteries of science and magic, while a few came from the skies. Capes and Clockwork fuses the fantasy and beauty of steampunk with the action and adventure of the superhero genre. Tease your imagination with sixteen stories of good versus evil, monster versus hero, and steam versus muscle!
The Capes and Clockwork Anthology was published on January 1, 2014 by Dark Oak Press – what a great way to start off the year!
I had the opportunity to pose a few questions to some of the authors of this anthology –
Are you primarily a short story writer or novel length?
Alan D Lewis: I’ve written both and enjoy both. A novel gives you plenty…
View original post 1,597 more words
Steampunk Book Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau
Island of Dr. Moreau cover
The Island of Dr. Moreau was published in by H. G. Wells in 1896. This sojourn into the dark side of medical research was described by the author as “an exercise in youthful blasphemy.”
The story is written as a an account by the late Edward Prendick (the manuscript is said to have been found by his nephew) about his experience as a castaway. Probably the most well-known shipwreck in the Steampunk canon is Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but the Wells’ tale actually predates it by four years.
1887 Battleship
The narrator is a monied drifter with a background in science. His tale starts with the sinking of his passenger ship, the Lady Vain, and his subsequent week at sea. The other two survivors go into the drink after a scuffle and Prendick is left alone. Later he is rescued by a Dr. Montgomery aboard the Ipecachuanha (named after a root which is the main ingredient of ipecac, a syrup used to induce vomiting. The name is a joke by the captain about how much the boat pitches in bad seas.) The doctor is accompanied by M’ling, whose slow mind and hideous appearance make him a constant target for scorn and bullying aboard the ship. After Prendick attempts to stop the crew from beating M’ling, the corpuscular captain of the Ipecachuanha sends Prendick overboard when they stop to let off Montgomery and his on an uncharted island.
One of the islanders was described as being a satyr, half man and half goat
Montgomery has a variety of strangely elongated workmen under his charge, and together with another English doctor they unload a shipment of animals including a puma and several cages of rabbits. Montgomery makes a slip of the tongue and reveals the other doctor is the notorious vivisecter, Dr. Moreau, who was banished from London society after his work drew public scorn. Prendick soon finds that the good doctor’s work is on-going and they are far from alone on the island.
The anguished cry of Moreau’s newest victim sends Prendick out to explore the island where he encounters a series of strange people. These beast folk have a strict moral code and religious rituals that Moreau uses to control them, but can this fragile cultural ecosystem withstand a new and unplanned addition to the island?
I really enjoyed reading this book. The story moved much better than some of the Victorian-era novels I have read like the painfully slow Dracula. The science of this book revolves around vivisection and skin-grafting, along with complex brain surgery, to create various new forms of human beings. I know that there is a lot of fiction in science fiction, but I found that premise to be a bit flimsy (though according to Wells’ paper “The Limits of Human Plasticity” he thought it was all very possible.) Even so, Wells successfully uses the premise to explore themes like pain and cruelty, and like all good science fiction, ultimately asks readers to think about what it means to be human.
Steampunk Sourcebook: Cephlapods
What is it about our many legged friends that makes them a popular trope in Steampunk?
۞ Monster Cephlapods have been the major focus of several classic works of Science Fiction and Fantasy such as H. P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulu, Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the 1830 Tennyson poem The Kraken. There is also a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story called Horror of the Heights that features a flying tentacled monster. In more recent times both the Kraken and Cthulu-like monsters have made appearances in Hollywood blockbusters like Hellboy and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (though you also get a good look at the Kraken after it is death in Pirates of the Caribbean: World’s End).
۞ Their bodies are also reminiscent of complex machines. The long skinny tentacles are like wires or tubes and their movement is powered by water, not unlike steam vehicles. As a bonus their bodies kind of look like they are wearing a helmet and goggles all the time, and if Steampunk had an official symbol I’m pretty sure it would be a pair of goggles (or maybe a gear).
۞ Brian Kesinger, the talented artist behind Otto and Victoria and the book Walking Your Octopus: Your Guidebook to the Domesticated Cephlapod, did an interview for ComicMix.com, and when asked about his choice to draw an octopus as a couture pet he answered:
“I find octopuses extremely fun to draw. It is a real challenge inventing eight different things for them to do in every image. They are nature’s original multi-tasker and they certainly have captured the imagination of a lot of people. Along with the squid and other Cephalopods, octopuses seem to be a sort of theme animal for steampunk so when I set forth trying to render an image of a high class Victorian lady and her boutique pet the choice was obvious. What was not obvious was how popular Otto has become since I first drew him a year ago. He has inspired fan art, tattoos and I’ve even seen girls cosplay Victoria and conventions around the country! And for that I am so grateful and it keeps me drawing octopus.”
Cephlapods are fascinating creatures that are about as far away from human as you can get.
۞ I used to work at an aquarium so I got a chance to spend lots of time observing octopus and my personal favorite cuttlefish. These invertebrates can move in three dimensions, jetting around the water column and feeding on smaller animals.
They are also totally visually stunning. Undulating tentacles aside, many of them can change color and shape at will, which makes them masters of disguise. Want to have your mind blown? Check out the PBS documentary below for more information about cuttlefish camouflage.
I’ve collected just a sampling of the Steampunk art featuring our many-legged friends out there on the interwebs. In most cases you can get the artist’s name by simply hovering over each image and you can open a gallery of larger images by clicking on any thumbnail. If you see something that is mislabeled or you know who is behind one of my unlabeled entries please let me know so I can give the artist the credit s/he deserves.
Click on any thumbnail to open the gallery of larger images.
Neo-Victoriana at Hom Furniture
My parents just bought a townhouse so my mom wanted some help shopping and I was happy to oblige. We went to Hom Furniture and I found a surprising amount of decor that could be considered Neo-Victorian or Steampunk. I took some pictures on my phone of my favorite items. This particular Hom store also had a pseudo-balcony that was lined with cupboards that looked like library shelves so it helped at to the Steampunk feeling due to all the books in the interior design.
This table below and the side table set above really caught my eye.
But most of what I found was wall art like the pieces below.
For Whom the Gear Turns 