D. L. Mackenzie is the author of the gently satirical steampunk series, The Magnetron Chronicles.  These putative memoirs of eccentric Nineteenth Century inventor Phineas J. Magnetron follow the globe-trotting, crime-fighting aristocrats of the Hogalum Society as they solve peculiar mysteries and attempt to keep order in a world inclined to disorderliness.  The first volume, The Last Adventure of Dr. Yngve Hogalum, is available as a free Kindle ebook.  Learn more about the series and author at http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com.

Four Techniques for Sparking Your Creativity

by D. L. Mackenzie

Readers often ask me, “Where do you get all of your ideas?” as if they’re hoping I’ll share some magic formula, or perhaps a link to an online idea consignment boutique presenting prepackaged suites of novel concepts attractively priced for struggling writers.  My stock answer to the question “where do you get your ideas” has always been “from everywhere and anywhere,” which—while true—isn’t a particularly helpful bit of advice to an aspiring writer.  Upon further reflection, I realized that I hadn’t devoted much conscious thought to the murky mechanics of my creative process, and I didn’t really care to, either.  Like turning on the lights at a séance, I feared a dispassionate analysis of my own creativity might break the spell for good.  I’m pleased to announce that I’ve conquered that fear, it didn’t hurt a bit, and I have actually gleaned some useful (I hope) insights into the creative process.  I’ve identified four techniques I had been using all along without really thinking about them.

So, returning to the question, “Where do I get my ideas?” again, the answer is still “everywhere and anywhere,” but perhaps an example will shed more light:  I was driving home one day, absentmindedly pondering what topic I might write about for this blog, while also half-listening to the radio.  A National Public Radio story on the topic of educational testing grabbed my attention, specifically, a few odd moments of that piece which focused on testing creativity.  A relatively new test has been devised to test creativity in much the same way we now test intelligence.  It’s done by asking questions such as, “What would the world be like if all of its animals could speak English?” and gauging the answers on a creativity scale.  And voila!  I had a pretty intriguing topic for my blog article, illustrating the first creativity technique:

Creativity Technique #1: Listen and observe

It’s impossible to pay attention to everything, but you can pay attention to what you pay attention to.  The television program you watched about Mayan civilization.  Your mailman with the bushy eyebrows and handlebar mustache.  The time you spilled coffee on yourself on your way to work.  Any of these mundane occurrences might pass unremarked in the real world, but each has the potential to add texture to your writing—if you are paying attention.  Every moment of your non-writing time becomes a grand brainstorming session, with ideas coming a mile a minute.  Song lyrics, offhand remarks, YOUtube videos, bits of poetry, off-color jokes… anything that gains your attention and gooses your imagination… everything goes in the hopper.  This technique really works, if you follow through with the next technique:

Creativity Technique #2: Think Uncritically

Yes, think.  The tidbits you’re collecting won’t amount to much unless you let them stew a bit in your fevered mind until something intriguing pops out.  Mix and match them with existing story elements to see if anything clicks together.  Maybe you’ll decide the source of your antagonist’s power is a lost Mayan amulet.  Perhaps that two-dimensional character of yours would come into starker relief with some bushy eyebrows and a handlebar mustache.  Perhaps your heroine might meet a warrior prince and realize later she had a nasty oil stain on her blouse.  Who knows?  The point is that you will generate a limitless stream of new ideas.  Of course, most of them will be banal claptrap, but don’t worry about that yet.  We’ll deal with that shortly as Creativity Technique #4.

Creativity Technique #3: Ask Questions

Remember the creativity test I told you about?  The testers ask questions to see how creative the subject’s response is.  Now, it’s probably not a particularly novel observation on my part, but it seems to me that this is the job of the fiction writer: to answer thought-provoking questions in narrative form.  A steampunk writer might ask, “How might someone from the Nineteenth Century envision the future,” and then answer that question in narrative form.  Or, “what if airplanes had never been invented and airships had become the dominant method of air travel?”  And so on.  For me, the key takeaway is that the great bulk of creativity is bound up in the question itself.  We can be imaginative in answering the question, but asking such a question in the first place is perhaps the most creative act of all.  To be truly innovative, we cannot be satisfied merely to answer someone else’s question.  We must pose our own questions to unleash our greatest creativity.

The strangest thing is that we don’t have to be extraordinarily imaginative to pose questions that will in turn spark our creativity.  We can avoid staleness in our own writing by uncritically asking questions about everything we have accepted as an unquestioned state of affairs.  What if steam is suddenly challenged by petroleum and internal combustion engines?  What if airplanes appear on the scene to wreak havoc on our heroes’ airships?  What if lighter-than-air craft were declared illegal or immoral?  Any of these questions would pose challenges for your characters, and challenge you to construct a credible back-story,

Creativity Technique #4: Think Critically

All right, you’re generating lots of new ideas now, but that doesn’t mean they’re any good.  Just as in conventional brainstorming, the goal is to spark creativity by popping off with whatever crack-brained notion comes unbidden.  After the brainstorming is done, though, each new idea must be analyzed critically.  Does it really add to the story, or is it an unnecessary aside?  Does it really help flesh out a character, or is it an irrelevant distraction?  Real life sometimes seems like an arbitrary succession of random events, but our job as writers is to distill the chaos into a coherent whole with a recognizable plot and theme.  The bottom line is as always: if it doesn’t strengthen the story or move it forward, get rid of it.

I am knocking on wood as I type this, but I can honestly say that I have never once stared at a blank screen waiting for inspiration to strike; rather, I am typically bursting with ideas, worried I’ll forget them before I get a chance to get them all written down.  If you use these four simple techniques, I’m confident you’ll always have a trove of ideas clamoring for your attention.  I’m guessing you have already cooked up a few new ideas just from reading this article.  Try writing a few paragraphs on your new idea to see where it leads.  If it doesn’t pan out, there’s no harm done, but if you start getting that familiar itch and can’t stop writing, you’re probably on to something.

Not only do I have to pack ginormous skirts, and corsets, AND a hoopskirt, and 4 pairs of boots, there’s also gadgets and accessories. Do I wear the vintage jewelry or the one with the kraken? (answer: both, different days.) I have to add combs inside one of my hats, because it keeps falling off my head. I finished my sewing last night. Plus, since this is a working con for me, I have to take books, swag, and materials for panels. It all adds up to a LOT of stuff. A lot.

Oh–and my spouse has just as many outfits. Three piece suits. Kilts. Tophats. Size 14 boots. His luggage isn’t small, either. The funniest part? We’re just going to the other side of Metro Detroit.

So that’s what I’m up to. Tomorrow I leave for Up in the Aether–the Steampunk Convention. It lasts from Friday Morning until Monday afternoon, and there’s a bunch of great stuff planned, including a fabulous author line up. (oh–and I just turned in book 6 of the Gaslight Chronicles

If you’re in the area, come see us. It’s always more fun with more kids in the playground!

