Gibson in the News

His blog has gone quiet, which is always a good sign! Most likely taking a much needed little vacation, but he usually blogs while “in between” — perhaps Lady Muse have visited him! Anyway, he’s now all doctored up — honorary degree conferred! I like one of the headlines, “Now he’s the Doctor of Cyberspace!” Plus some steampunk musings at an LA Times’ Blog. Huh, I thought the VanderMeers’ Steampunk anthology was out already, pretty sure it’s on my shelf at home having just scored it? I could be wrong, big bag of books from a trip into SF last week! Maybe that was the post-cyberpunk anthology?

Rayguns and Steampunk

What with the gift giving season fast approaching, I thought it prudent to mention this delicious site I just found via my Google Alerts: Dr Grordbort’s Infallible Aether Oscillators and Other Marvelous Contraptions! Just what everyone wants I know — a $700 raygun! Wow! (And yes, the category should have scare quotes around “toys.”) From that site, I was then led to a steampunk site: Brass Goggles. What’s my Google Alert alerting me to you ask?

Continue reading

The Age of Steampunk

Found via BoingBoing, an article in The Boston Globe with a gallery of steampunk objects. An interesting observation is part of the article wherein it talks about the preservation of objects, taking modern day appliances and rendering them as steampunk items to increase the desire to save them, to make them museum pieces. Interesting. I have often noted to anyone that will listen that nobody will wait hours in a line to see a hundred-year-old Web site (ok ok, who knows, that’ll be in about 85 years?) — but people often wait in long, long lines to view texts like James Joyce’s Ulysses on Bloomsday. I got to see Ben Franklin’s folio of his hand written Autobiography at the Huntington last year….

A Fistful of Steampunk!

Interesting site, A Fistful of Games, has a write-up of playing a steampunk board game, or a modified rule set of another game to encompass steampunk elements. Or something. OK. I didn’t really read it all the  way through, but I intend to. So I’m bloggin it here to remind me!

Anywho — we’ve really enjoyed playing the full-fledged WoW boardgame, though I don’t recall ever really finishing a game. We just don’t have the full weekend to play like we did in our youth with D&D. But I like the “quick” start up time of these very advanced and complicated board games and am facinated by them. Not sure my kids are up for playing them, but in a few more years, perhaps, perhaps.