Top Hat

As part of ongoing steampunkness...I got a top hat today. Photo to follow.

MarsCon

I went to MarsCon in Williamsburg today. My schedule:

• interview with SM Stirling (author of Conquistador and The Peshawar Lancers, among many others)
• panel on steampunk costuming
• writing seminar on plotting
• diversions and amusements in the age of steam

I couldn't tag people and number them and attach little radio transmitters so scientists could study their migration patterns, but I'd guesstimate there were several hundred people there, possibly as many as a thousand, including guests, vendors, undead, steampunks, a member of the 501st Legion, a couple of jedi, a Sith, some Umbrella Corp guards, post-apocalyptic zombie hunters, miscellaneous geeks, and a few mundanes. Roughly 2000 square feet of vendor space, including Robert Quill, Artist for Hire and a couple other cartoonists, Hatton Cross Steampunk and a couple others with steampunk goods, The Leather Lair (they had some very nice coats and corsets, their website doesn't do it justice), plus people selling swords, books, games, tee shirts, jewelry, carvings, paintings and such.

Notes from the SM Stirling interview:

He said his e-book sales were 10% of his total last year, 20% this year. He likes reading books on history of logistics and such things; "world-building is good occupational therapy for lunatics who think they're god". He trained as a lawyer but had his dorsal fin removed, so never practiced.

The average book takes him 6-12 months to write, not counting gestation time. "The distinguishing mark of a real writer, compared to a wannabe, is...they write. And finish." He said his natural story length is a novel; "writing a short story is like stuffing a live cat into a Coke bottle without hurting it." And he said "If you're not having fun when you're writing, you're in the wrong line of work. It is work, but it's fun work."

Notes from the steampunk costuming panel:

"Ganymede Thornycroft" and "Finnegan O'Sullivan" were there with elaborate outfits. Most of the stuff people had was built with materials found in thrift stores, or bits picked up from the hardware store, or low-cost shops like Tuesday Morning. The best thrift stores are the ones by a military base, as they get a good assortment of strange things--things bought overseas, for instance. Get a Dremel or similar tool, and go to it. Steampunk: Gears Gadgets and Gizmos was recommended.

Notes from the writing session will be on Ficton.

Bought a couple of books and a game which I'll review later, had several people complement my paisley vest, resisted buying a handsome zatoichi sword for which I have no possible use, avoided the zombies, and had a good time.

Mars Con

I'm going to MarsCon in Williamsburg on Saturday. SM Stirling (The Peshawar Lancers) will be there, there will be a couple of writers' workshops, and a couple of steampunk panels.

10 Seconds of My 15 Minutes of Fame:

I got mentioned by Professor Reynolds of Instapundit:

CLOSE CALLS: Billion-Ton Comet May Have Missed Earth by a Few Hundred Kilometers in 1883: A reanalysis of historical observations suggest Earth narrowly avoided an extinction event just over a hundred years ago. Shades of, well, you know.

UPDATE: Reader Chris DeBoe writes: “Shades of The Peshawar Lancers by SM Stirling, which posits a comet hitting North America and Europe during Victoria’s reign, and the British government relocating to India. And the Great Game still goes on.” Several readers made that connection, which I should have caught. I read that book and it was good — one of several that made my list of recommended alt-history reading.

Father's Day: Nemesis Liberator Mkl III

Josh came into my room at midnight last night because he just couldn't wait till morning to hand me my Father's Day gift. It's a heavy box, marked "Fragile: Ossotronic Valve Guages" and "Handle with Care: Photons in Transit", and with a label that proclaims a Nemesis Liberator.

Inside was the latest in ossotronic weapons technology, a Liberator hand cannon:

Nemesis Liberator Mk III, left side

Nemesis Liberator Mk III, right side

We are now fully prepared to fight off any zombies or sky pirate incursions.

On display beside the rapier

Steampunk Walker Tank

A video of a motorized Lego steampunk mech .

Jane Austen's Fight Club

The first rule of Fight Club is, one never mentions Fight Club.
No corsets.
No hatpins.
And no crying.
If this is your first invitation to Fight Club, you must fight.

Full Thrust Aero

Having recently played a game of Full Thrust (first time in a long time), and having recently listened to Abney Park's Airship Pirate, it occurred to me that FT's cinematic movement rules would be about perfect for steampunk airship battles. Instead of the standard six firing arcs, make it Fore, Aft, Port, Starboard, Ventral and Dorsal. You'd need a few modifications for dive and climb rate, maximum speed, flight ceiling, and perhaps something like "all targets in your Ventral firing arc are treated as if 50% farther away, and all targets in Dorsal are treated as if 50% closer".
Oh, and collisions, of course. Nothing like having two hydrogen-filled zeps, bristling with weapons, running into each other.

Costume

Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, but my office is observing it next Friday. I'm thinking of a steampunk outfit this year. Why be a mere ordinary pirates, when you can be an airship pirate?
Fire up the boilers, there's a good chap! Arm the Galvanic Discharge Cannon Mark III's, old boy, and strap your Professor Gould's Patent Photonic Death Ray at your side! Board that aether flyer and take all their gin!

Now Reading

Just finished The Peshawar Lancers. What would have happened if a comet had hit the Northern Hemisphere in the 1870s? Stirling tells the story of a cavalry officer in the British Raj who gets entangled in a Political Service affair against a Czarist agent, against the backdrop of the Northwest Frontier, the King-Emperor's court in Delhi, airships and a multi-acre Babbage Engine. The writing is good--not great, but good--but what really makes this book notable is the flavor of India and Victorian science fiction. Don't expect soul-searching character development, but if you'd like Kipling's Kim plus an action adventure, this is the book for you.