The Buttersmiths’ Gold
by Adam Glendon Sidwell

Everyone knows the most coveted treasure of the Viking Age was blueberry muffins. Blueberry muffins so succulent that if you sniffed just a whiff, you’d want a whole bite. If you bit a bite, you’d want a batch; if you snatched a batch, you’d stop at nothing short of going to war just to claim them all.

Young Torbjorn Trofastsonn comes from the clan that makes them. He’s a Viking through and

through – he’s thirteen winters old, larger than most respectable rocks, and most of all, a Buttersmith. That’s what he thinks anyway, until a charismatic merchant makes Torbjorn question his place among the muffin-makers. When Torbjorn lets the secret of his clan’s muffin recipe slip, he calls doom and destruction down upon his peaceful village and forces his brother Storfjell and his clansmen to do the one thing they are ill-prepared to do: battle for their lives.

The Buttersmiths’ Gold is a spin off novella in the Evertaster series that tells the story of two Viking brothers and their adventurous past. The Evertaster series (Book #1 released June 14, 2012) is about Guster Johnsonville, who goes searching for a legendary taste rumored to be the most delicious in all of history. Along the way he meets a slew of mysterious characters, including two Viking brothers Torbjorn and Storfjell. The Buttersmiths’ Gold is their story.

Evertaster, Book #1:

A legendary taste. Sought after for centuries. Shrouded in secrecy.
When eleven-year-old Guster Johnsonville rejects his mother’s casserole for the umpteenth time, she takes him into the city of New Orleans to find him something to eat. There, in a dark, abandoned corner of the city they meet a dying pastry maker. In his last breath he entrusts them with a secret: an ancient recipe that makes the most delicious taste the world will ever know — a taste that will change the fate of humanity forever.

Forced to flee by a cult of murderous chefs, the Johnsonvilles embark on a perilous journey to ancient ruins, faraway jungles and forgotten caves. Along the way they discover the truth: Guster is an Evertaster — a kid so picky that nothing but the legendary taste itself will save him from starvation. With the sinister chefs hot on Guster’s heels and the chefs’ reign of terror spreading, Guster and his family must find the legendary taste before it’s too late.

~Adam

Book Trailer:

Maeve Alpin in the outfit made by Linda Lindsey

“Welcome, to airship Steamed.” As I hold my pith helmet on my head with one hand, I shake, the seamstress and designer, Linda Lindsey’s hand with the other. “Nice to see you again.” I stretch my short legs in a leap across the wide gap between the dock and the airship. “Watch your step,” I call to Linda as she follows me into into the plush parlor.

Linda Lindsey

I gesture towards the crimson settee, which features curvy lion head legs and claw feet. Linda sinks into the cushioned seat.

I stand near the tea table and twirl. “I love my SteamGyptianPunk outfit you created for me.”

Linda inclines her head and smiles.

Then I plop down onto the chenille cushioned armchair across from her. “For my first question I have to ask What does Steampunk fashion mean to you?”

“Wow, that’s a hard one. I think I see Steampunk fashion as Victorian fashion that has gone right round the bend with a sci-fi twist. It’s not what fashion was but what fashion could have become.” Linda glances at the blue willow teacups, shaking and rattling on the tripod table.

I have to raise my voice to speak over the clang and grind of the airship as we take off. “Let’s jump into the important stuff, do you have any advice on corsets for women or vest for men?”

“Corsets should close to about 4″ evenly all the way so you have a good even fit for both looks and comfort. They should have steel bones because plastic heats up and bends, looking lumpy. For plus-size women, they should be a bit longer in the front. Spend the money to get a custom fitted corset, and you’ll never regret it. It’s less expensve than buying a dozen cheap corsets that don’t look good and don’t feel comfortable. A corset shouldn’t hurt to wear.” Linda grabs the settee with one hand as the airship lifts off. “Vest should be long enough to cover your shirt all the way down to the top of your pants, which should be worn at the waist, around the belly button, not below. Along with that, your neck-wear should be proportional to the space the vest leaves at the neck.”

I cock my head to the side. “And how do you feel about bustles?”

Butterfly Bustle/Train

“I love them.” Linda leans forward. “They really add a lot to an outfit. They don’t make your butt look big; they make your skirt look full. They can be a little troublesome but for certain silhouettes you really need a bustle to fill out your skirt and make your outfit look proportional.”

Since the china cups cease rattling, I pick up the tea pot and pour my guest and myself a cup of Earl Grey. “In speaking of corsets you mentioned that for goddess size women a corset  that is a bit longer in the front is the most flattering.  Do you have any specific Steampunk fashion advice to share with plus size ladies and gentlemen?”

“I actually do an hour long presentation on this at conventions.” Linda reaches her slender fingers between the plate of sliced lemons and the spouted creamer cup of milk to the sugar bowl. “But it all boils down to this: Nothing will disguise the fact that you are a plus-size person, but also, there is nothing to stop you from looking stunning. A properly fitted outfit, not too tight, not too baggy, fitting in all the right places (pants at the waist, not the FUPA, corset that closes to about 4″ all the way down, pants the right length, etc.) makes a HUGE difference.” Picking up a sugar cube, Linda plunks it into her tea. “When you walk into a room you will look as stunning as a ship under full sail.”

“What a marvelous analogy.” Picking up a slice of lemon, I breathe in the sunny, citrus scent as I squeeze a drop of its juice into my cup. “What type of clothing do you find the most difficult or challenging to create?” I slip the yellow slice into the light brown tea.

“Men’s Victorian shirts and trousers. There are a dozen little tiny pieces that have to be sewn on in difficult configurations.” Linda picks up a polished silver spoon and stirs her tea, creating a tiny maelstrom in the cup.

“Speaking of menswear, I admire your Steampunk fashions for men, they are quite dapper. Do you have a preference between designing for men or women?” I pick up my cup and saucer and breathe in the subtle, aromatic scent of the tea.

“Sewing for men, other than simple tunics and such, is new to me. I find it more challenging than sewing for women. The body lines and construction are so different. I don’t know that I prefer sewing for women, but I do find it easier.”

“What do you think about spats for men?” I sip my earl grey.

“Spats are wonderful. They really add completion and pizazz to an outfit.”

“What about material, what fabric is your favorite?” I place the cup on my saucer with a soft clink.

“One of my favorite fabrics for Steampunk clothing is Bengaline. It originated in the 1880′s. The modern version is a bit different than the original silk/cotton blend but is extremely beautiful. It has a wonderful weight that makes for gorgeous Victorian skirts and bodices.” Linda brings her teacup from her saucer to her parted lips and draws in a long sip.

“I notice in addition to clothing you make carpet bags and hats? Where do you get your inspiration?” My cup makes a soft clinking sound as I set it in its saucer on the table.

