Steampunk
Moderator: I'm Murrin
- peter
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Steampunk
Hadn't really realised how much I like this genre untill doing a bit of background research as a result of reading Anno Frankenstein. A lot of the early [well the victorian revival of the 70's and 80's] novels were ones I read and loved from my college days [eg Blaylocks Homunculus and Jeter's Infernal devices] and unbeknowns to me stirred the pot that eventually cooked into a full-blown sub-genre of it's own.
In my perusal of the '10 best' lists on the internet I discovered I had read a good few of the book titles mentioned and seen virtually all of the films on the lists. There's just something about all those mad people with their multiple-lensed glasses, leather and steel driven machines hissing all around with cogs a'whirring, that gets to me.
Any other fans who feel the need to effect the stance of a Victorian dandy and take on a bemonacled nut-job building a steam driven doomsday machine please step forward with sugesstions for therapy.
In my perusal of the '10 best' lists on the internet I discovered I had read a good few of the book titles mentioned and seen virtually all of the films on the lists. There's just something about all those mad people with their multiple-lensed glasses, leather and steel driven machines hissing all around with cogs a'whirring, that gets to me.
Any other fans who feel the need to effect the stance of a Victorian dandy and take on a bemonacled nut-job building a steam driven doomsday machine please step forward with sugesstions for therapy.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
We are the Bloodguard
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
We are the Bloodguard
- ussusimiel
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'Fraid not really my cup of tea, peter. I recently read The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, and was thoroughly unimpressed. I am not much of a fan of retro or alternative histories in any case and this one with all its swashbuckling and swooning ladies left me fairly cold. Not sure why, something to do with the sense of innocence of science and excitement of discovery that I envy, but can't get into because of what we now know. I think the thought of adults invested in a childlike purity of adventure in the pursuit of knowledge without any awareness of the consequences troubles me some level. It reminds me that knowledge is not wisdom, which leaves me depressed with our current circumstances.
I prefer alien invasions and spaces battles!
u.
I prefer alien invasions and spaces battles!
u.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
- Vraith
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I liked it a lot in visual media for a while...some little of the lit....But I'm pretty bored with it now.
It's old, narrow, and over-exposed now.
[[though there are some people making some really freaking cool devices in the mode for interior design and a few other things.]]
It's old, narrow, and over-exposed now.
[[though there are some people making some really freaking cool devices in the mode for interior design and a few other things.]]
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
- Fist and Faith
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- I'm Murrin
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I'll read anything as long as it's good, but I think the only Steampunk novel I've read is Cherie Priest's Boneshaker, which is steampunk-plus-zombies in a world where the US civil war has been going on for over a decade (that particular book doesn't go into the war itself, but she's done a bunch of novels in that setting).
Other than that, I've only read a few short stories, which I think were all by writers who don't normally write Steampunk.
(Apparently this tablet's dictionary includes the word Steampunk.)
Other than that, I've only read a few short stories, which I think were all by writers who don't normally write Steampunk.
(Apparently this tablet's dictionary includes the word Steampunk.)
- aliantha
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Not sure whether you'd call China Mieville's Perdido Street Station steampunk, although it has some steampunk-like elements (along with your bug/human sex...).
I read an indie novel recently that was kind of alternative history, kind of steampunk, kind of mystery. Kind of a jumble, in other words. The plot involved some acquaintance of Edgar Allan Poe's investigating his death -- well, murder, according to this book. It was only okay. The author was going for Victorian-style prose and missed the boat in several instances.
I read an indie novel recently that was kind of alternative history, kind of steampunk, kind of mystery. Kind of a jumble, in other words. The plot involved some acquaintance of Edgar Allan Poe's investigating his death -- well, murder, according to this book. It was only okay. The author was going for Victorian-style prose and missed the boat in several instances.
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- I'm Murrin
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- aliantha
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Not a bad description, Murrin!
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- [Syl]
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I can't stand steampunk. I love Gibson and Sterling, and I couldn't bring myself to read more than 100 pages of The Difference Engine. I mostly enjoyed Bioshock: Infinite (Xbox 360), but only because there were enough fantasy elements holding the shaky (but interesting) premise together.
Not a big fan of the Bas-Lag stuff, either. I kind of liked The Scar, though it was tough for me to finish and I don't remember a damn thing about it.
Not a big fan of the Bas-Lag stuff, either. I kind of liked The Scar, though it was tough for me to finish and I don't remember a damn thing about it.
"It is not the literal past that rules us, save, possibly, in a biological sense. It is images of the past. Each new historical era mirrors itself in the picture and active mythology of its past or of a past borrowed from other cultures. It tests its sense of identity, of regress or new achievement against that past.”
-George Steiner
-George Steiner
- Hashi Lebwohl
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- peter
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Nice one Hasi!
I'm a pretty 'visual' individual in that [while capable of opperating at deeper levels if pushed] I can take pleasure from things that are little more than exiting or beautiful to look at. It's not all that different with reading at the end of the day where simple 'rollercoaster ride' stuff will do it along with well painted mental imigary. This is probably why it works for me.
I don't know if there is any 'deeper message' in the steam-punk movement - I'd need to look into it deeper to find that out, but if not then thats ok too [a case of 'art for arts sake']. Sometimes simple escapism is enough on it's own.
