A Victorian Future
Ever wish that you lived in Victorian times, but with a little bit more Wellsian sci-fi? Perhaps just that little extra something to make it more like an episode of Dr. Who but with that splash of Charles Dickens. Well enter Steampunk! That fantasy and speculative fiction genre that posits, what if steam had really become widely used, what if people had parasols and wore goggles on their top hats, what if cybermen helped a wicked lady who ran an orphanage...no, wait, that last one was an episode of Dr. Who...but it does perfectly epitomize the genre. Victorian manners melded with steel. An amped up future but in the 1880s. From the aforementioned Dr. Who episode, The Next Doctor, to books such as Gail Carriger's Soulless, to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Steampunk is getting quite a following, and quite the fashions too. Like a costume drama and Marilyn Manson had a car crash and what came out you can now buy and wear on such sites as Clockwork Couture.
Personally I have Steampunk on the brain...must be because I'm currently reading Soulless and thinking how cool dirigibles in common use would be...or maybe because it's Steampunk month over at Tor...or perhaps it's because my home town has their own Steampunk group, Steam Century, and they're having a Darke Carnival...for one reason and another, Steampunk is very big at the moment. So, if you're interested in this interesting blend of possibilities, pick up a book, put on some clothes, or head over to the Darke Carnival at the Inferno in Madison, Wisconsin this Saturday, October 10th!