“I actually started with carpet bags and hats. It came out of necessity. I was planning my first Steampunk outfit and realized I needed a hat and a bag. I didn’t want a top hat because everyone had those, so I took an old Elizabethan riding hat pattern I’d made, pared it down to the proper size and read a book called “From the Neck Up.” Then I looked at pictures of carpet bags, made a pattern, searched and searched for the right hardware and made myself one. And I enjoyed it so much that I made more. At some point my husband told me I had too many and had to start selling some. So Rosewood Stitches was born.”

“Speaking of hats, here in the 21st century most of us are not use to wearing Victorian style hats. What advice would you give to help people pick out the best hat to complement their face and body and their Steampunk attire.” I lean against the soft, cushioned back of my arm chair.

“There are two basic styles of hat here: ones that fit down on your head (from riding hats to stovepipes) and ones that perch atop your head (like ladys’ hats and tiny top hats). For ones that fit down on your head like top hats, the two keys besides fit are brim width and crown height. In general, the more delicate your face, the narrower you want the brim to be, so go with something like a riding hat. Crown height is a matter of body proportion. The more body you have, either mass or height, the higher a crown you can wear.” Linda picks up the teapot and pours more of the steaming brew into her china cup. “When it comes to women’s perching hats, there is a whole ‘nother set of rules. The key to making a perching hat look proportional is your hairstyle. You want to treat them more like hair accessories (bows, barrettes, etc.) than hats. Don’t slick your hair back in a bun or ponytail with these hats. Style your hair so there is body to it around the hat. You can tease for body or add curlicues or dreadlocks. Just give the hat something to sit IN rather than ON.”

“Since you work with a variety of items, how does designing different types – hats, carpet bags and clothing – differ?  Which do you like the best?”

“Well, hats are designed strictly with the beauty of the item in mind. Carpet bags are designed for functionality and style, while clothing involves a lot more. You have to combine beauty, style, functionality and comfort to make it all work on a particular person. As for which I like doing best, whichever one I’m working on at the time.” Linda takes a dainty sip of tea.

“Speaking of hats, I noticed in your Steam pup section, you design Steampunk hats and clothing for dogs. What is that like?”

Yoko In Her Hat

“Yes, I do, though there’s not a huge call for it. I do frock coats, tailcoats, bodices, ruffle bustles and hats for dogs. It can be highly challenging to get the fit right. Those little buggers wiggle whenever you try to measure them.”

“When you mentioned wiggling buggers, thoughts of children came to mind. I know you design for children as well. What do you like the most or find the most difficult in designing Victorian based outfits for children?” I reach up to adjust my pit helmet which has fallen forward covering my eyes again.

“That’s easy. There are no patterns for children’s Victorian clothing (except for a couple by Burda). I have to make my own patterns from scratch. But the results are just so darn cute!” Linda leans forward to set her tea cup on the saucer on the table with a soft clink.

“Speaking of children, what of you as a child, how old were you when you first started sewing and creating your own designs?”

“When I was five-years-old, my mother gave me a toy Singer that really worked. Metal gears and everything. I started learning to stitch then. I didn’t start making my own designs until I joined the Society for Creative Anachronism in 1986 and discovered the joy of costuming. There were no patterns for Medieval and Renaissance clothing, so we had to make our own.”

Linda in the Phoenix Costume

“I see the teacups are rattling on the coffee tale. I know what that means, the airship is landing. I have time for one last question. “Of all the garments you’ve made which is your favorite?”

Linda grasps hold of the arm of the settee, bracing for the shaky landing. “Probably my Phoenix outfit. It’s beautiful, bright, and eye-catching. I always get compliments when I’m wearing it. Or maybe the little girl’s Steampunk Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Ringo Starr outfit. It turned out just right and looked so darn cute on the model.”

The airship Steamed has landed so we say our goodbyes. But you can visit Linda at Comicpalooza (Houston) May 24 – 26, Space City Con (Houston) Aug 2 – 4, Oni-Con (Galveston) Oct 25 -27, and Dickens on the Strand (Galveston) Dec 7 – 8.

Here are her calling cards: Web Site,  Esty Shop,  Facebook

Maeve Alpin is the author of four Steampunk/Romances: To Love A London Ghost, Conquistadors In Outer Space, As Timeless As Stone, and As Timeless As Magic.

Titling Steampunk

by Heather Hiestand

Where do steampunk titles come from? Figuring out steampunk novel titles seems a little trickier than the romance titles I am used to dreaming up. What is going to attract the target audience without scaring off a more general audience? How do you create an appropriate mood in just a few words?

This is how we came up with the title for Wear Black, our steampunk vampire novel. While this title was our third choice, not our first, it still makes me smile, and I hope it evokes a dark, vampire-y mood.

I came to the main storyline of Wear Black by reading Robert Louis Stevenson. Many steampunk writers have been fascinated by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and I’m no different. I wrote an opening scene about turning a royal prince into a vampire (by accident) with a potion and we were off and running with our story. Needless to say, our early efforts had the working title of Dr. Coburg and Mr. Vampire.

We loved the title, but to be honest, Dr. Coburg isn’t in our story very much, since it is set more than twenty-five years after the first vampire is created.  Also, a respected industry professional hated the title. So, we thought about our story and settled on Blood and Steam. Great title, right? It encompasses both our vampire characters (their diet, at least) and steampunk plot. But, we weren’t the only ones with that title idea. We held onto it as various “Blood and…” books started to come out, but then a couple of months before we planned our release someone used the exact title. Yes, we had a good title, too good of a title. We were frantic!

What’s a writer to do? We started pouring through the early chapters, looking for key phrases that would look cool as titles. Eventually, I came across this passage:

The thief dropped the knife and ran. Blood was smeared all along the side of the curved blade. Was it his blood?

“You shouldn’t have tried to help me,” the woman gasped. Her eyes behind her spectacles looked odd. Were they red?

His head started to swim. He put his hand to his side and felt warm liquid gushing out.

“It was Lord Fitzrobbins, correct? An Irish title?” the lawyer asked.

“Yes.” Lucas tugged at his tie. “Wear black” had been the fashion advice he had been given the day he left the hospital, the explanation being that in the first days of his new life, he would be sweating blood a great deal. It was true.

Wear Black! Not only was it short and punchy, it perfectly described the new life our hero, Lucas, will have as he fights crippling flashbacks and blood lust while trying to save England from its enemies. Our sequel –in-progress is currently titled Seven Seconds. If you read Wear Black, you will soon understand why…

Choosing our cover image was easy in comparison. Since our book includes Jack the Ripper we found a fantastic stock image with an imagined Victorian murder scene. All that was left was finding a font that reads Victorian and/or steampunkish. Not as easier as it sounds, but we are pleased with the end result.