I'm a pretty 'visual' individual in that [while capable of opperating at deeper levels if pushed] I can take pleasure from things that are little more than exiting or beautiful to look at. It's not all that different with reading at the end of the day where simple 'rollercoaster ride' stuff will do it along with well painted mental imigary. This is probably why it works for me.
I don't know if there is any 'deeper message' in the steam-punk movement - I'd need to look into it deeper to find that out, but if not then thats ok too [a case of 'art for arts sake']. Sometimes simple escapism is enough on it's own.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
We are the Bloodguard
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
We are the Bloodguard
- ussusimiel
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- Hashi Lebwohl
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As far as I know there is no deeper meaning Steampunk is trying to convey, just a love of tweed, corsets, top hats, pince-nez, and brass. I suppose you could call reimagining characters who are not from the late 19th Century as being in that era a "deeper" message, at least as far as examining enduring cultural myths.
Now....when Steampunk intersects with Fallout there should be some interesting cosplay. Steampunk Pip-Boy? Would that even be possible? Steampunk Enclave or Brotherhood of Steel power armor? Either set already looks a little retro, anyway, but that is just because so much of Fallout has a 1950s influence.
I enjoy seeing steampunk when it is done well but I am not into that lifestyle, myself. A well-made cosplay outfit takes a dedicated person many hours to get it just right.
Now....when Steampunk intersects with Fallout there should be some interesting cosplay. Steampunk Pip-Boy? Would that even be possible? Steampunk Enclave or Brotherhood of Steel power armor? Either set already looks a little retro, anyway, but that is just because so much of Fallout has a 1950s influence.
I enjoy seeing steampunk when it is done well but I am not into that lifestyle, myself. A well-made cosplay outfit takes a dedicated person many hours to get it just right.
The Tank is gone and now so am I.
- ussusimiel
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I've had a look around to see what, if any, the story is with Steampunk.
u.
Most of the literary Steampunk inventions don’t solve problems–they make problems. They use wildly complicated, fallible, earth-annihilating devices to cover potholes, not solve anything. The romanticized airships are still filled with volatile hydrogen, bursting into flames at a moment’s notice. It’s appropriate that airships are one of the most iconic representations of steampunk. They work beautifully until something goes wrong. Something always goes wrong, and the results are invariably catastrophic. [link]
So, something in there about the dangers of technology, societal unrest and imperfect political systems (and dressing up in snazzy costumes! )It’s no coincidence that Steampunk often takes place in dense, metropolitan areas. Cities are the perfect staging ground to demonstrate societal unrest and the shortcomings of a political system. Steampunk is the tool of the rebel and the fascist alike, its only morals tied to the whim of its users who are interested in death, no matter what side of the conflict they stand on. Just because Steampunk is beautiful does not mean it heals the souls of its inventors. [link]
u.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
- Hashi Lebwohl
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- peter
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What's 'Fallout' Hashi?
Thanks for the links U. - I'll go and have a browse at those. In the meantime, last night I continued reading TOT and got well into the Brathairealm section and it occured to me - Kasreyn of the Gyre is steampunk! The Occulus and all, his use of many lensed contrivences, his 'cabinet of curisoities' styled 'lucubrium'. Pure steam punk I tell you!
[Actually - something else occured to me while reading this section, but more of that elsewhere.]
Thanks for the links U. - I'll go and have a browse at those. In the meantime, last night I continued reading TOT and got well into the Brathairealm section and it occured to me - Kasreyn of the Gyre is steampunk! The Occulus and all, his use of many lensed contrivences, his 'cabinet of curisoities' styled 'lucubrium'. Pure steam punk I tell you!
[Actually - something else occured to me while reading this section, but more of that elsewhere.]
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
We are the Bloodguard
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
We are the Bloodguard
- Hashi Lebwohl
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You surprised me with this question. I didn't think I would run into anyone who didn't know what Fallout was.peter wrote:What's 'Fallout' Hashi?
Here is the Fallout wiki so you can stick your toe in the water. In short, Fallout is a post-apocalyptic wasteland video RPG. The atomic bombs fell on 23 Oct 2077, changing the face of the planet forever.
The Tank is gone and now so am I.
- peter
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Ahh 'Fallout'. As in the RPG. I was thinking in terms of a 'genre' that had slipped by me un-noticed! Yes - this is a game I need to play at some point.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
We are the Bloodguard
....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'
We are the Bloodguard
- aTOMiC
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The only Steampunk example I can think of that I have ever really appreciated is what is arguably one of its sources, the 60s television series The Wild, Wild West. Of course I was a fan of the series in syndication in the mid 70s as a kid. Steampunk as a genre today is sometimes difficult for me to enjoy.
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
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Funny, the only steampunk I don't like is Wild W Wild West.
Dandelion don't tell no lies
Dandelion will make you wise
Tell me if she laughs or cries
Blow away dandelion
I'm afraid there's no denying
I'm just a dandelion
a fate I don't deserve.
High priest of THOOOTP
*
* This post carries Jay's seal of approval
Dandelion will make you wise
Tell me if she laughs or cries
Blow away dandelion
I'm afraid there's no denying
I'm just a dandelion
a fate I don't deserve.
High priest of THOOOTP
*
* This post carries Jay's seal of approval