Festive airship story!

So, I was on a break from slavishly working, Bob Cratchit style, on Christmas Eve, and I glanced through an issue of Smithsonian magazine that someone had left in the break room. They had an article about the Graf Zeppelin on Christmas. One of her regular missions was to transport Tannenbaums and Frohliche Weinachten to ze Germans who had settled in south America. It took the airship only four days to cross the Atlantic, and letters sent on her bore a special, and adorable, stamp.

It's a Christmas tree with a dirigible flying behind it! >D

If I had an airship, I would have a Christmas tree in the ballroom (yes it would have a ballroom).

New Abney Park Album!

After long weeks of waiting, I finally received "Aether Shanties" the new Anbey Park CD in the mail (It's the first album of theirs that I actually got the physical CD for). It's quite good. Not as industrial or tribal sounding as some of their other stuff, but all the tracks definitely sound like them.

There is a steampunky version of the traditional pirate song "The Derelict", with all the verses in their gruesome glory, and they wrote their own pirate song too, "Aether Shanties". It's definitely my favorite song on the album. They have another pirate song, "Ballad of Captain Robert", that is on Youtube from an acoustic set at a convention, and I think they should put it on a CD in the near future.

There is even a Steampunk anthem! That's right! It's called "Throw Them Overboard", and it pretty much sums it up. Any anthem that say "newfangled" is all right in my book, dang-nabbit!

One thing that came as a nice surprise were a couple of 1920's sort of jazzy numbers. When I heard them, the first thing I thought of was a sort of Bertie Woosterish character in a garish club full of aeronauts, but that is probably because I have just begun reading all the P.G. Wodehouse I can get my hands on. It makes me want to write a story I have had in my head for a while...

Steampunk Art and Hats and Things

I started a DeviantArt page, where I'm putting all my steampunk creations. So far I have some hats, and a couple of other things. I'm working on a drawing, and I'll put up other things from time to time. I also take commissions, so if anyone needs an elegant top hat, just let me know.

Baby's First Steampunk

Last night - yesterday morning actually (it's tomorrow again, if you know what I mean) - I made my first AMV. It combines a cartoon and and song that just need to go together - Abney Park's "Airship Pirate", and Disney's "Talespin", and it stars the airship pirate, Don Karnage

Talespin is one my favorite shows, and has been ever since it was on the Disney Afternoon, which may be the greatest block of TV programming in the history of the medium. But it is more than that. It is also Baby's First Steampunk. One might argue that that coveted title should go to Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, given its sympathetic portrayal of steam-powered machines versus diesel and electric shovels, but we should probably not overanalyze these things. Also, while the story does center around steam power, it takes place in a contemporary setting and is not really speculative. No, Talespin is clearly the steampunk of choice for developing minds (as I replayed the first four episodes over and over narrowing down my selection of clips, I realized just how fully my subconscious mind is steeped in this show)

Now, I don't think the mere presence of airships makes something steampunk, and I'll examine this in more detail later. But the sense of adventure, and the overall look and feel, while a bit late - 1930s, probably - has a lot of steampunkness, especially the pirates. Don Karnage's airship, the Iron Vulture, is particularly interesting. If you look at it, it's not really a lighter-than-air ship. It has large gas envelopes on the sides, but it only lifts off when it uses the rows of upward-pointing propellers along the sides. Why is this significant? It's like the design of Captain Robur's airship in Jules Verne's "Robur the Conqueror", which was made into the movie "Master of the World" starring Vincent Price. Aside from that, look at the control room:

It has a certain flare. It reminds me of the Nautilus, and there are lovely giant pipes and gauges everywhere. If you watch the early episodes (I don't know if they continue later in the series), it doesn't make the usual low, droning hum we usually hear from airship engines. Instead it makes a steamy chugging noise like a train. That's just cool and it goes to show the amount of thought and research Disney used to put into their cartoons (do they even make half-hour cartoons now?)

The engines on the back even look like the boilers from locomotives, complete with smokestacks and steam domes. In fact, Talespin does what so many things we call steampunk don't bother with, and gives a nod to the way steam machines actually work. (more on that later too).

And of course, one look at the pirates themselves, with their googles, shabby top hats, vests, and variety of weapons, and it's pretty clear that they are very steampunk pirates indeed.

NANOWRIMO is here again!!!

It's been, well, several months since I last posted, and here we are in November again. I need to get writing! Ack. I'm stuck, but I'm determined. Like this:

I promise I'll write a real post this week!

NANOWRIMO words finished right on schedule...

... My schedule, that is.

I predicted it would take six months, rather than just the one for me to write fifty thousand words, and here we are. As of right now, I have 50596 words, most of which make sense and sound good, or about 99 pages. My book will end up being not quite 300 pages, as near as I can tell. Here is how I feel right now:

Steampunk Easter Eggs

Happy fifth Monday of Easter, gentle reader(s)! I love that liturgical seasons last so much longer than the one day - it makes my occasional holiday posts almost seem timely. . .

But enough about that. This Easter, I decided to do steampunk themed eggs. Then I took pictures of them. You might say I got carried away. I also made a cute chubby bumble bee, but I ate it. So, without further ado...

“Why are airships always white?” Drystan mused.

“Come again?” said Will, looking up at the ship too.

“They’re always painted the same whitish-silver. I’ve never seen one that was another color.”

“What color would you paint it?” Will asked.

“Saffron,” came the immediate response. Will raised his eyebrow so Drystan continued. “An airship made of saffron silk would look exquisite against the sky. And at sunset. . ." he waved his arms rhapsodically. “Think of it! I’ve always thought airships should be the color of saffron.”

Will smiled. Drystan probably had always thought that, for who knew how long. That was the kind of thing he thought about.

“But on a cloudy day,” Will said, “wouldn’t it look sort of bilious?” He continued along the walkway, leaving Drystan lapsed into a rare thoughtful silence.

It turns out it looks rather good in the clouds, although if it were completely overcast, it would indeed look bilious. Of course another type of airship that looks rather striking is a pirate ship. Dun dun DUUUUUUUN!!!

By the way, the above conversation is from a story I'm working on, with a situation very much like this, except the airships aren't quite as adorable, and the saffron-colored one is, sadly, white. Read on for two more steampunk Easter egg adventures.