Death did not end his service to the British Empire

Beneath Windsor Castle, a shadow network of immortals keeps the British Empire safe. Army captain Lucas Fitzrobbins becomes one of them when the cure for his mortal wound turns out to be a vampirism potion. He is abruptly inducted into the secret St. George Protector Society…and it’s not long before the Society’s newest recruit discovers it has dark mysteries as well…

Marked as a target

Hampering Lucas’s efforts to adjust to his after-life is An Tighearn operative Nellie Clifton, a beautiful and enigmatic assassin, who has marked Lucas as her latest quarry. But then…

Secrets are threatened to be revealed

A brutal killer stalks the seamy underside of London. Protectors and assassins alike must leave the shadows to find the fiend before their existence is revealed to the world. Tasked with the job of tracking down the murderer, Lucas discovers that the crazed butcher may have connections that go to the heart of the British Empire. One thing is certain:

The Queen must never know

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wear-Black-ebook/dp/B00C2VCCPQ

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/300210

https://www.omnilit.com/product-wearblack-1162852-235.html

~Heather

http://blog.heatherhiestand.com

Above is a photograph from a recent photo shoot in which my husband and I were asked to participate. There are individual shots below. First of all, I had to ask three times if the organizer was serious. I am not photogenic. I am 5 feet tall and mostly spherical. Moreover, both of us recently turned 50. We’re grandparents. Not exactly the types most artisans want modeling their wares.

Shoptroll, the gentleman who made both my skirt in the photo, the pocket belt I’m wearing, my husband’s kilt, suspenders and sporran, quickly sorted me out. “I don’t want anyone ordinary. I want you.” and so we went. I’m so glad we did. A marvelous time was had by all. And I now have maybe my favorite photo of the spouse and me since our wedding in 1985. Is it the hair and makeup by the lovely Diana of War Pony Forge? The amazing photography skills of Russ Turner ? Just the fabulous clothes? I have no idea. But here, and whenever I dress up for a steampunk event, I tell you something. I feel beautiful.

To give credit where credit is due, aside from what’s mentioned above. The green outfit I’m wearing in the lower photo is by the amazing Jessica of Ties that Bynde. The fan is vintage and the jacket is from Pyramid Company. Don’t remember where I got the hat. Above, my corset is Corset Story and my gloves and hat are from Icings. Glenn’s shirt is from RenShirts.com and his doublet is from Pendragon. Boots are Corcoran jump boots. I wish I could remember the artisan who made the goggles. Sorry!

Shoptroll, Ties that Bynde, and War Pony Forge will all be vending at Up in the Aether–the Steampunk Convention, here in southern Michigan in just a couple weeks. If you get the chance to come out, look for their amazing stuff, and stop by and say hi to me and the other authors as well. After all…if these artists can make me look good–well, they can do wonders for just about anybody.

Wild West Steampunk

by David Lee Summers

When I was a kid, my mom loved to watch westerns on TV, especially on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.  I found them boring.  I wanted to watch cartoons or Star Trek.  Then one afternoon, one of my brothers turned on the TV and changed my life forever.  At first I was dismayed.  It was another western.  But a few minutes in, I realized this was like no western I’d ever seen.  The hero, a fellow named James West, was trying to thwart the launch of a giant missile.  Of course, the show was the original Wild Wild West and I’ve loved the idea of exploring advanced technologies and things that look like magic in historical settings ever since.

As time went on and I began to write, I started setting many of my stories in the historical west or in futures that were analogous to the history of the southwest.  You see, my mom came by her love of westerns naturally.  Her grandparents had been homesteaders in Texas and New Mexico and actually lived the experience.  As I grew up and fell in love with my native southwest, I became fascinated with those stories and incorporated them in my writing.  What’s more, I learned that my historical fantasy and science fiction stories bore more than a passing resemblance to a genre called steampunk and I began to explore more.

Of course, a lot of steampunk is set in Victorian England or a similar industrialized landscape, but I think the wild west provides a wonderful backdrop for steampunk stories as well.  One thing that might seem like a problem for setting a steampunk story in the wild west is the apparent lack of technology and machinery which is important in many of the genre’s stories.  This is simply a misconception.  There may not have been many factories in the west, but there was plenty of technology.

Gold, silver, copper, and coal were among the many resources being mined in the west.  Due to factors such as limited manpower and demand from the east, new technologies were being sought to pull materials from the ground.  The mines of the west were fertile ground for inventors.  Railroads were built across the west not merely as a means of securing the nation’s “manifest destiny” but as a way to get the material that was being mined back east to the factories that needed the materials.  Railroads need machine shops to keep trains operational.  Those shops become sources of heavy machinery that characters can use.  What’s more, long stretches of desert and high mountain ranges continually provided challenges to locomotive manufacturers who had to build vehicles that could transverse such difficult terrain.

When considering advanced technology in the wild west, we can’t ignore the fact that in 1899, Nikola Tesla himself set up a lab in Colorado Springs.  Even before that, in 1894 Percival Lowell, scion of a Massachusetts textile family, built an advanced astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona to study the planet Mars and look for a planet beyond Neptune.

For some people, it’s not steampunk without the manners and culture of Victorian England.  Never fear!  There are opportunities to interject this into your wild west Steampunk story as well.  There were many immigrants from England who passed the eastern United States and immediately moved out west.  Examples include John Tunstall, the rancher who employed Billy the Kid and Oliver Henry Wallop, the 8^th Earl of Porstsmouth, who moved to Wyoming to raise horses.

What if you’re more interested in magical steampunk or horror stories?  It turns out the west provides great opportunities for that as well.  New Mexico court records from the late nineteenth century contain many accounts of people accused of witchcraft.  Navajo lore contains shapeshifters called skinwalkers who wear the animal pelts of the creatures they transform into.  For a lighter take on magic, showmen traveled to carnivals and saloons throughout the west performing acts of conjuration.

Finally, what would a story be without conflict?  Of course, it’s conflict that made the west wild.  There were conflicts between ranching, farming and mining interests.  Civil War memories created conflicts between northerners and southerners who moved west.  There were border conflicts with Mexico.  In fact, a great example of all these coming into play is the story of the Earps and the Cowboys in Tombstone, Arizona.  The Earps were northerners who supported the mining interests in Tombstone.  The Cowboys were southerners who rustled Mexican cattle and sold it to American settlers.  Now imagine a conflict like this enhanced by steampunk technology and you’d have quite a tale!

I hope this has inspired you to consider the wild west as a setting for a steampunk tale.  Even if the wild west still doesn’t appeal to you, I urge you to learn a little about the history of the place you’re from.  That’s how I got started with wild west steampunk.  You might be surprised by the steampunk possibilities that present themselves.

–David

Dawn Donati

As I stand on the  deck of the airship, I welcome Steampunk Stained Glass Artist, Dawn Donati. With an animated wave, she hikes up her stunning gold skirt then fluidly  leaps over the gap between the dock and airship.

“You’re just in time for tea.” I show her into the parlor where she eases onto the cushioned settee with the claw feet as I sink into the armchair across from her. “I can’t wait to see your unique and gorgeous Stained Glass art. So much work and thought goes into creating glass art.  Please take us thorough the process. Give us an idea of the different elements, tools, skill and creativity involved.”

The engine purrs and the china teacups on the coffee table rattle as the airship begins lift off. Speaking over the noise, Dawn answers,”Choosing the texture to provoke thought and the right color to suggest emotion is where I start. I look upon all the found objects I have collected: copper tubing, brass buttons, metal findings, industrial pieces of machines, old clocks I have taken apart, anything I can solder and apply to my stained glass as a sculpture.”

I grab the armrests of my chair as the airship gains altitude. “Your art is so beautiful but I know  glass is a difficult and challenging medium to work in. What drew you to the art of stained glass?”

Now that the tea cups cease rattling, Dawn leans toward the coffee table and lifting the blue willow tea pot, she pours a cup of steaming tea. “The translucency of glass, the fact that it is a liquid and solid all at the same time and the history of stained glass, the story it tells.” Dawn holds her teacup up and smiles. “A stained glass  window in the morning light with your cup of tea looks different at dinner time. That is what draws me to stained glass.”

“How intriguing.” I brim my teacup full and take a dainty sip. “What are the biggest challenges in working with stained glass?”

Dawn reaches her slender fingers between the plate of sliced lemons and the spouted creamer of milk to the sugar bowl. Picking up a white cube, she plunks it into her tea “The biggest challenge working in the medium of glass is heat fractures creating three dimensional sculptures, as in boxes, can pose difficult. The end result is worth it. Quite a few of my boxes have moving parts: airship propellers that spin, gears that engage and have a function. Maintaining the integrity of the found object while making it function and remain secure is a standard I strive for when creating my art.”

I take a sip of my earl grey. “And you do that so well.  Your three dimensional sculptures, your stained glass boxes, are incredible. What do you like about the box form?”

Dawn sets her cup on its saucer with a soft clink. “I like to think of my boxes as functional pieces of conversational art. Yes, some can be used as a jewelry box, however I also see them as a centerpiece on a table to spark an engaging discussion. Take the beauty and fascination of stained glass off the window and bring it into your hand.”

“How marvelous. Truly, they are not only boxes but art sculptures. They could certainly spark the premise for a story. Imagine in a fiction tale, what incredibly special object or message might they contain.” I set my cup in its saucer on the mahogany coffee table. “You must have been working with art for a long time. At what age did you realize you wanted to be an artist?”

“I have traveled all over working art fairs, helping vendors. At 14 I was gifted to see metal smithing and pottery done out in the open in the forest  at week long events.  I fell in love with the traveling artists and their craft.”

“It’s so wonderful to hear how childhood experinces at art and craft fairs helped shape you into this amazing artist.” I glance at the coffee table at the sound of rattling and clinking. “I see the teacups are shaking. I know what that means, the airship is landing. I have time for one last question. How did your first become interested in Steampunk?”

Dawn grasps hold of the arm of the settee, bracing for the shaky landing. “Along my travels, some of the vending I did was in Victorian reenactment. I am well versed in the clothing aspect.  Steampunk was a natural progression for me. What intrigues me is the inventions, the people who create them and the stories they tell. The community, the ingenuity and historical knowledge of the artists is just delightful.

I have noticed the steampunk movement is growing I see it all over in art, clothing, movies. It’s fun to see peoples interpretation of what steampunk is. Or maybe I’m just so immersed myself such a hopeless romantic for the opulence of this movement there is no saving me.

For my next endeavor, I want to bring stained glass into steampunk as a noticed art form.   How Victorian is stained glass. Take steamed powered concepts, add a splash of industrial machinery, a dash of filigree embellishment and there you have  steampunk stained glass…. well that is what my minds eye would like to see.  I am working on my kaleidoscope and a signature piece.”

“I can’t wait to see them.” But for now the airship Steamed has landed so I must way farewell to Dawn. But you can visit her anytime. Here are her calling cards: Esty Shop, Webstite,  Facebook

Maeve Alpin is the author of four Steampunk/Romances: To Love A London Ghost, Conquistadors In Outer Space, As Timeless As Stone, and As Timeless As Magic.

Today I have a very special post, an interview with James Blaylock, one of the founding fathers of Steampunk.  His new steampunk release The Aylesford Skull is available from Titan Books as both a trade paperback and as a special, signed, first edition.

The great folks at Titan have given me a copy of The Aylesford Skull for one of you!!! One lucky person will win! (see below for details.)
Suzanne: Welcome to Steamed! Can you tell us what the story of your recent release is about?

James Blaylock: That’s a tough question, because the novel is full of plot turns, and I don’t want to give too much away.  Even the jacket copy is a spoiler, to some extent.  The main character, Professor Langdon St. Ives (featured in other novels, novellas, and stories that I’ve written over the past 35 years) has semi-retired from adventuring and is a gentleman farmer, growing hops in Aylesford, Kent.  Loathsome crimes occur in the area, however, and he begins to suspect that his old nemesis, Doctor Narbondo, is up to no good.  His new, comfortable life very shortly flies to pieces, and he and a cast of characters become embroiled in personal and world-threatening conflicts involving river pirates, dirigibles, grave robbery, magically altered skulls, kidnappings, swamps, Neolithic coal, paranormal chicanery, and so forth – heaps of things that the reader has been anxiously awaiting without, perhaps, being aware of it.

S: Where did you get the ideas for this story?

JB: I do a lot of research when I’m writing Steampunk, and I find myself abruptly influenced by odds and ends of things that I discover in the moment and that I knew nothing at all about two minutes earlier.  I’m also continually influenced by the books that lie around on my desk, and that I read over and over again for the pleasure of it.  I’m a fan, for instance, of the novels and stories of Patrick O’Brian and for the short stories of James Norman Hall in the collection titled Dr. Dogbody’s Leg.  I tend to reread The Pickwick Papers and whatever volume of Sherlock Holmes stories is closest at hand.  All these books are close at hand, in fact, in the “favorite books” bookshelves over the desk.  It’s often been the case that I run across throwaway ideas in the things that I read for pleasure: a mention of this or that, or a brief bit of intriguing setting detail.  When that happens, sometimes something useful will come into my mind, which I immediately clutch with both hands and hold onto.  Also, I’m crazy about old reference books that contain fascinating information that’s long out of fashion, one of my favorites being Wonders of the Universe, a Record of Things Wonderful and Marvelous in Nature, Science and Art (which has a very convincing chapter on plesiosaur sightings).  That one piqued my interest in Japanese magic mirrors, which set off a train of strange notions in my mind, resulting in the skull lamps featured in The Aylesford Skull.

S: This is the next in a series, right? How did this series come to be?

JB: That’s a moderately long tale that goes back to 1977, when I wrote a short story titled “The Ape-box Affair” and sold it to Unearth magazine.  That was my second sale as a fledgling professional writer, and it became the first Steampunk story published in the U.S.  (Actually, K.W. Jeter and Tim Powers and I were all writing that sort of stuff in our own ways, but I lucked into print first.) I was on a Robert Louis Stevenson binge at the time and had recently read The New Arabian Nights and The Dynamiter, and it came into my mind to write a wrong-box story – several similar boxes abroad in London that get mixed up.  I was also crazy for P.G. Wodehouse, and my head was full of the sound of his prose and the voices of his goofy characters.  I had no idea at the time, but the characters I created in “The Ape-box Affair” would keep surfacing often enough in the following years that very soon they became series characters.  They’re more fully drawn now and far more active than they ever were in the past.

S: You’re one of the “founding fathers’ of Steampunk, can you tell us a little about how Steampunk came to be?

JB: K.W. Jeter, Tim Powers, and I were friends (still are) in the 1970s.  After we graduated from the university, we were young enough and idle enough to have time to hang around with each other during the day.  We were all new writers at the time.  I had published my first short story, and Tim and K.W. had sold novels.  I was enthusiastically working on an impossible novel, which I would figure out how to write several years later as The Digging Leviathan.  All of us were big on Victorian literature.  K.W., who had a degree (I seem to remember) in sociology, had read Henry Mayhew’s brilliant London Labour and the London Poor, and was regaling us with wild accounts of treasures and feral pigs in the London sewers and that sort of thing.  Tim was researching and writing the novel that would become The Drawing of the Dark, and K.W. was writing Morlock Night.  Much of our “research” went on at O’Hara’s Pub in downtown Orange, California, where I lived at the time and still do.  (I mean I live in Orange, not at O’Hara’s Pub.)  K.W. and Tim were living in a bohemian sort of neighborhood  in nearby Santa Ana, where Phil Dick was living at the time.  None of us had the idea of writing any particular sort of thing at all.  It simply seemed right and natural to set a story where the story seemed to want to be set, and all-things-Victorian were on our minds.  It was nearly a decade after “The Ape-Box Affair” and Morlock Night were published that K.W. would coin the term Steampunk, which abruptly gave shape to the whole thing.  Up until then we had no idea that these novels and stories formed any sort of science fiction subgenre.  We weren’t trying to achieve anything much beyond publishing stories and novels.  We might as easily have been writing pirate fantasies (which would come later for me, unsuccessfully, and for Powers, successfully) or vegetarian thrillers or protozoan stories like Twain’s “The Great Dark,” which I was also fond of at the time.  We might easily be Piratepunks or Vegetarianpunks or Pondwaterpunks now.

S: How have you seen Steampunk evolve from when you first started writing to now?

JB: It certainly has changed, largely by growth and the odd and interesting business of its having affected pretty much all the arts by now.  Whatever literary tastes a reader might have, he or she can find Steampunk examples of that thing in growing abundance.  As for my own writing, however, I’m doing the same thing today that I did 35 years ago when I wrote “The Ape-box Affair.”  If the writing has evolved, it has evolved in the sense that I’m a better writer now.  I bring 35 years worth of stuff to my writing that I couldn’t bring to it back then.  My ear for the language is better, I do more adequate research, I work harder to get rid of anachronism, etc.

S: Are you a plotter or a pantster? Can you tell us a little about your writing style/schedule?

JB: I’m an inveterate outliner, actually: I’m very nervous about promising a story or a novel to a publisher without having a fairly clear idea of what it will entail.  Over the years I’ve sold most of my books after showing the outlines to editors, and that was the case with The Aylesford Skull, my first novel to be published by Titan Books.  I was happy to provide evidence that I actually had a story to tell, and that Titan could safely advance money to me.  That being said, I’ve always hidden the outlines away in the drawer once I’ve finished them, and most of what develops in the novel is purely organic.  My best ideas come into my mind during the writing, when I’m not actively looking for them.  The outline abdicates once the writing starts, because if the outline is on my mind, then fresh ideas have a harder time finding their way in.  I wish I had a writing schedule, actually.  Currently I teach full time at Chapman University, and I also direct the Creative Writing Conservatory at the Orange County School of the Arts (where Tim Powers teaches poetry and novel writing).  So during the school year you can find me frantically driving around town, eating my peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunch while flying from one place to another.  I’m up at 5 a.m. and often put in 12-hour days, but there’s no time to write during most of them.  So I grab time during vacations and over the summer.  When I’m up against it, my weekends disappear into whatever I’m writing, and I take reference books and etc. along on vacations.  Like most writers, sitting down to write is a frustratingly wasted effort unless I have a several-hour block of time in a moderately quiet house – enough time to read something relevant for half an hour first to compose my mind.  The Aylesford Skull took two years to write.

S: What’s next? Can you share anything with us about any new projects (in any genre)?

JB: I’ve just turned in another Steampunk novel to Subterranean Press – a short novel that’s a companion to my two previous Sub Press productions: The Ebb Tide and The Affair of the Chalk Cliffs.  This new one is titled The Adventure of the Ring of Stones.  I’d chat about it here, but in many ways it beggars description.  I’m also working up a new novel for Titan Books, which (I’m fairly sure) will tie up a loose end in The Aylesford Skull, although the tying up is only a very small fraction of what the novel will be.  Also, a few months back I published a young adult novel titled Zeuglodon, the True Adventures of Kathleen Perkins, Cryptozoologist, and I’ve got the plot for a followup adventure in my mind.  That book really wants to be written.  In short, I’ve got too many writing projects vying for my time.

S: Anything else you want to tell everyone?

JB: Only that readers are my favorite people, and that if they read my books, I hope they enjoy them.  Also, and maybe more vitally, I read recently that a meteor is going to take out the earth in another 25 years.  It’s hurtling toward us as we speak, giving us the glad eye.  So whatever you really want to do, don’t put it off.

–Cheers, Jim Blaylock

http://jamespblaylock.com/

James Paul Blaylock  is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre. Despite his close association with Steampunk, most of his work is contemporary, realistic fantasy set in southern California, typified by books like The Last Coin, The Rainy Season, and Knights of the Cornerstone. When he’s not teaching or writing, Jim spends his time going to the beach, gardening, working on the family home in Orange, California, traveling, and building sets for local community theaters.

To win The Aylesford Skull just leave a comment below. Open internationally. Contest closes May 7, 2013 at 11:59 pm PST. 

–

Suzanne Lazear is the author of the Aether Chronicles series. INNOCENT DARKNESS is out not, CHARMED VENGEANCE releases 8-8-13. Vist www.aetherchronicles.com for more info.

The Pacific Commercial Observer 
29 April, 18–
by Ray Dean

It has come to this humble reporter’s attention that a rash of attacks perpetrated on women touring seaside locales has not given rise to widespread panic. The reason? A simple cure created by the world renowned chemist, Dr. Oh!

“I truly had no idea why such a thing was even needed,” heiress Wilhemina Chatsworth informed us as she lounged in the sitting room of her rented flat. Her feet pillowed on a richly brocaded ottoman, Miss Chatsworth made some mention of her injury. “I am able to move about on my own,” she assured me, “most likely I would have suffered a much greater injury had my most able companion not leapt to my defense.”

At such time, she did indicate the woman standing a few feet away. Dressed in a sensible day dress of woolens, the woman of indeterminate age and unremarkable looks stepped forward.

When asked for her name, the woman demurred, insisting that her actions were nothing out of the normal. That any other person, armed with Dr. Oh’s Octopodiform Deterrent, would be able to protect someone in their acquaintance from such an attack.

The atomizer, she explained, was one that contained an ample supply of the deterrent. Displaying the conveniently sized bottle, one that we are assured fits easily into a moderately sized reticule, she demonstrated how easy it was to use.

London Weekly Record
21 June, 18–

The shores of Lyme are known for their dark beauty and wild waves. Many flock to the town to experience the majesty of the ocean, but a sinister shadow now lies beneath the waves. A shadow with eight appendages has terrorized both visitors and denizens alike.

While many pressed for an increase of police at the water’s edge, the local constabulary asked that any visits to the Cobb be postponed until the danger had abated. On any given day, nearly a score of visitors could be found treading the slick stones beside the water.

One such visitor, a young woman by the name of Philomena Prentiss, was nearly dragged into the sea by the fearsome shadow.

As a few visitors raised the alarm and called for assistance, Miss Prentiss watched in horror as a second tentacle snaked out of the waves and wrapped around her wrist.

A gentleman nearby, who asked to remain nameless, gave the young woman great praise for her quick thinking and quicker hands.

“Even with the unwelcome attention of the mysterious beast, the young lady was able to loosen the strings of her purse and from its dainty confines withdraw a smart-looking bottle. One spritz and the creature rushed out to sea before the tides!”

When Miss Prentiss divulged where she had purchased the bottle of Dr. Oh’s Octopodiform Deterrent, the shopkeeper was soon sold out of the miraculous product and planning on ordering a number of cases for his stock.

ETSY listing -
http://www.etsy.com/listing/67383459/steampunk-advertisement-11-x-14-inch-art

~Ray Dean

http://raydean.net

Veronique Chevalier, aka The “Weird Val” of Dark Cabaret, is a woman of many hats. Literally, as well as figuratively. She’s an Entertainer/MC/Panelist who’s plied her trade at Steampunk & Comic Book events the width and breadth of the US. A self-proclaimed “Mad Sonictist”, she’s gained notoriety for her parodies on the theme of Steam, & she roguishly appropriates the tune-age of everyone from The Beatles to Thomas Dolby. MAD Veronique also holds the dubious distinction of originating Gothic Polka, with her recording “Polka Haunt Us: A Spook-tacular Compilation” which was an Official Selection on the 51st Annual Grammy Ballot. She shall soon be releasing a volume of steampunk haiku, with full-color illustrations by Walter Sickert; and she was also the 2012 Recipient of The Steampunk Chronicle Readers Choice Award for “Best Dressed Female Steampunk”. Visit Veronique’s Website at http://WeirdVal.com

Gearhearts Steampunk Glamour Revue
by Veronique Chevalier

Erotica, just as any other human creative endeavour, is in the eye of the beholder. Fortunately, for those of us who prefer to let the organ between our eyes fill in the blanks for us, there is Gearhearts Steampunk Glamour Revue.

Published by comic book company Antarctic Press, this quarterly photo pin-up mag features compelling images of steampunk-attired ladies (and in Issue #5, gents only). Also, featured are book, music & film reviews; interviews; illustration; and various forms of literary expression. Many of the models are contributors to the content, rather than being relegated to being merely ornamental.

Some of the noteworthy array of steampunks, who have been featured between the covers of the various issues thus far, are authors O.M. Grey, & Gail Carriger; illustrator Brian Kesinger; cosplayer/personality John F. Strangeway, aka “Steampunk Boba Fett”, and Yours Truly (pictured here, on the cover of Issue #6).

Editor Guy Brownlee and his staff are to be commended, especially Patricia Ash, who is a most adept pen-slinger, indeed.

Gearhearts Steampunk Glamour Revue is available at most comic book emporiums across North America, and may also be purchased online, directly from the publisher thus:
http://www.antarctic-press.com/html/version_01/store.php?id=Gearhearts You may also go to the main page of their online store, scroll down to where all the titles are divided up by creator, and find it under “Guy Brownlee, Tim Collier” or just search the text string “Gearhearts” on the page. They still have copies of all issues, including #1, available!

~Veronique
http://WeirdVal.com

Imagine what would happen if a comet came to close to earth in the mid 1800’s.  Astronomers saw it coming and knew it would lead to the ultimate destruction of everything in its path.  Who would the world chose to save?  And how would they save them?

Writing about a world that was changed 200 years ago was a challenge but it was also a joy to stretch my imagination.  How did people survive inside a dome?  There had to be fans to keep the air cool, but there also had to be a system in place to feed them.  Gardens were placed on rooftops to grow fruits and vegetables.  Animals lived out their lives in tiny pens.  And underground, where Wren and the “shiners” lived, they figured out a way to have power from waterwheels because having a fire in the mines is dangerous due to the buildup of methane gas.

Writing Steampunk isn’t so much about the gadgets.  It is about a world where technology stayed on one track instead of taking a turn with the invention of the light bulb.  (Imagine if Edison had not been born). It’s about people who think this is the norm, and their lives, struggles, losses and victories.  Steam is as normal to them as cars and planes and cell phones are to us.

I Prefer My Steam Punked

by Jared Axelrod

Ashe, the protagonist on my graphic novel THE BATTLE OF BLOOD & INK is young, angry and poor. She spends half the book homeless. She spends the entirety of it trying to bring down an unjust government. Like the punk musicians and journalists of the last quarter of the 20^th Century, Ashe believes in the power of violent speech to change the culture. She’s going to be heard, even if that means speaking with the volume and power of an explosion.

Ashe is a punk, or in the parlance of her world, a clouddog. She’s the rabble the upper crust dismisses, and her journey to be heard is the main thrust of the book.

Steampunk exists in a weird place. There is a lot to recommend it. The outfits are sexy, the DIY underpinning is marvelous, and the 19^th  Century itself was a time of exploration and discovery the world over. All of this makes for a fantastic fictional setting. But it also takes an overwhelming amount of inspiration from an increasingly narrow cultural conceit. The use of “Victorian” and “Edwardian” to describe steampunk is especially problematic. Not only because countries other than Great Brittan  had a 19th century, but because tying the genre to white European royalty is exclusionary on both a racial and class level. I’m sure people who refer to steampunk as “Victorian Science-Fiction,” don’t mean to exclude people, but sadly the language does it for them.

I often wonder, though, if perhaps the biggest issue is that the exclusionary element IS part of the appeal of steampunk. I’m not saying that people get into steampunk because they want to be exclusionary. But it’s easy to fall into a focus on the upper class, and allow the dress and mannerisms of a wealthy Victorian to be celebrated. Even the scientists and explorer characters fit with in this umbrella, as those were the occupations of people of privilege.

This is understandable. Who doesn’t want to be part of a ruling class, even if only for afternoon? Or in time it takes to read a novel or short story? There’s no fun in dying of cholera, either, the end result of many a 19th century rabble rouser.

But  there is so much to mine beyond wealthy Brits sipping tea and wielding rayguns. There’s one hundred years of history full of punk concepts! Things like cholera riots, gold rushes, suffrage  wars abroad and at home, and the fight for the right of entire subsets of humanity to be treated as people. The status quo was challenged often in the 19th century, and often violently, and those challenges gave us the world we live in today.

Ashe’s flying city home of Amperstam is a fantastical place, set above a fantasy world. But within it is the grit and grime of police brutality, child-labor, kidnapping, torture, assassinations and everything else that kept an Industrial-Age city alive. And she’s fighting against, the only way she knows how. By making sure she’s heard.

I got a brand-spanking new paperback copy of THE BATTLE OF BLOOD & INK. Leave a comment with your favorite punk character in steampunk fiction, and I’ll pick on at random and send you a copy!

 –Jared

http://www.fablesoftheflyingcity.com/

http://www.jaredaxelrod.com

Caitlin Kittredge writes both YA and adult books including The Iron Codex series. She is the proud owner of an English degree, two cats, a morbid imagination, a taste for black clothing, punk rock, and comic books. Visit her website at www.caitlinkittredge.com to learn more.

The Finish Line

by Caitlin Kittredge

I read a lot about starting a steampunk story—how to worldbuild, how to create compelling characters, how to mix up timelines and history to make a unique, compelling universe—but I don’t see much about endings.

The last book in my Iron Codex trilogy was released in February  and while I’m sad to have the journey end—as any writer would be—I never intended the series to be more than three books. I always had an end in mind, a destination for the journey. I don’t think that’s necessary—some of the best writers I know start with no end in sight and figure it out as they go. But I knew these characters and their world had a single story to tell, and then I’d exit gracefully.

Yet, as I drew to the end of writing The Mirrored Shard, I found myself leaving little things open. Aoife, Dean and Cal get their endings—some happy, some not so happy—and the plot that carried me for three books wrapped up, but I left more ends open than I anticipated. Was I just being wistful? Maybe. But I think it’s a sign that maybe I didn’t say quite all I had to say about the world of the Iron Codex. Maybe there’s a short story, or a novella in my future. I can’t say!

I like little openings for future stories scattered here and there in the natural arc of the story I’m actually telling. I don’t like ambiguous endings. I blame a childhood of serial stories, mostly in comic book form, that led me to be the sort of writer who has to leave a few trails of breadcrumbs here and there for alternate storylines.

I tried to strike a good balance in Mirrored Shard—all the major threads ending where I’d always intended them to. But there’s still one large element left without resolution at the end of Mirrored Shard, and that’s absolutely on purpose. In another time, with another set of characters, this could absolutely be its own series. I’ve only ended one series before the Iron Codex, and since those stories were serial, not really connected, it was very different. The heroine got her ending, the plot wrapped up, and everyone could pretty much go home happy (except the bad guys, of course.) This time, I like to think I was smarter, and left myself with another story to tell, a small door left open to sneak back into this world I’ve devoted close to half a decade to writing in, imagining, dreaming about.

Like I said, maybe I’m just wistful. I love steampunk and Victoriana, so I know I’m definitely nostalgic!  But maybe in the future I’ll get another chance to go back to the start with a new set of characters and revisit Aoife’s world, explore that last thread left loose. Loose threads, after all, beg to be pulled and they exist in all of my favorite books. Tantalizing possibilities that, once explored, can lead to brave new worlds of their own.

~Caitlin

http://www.caitlinkittredge.com/

Blending Steampunk and Paranormal Romance
by Theresa Meyers

There’s something inherently fascinating about bringing two distinctive things together to create something new. Take Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Chocolate, perfect in its own right and deserving of a food group all its own. Peanut butter, the staple of probably more than half of the school kid lunches in America on every given day. Both all on their own fantastic, but when put together, well, the angels sing.

That’s what blending steampunk and paranormal romance is for me as a writer, and it’s why I wove them both into my Legend Chronicles series. I love both as their own thing, but when merged into one story, it’s simply irresistible. It also makes my steampunk world a little different bend than most. Yes, of course there are the wonders of science, the mad genius, the spirit of adventure, but there’s also a darkly mystical side to my world. My heroes in the Legend Chronicles, three brothers named after their father’s favorite guns, are supernatural hunters in the Wild Weird West.

Winchester, Remington and Colt have been trained to hunt down and destroy the Darkin that threaten humanity. So while regular people go about their daily lives, these guys don’t bat an eye-lash when it comes to fighting down demons, slay shape-shifters, battling hell-hounds or going up against ghosts. They just do it with some fantastical steampunk help, such as Colt’s clockwork horse, Tempus, Sting Shooters (that are steampunk, Tesla-coil-powered tasers) and the specially designed Darkin-killing bullets perfected by their inventor friend Marley Turlock. They know that while ordinary people might not see the ending of the world coming, they are the first, last and only defense in making sure humanity survives.

Part of what I love about steampunk is the essence that anything was possible if you were just curious, adventurous or determined enough to make it happen. It’s accepting that we can be more, do more, than we ever thought possible by reimagining the past as it could have happened. I love the clothing, the elegance and intricacy that was part of the Gilded Age. I’ve a bit of a Victoriana nut with a strong love of tea, and I’m a maker in my own right. I sew, design, paint, and can my own home-grown fruits, veggies, sauces and soups, when I’m not out tackling my herb garden. For me steampunk is like the peanut butter. It’s gritty, it’s brown, it’s got a specific flavor you won’t find anywhere else and you know it when you taste it.

With paranormal romance, I’m just as fascinated by the things we can’t see that still influence us. Most of my writing tends to take a paranormal path, likely because when I was little my mother did things like pretend we had elves in the tree stump in the back yard. They even talked under my window one night—which I later found out in my 20s was due to a tape-recorder. She made my brother and I believe in the magic all around us and I still have that rose-colored tint to how I look at the world today. But if there’s one thing about the paranormal I’ve learned, it’s that there’s balance. Dark must have light to survive and vice versa. And with paranormal romance, the ending is always sweetly satisfying. You know the good guys win and that love can conquer all. Paranormal romance is like chocolate. It’s dark, it’s varied, the subtle changes and flavors are nearly endless and when done right it can be an experience you can’t get enough of.

So when it comes to blending steampunk and paranormal romance, it’s not just about the fantastic inventions or goggles, nor is it about the balancing act between the dark and light forces of the paranormal world and the power of love. It’s a bit of both, blended together to create a flavor of fiction that’s something familiar but also completely different. That’s what I’ve tried to accomplish in my Legend Chronicles series, but you may have to taste it yourself to find out.

In the comments, tell me what your favorite elements of paranormal romance and steampunk are for a chance to win a copy of THE CHOSEN, the third book in the Legend Chronicles series.

~Theresa
www.twitter.com/Theresa_Meyers
www.theresameyers.com