Some things just aren't practical on an airship.
If you mapped out my psychology,
it would look like archeology.
When I look back through my journal it doesn't tell me when I "discovered" steampunk. The first mention of it in the tags is dated the 13th of May, 2008. Nine days later I posted a snippet of silly bandom fic that would have fit into the steampunk genre if I'd ever completed it. From there it's all research and discussion and recs and talk of a novel I may very well one day finish writing with theemdash. (I'm being the slow one. I'm stubborn about Ideas.) To put things bluntly, steampunk ate my soul. And that's where the wind up begins.
Crick.
Steampunk, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term, is a literary and musical genre-as well as a quickly growing subculture-that concerns itself with alternate histories set between the Victorian Era and WWI. In steampunk there's certainly contraptions and brass and clock work gears. There's also gaslight and fog and the smog of the Industrial revolution. But there are other things layered over the coal dust on the goggles, as it were. Steampunk, for me anyway, is about optimism and hope and possibility above all else. It's a spirit of adventure that my life so sorely needed. Still needs. It makes me want to be a better person; a snappier, braver, more intelligent, more self-reliant person.
Crack.
There's a band called Abney Park. They were my first introduction to steampunk music and the idea of 'playing the part' until it became your reality. Captain Robert* sat on a Dragon*Con panel with Cherie Priest**, Stephen H. Segal***, and the Davenport Sisters**** and made it clear to every one of us curious people in the room that to him, steampunk was not a fad. It had become his way of life. If we wanted it to be our way of life, we could make it happen. All it took was some tweaking in our wardrobe and our brains. (And probably a certain amount of pigheadedness, but I have that in spades.) I don't often try to become other people, but I have had to train myself over the years to be the person I am now. I've had to consciously work at being kinder, happier, stronger, and more confident. If it was just a matter of owning what I wanted to be, I could make myself more adventurous as well. He was giving me, all of us, permission. I could take those steps I've been dreading, if only I could work out how to do it.
Creak.
Steampunk, because it teaches us that anything is possible, breeds creativity. A lot of the dress up these days gets flack for the people who merely stitch some brass cogs onto jackets and think they've got it, but there is some real genius lurking about the community. You've probably heard of Jake von Slatt of The Steampunk Workshop. He and the other contributors to the site spend their time adding a bit of alternate history beauty to real world applications. Tom Sepe's steampunk motorcycle is a thing of personal joy for me. And there's always the brilliance of Les Machines de L'Ile. The inventors and artists in the steampunk community show us that things don't have to be perfect and clean and rounded off at the edges to be beautiful. We can make beauty out of anything we want if we show it a little love. To me that means that I don't have to be perfect either. I don't have to fit into an iPod shaped hole with perfect curves and straight lines. And if I don't let fear of the imperfect limit me, out of my imperfections I might create something that's amazing.
Twang.
So really, steampunk ate my soul because steampunk is my hope for my future self. It's filled up all of the cracks in me that I was afraid of polishing up and showing off. It's given me an aesthetic to work toward and a science fiction based literary genre that's based in optimism and creation rather than destruction or cynicism. I love it. I read and I research and I study. I know so much, and yet I'm still a little afraid to participate. There is so much beauty out there that I don't want to mar it with my ridiculous ramblings and my inability to draw or write songs that make sense or build fantastic machines. I don't want to dress up an empty shell, glue some cogs to my head, and be the fashionable new thing for a while. I want to be the real thing, for life. But that's the next step. That's the thing I'm working toward and winding myself up to be. Like the Tin Man, I've always had a heart of brass. I just haven't had the courage to tap into it. I've done enough reading. It's time to stick my toe in the community and see who I can let myself become.
* Captain Robert (robert_from_ap) is the singer for the band Abney Park.
** Cherie Priest (cmpriest) is the author of Boneshaker, as well as other Clockwork Century works.
*** Stephen H. Segal was the editor-in-chief for Weird Tales magazine at the time I first saw him. He is now an editor at Quirk Books.
**** The Davenport Sisters run the Clockwork Cabaret podcast. (clockwrkcabaret)
This entry was written for Topic 1: Winding Up at therealljidol.
it would look like archeology.
When I look back through my journal it doesn't tell me when I "discovered" steampunk. The first mention of it in the tags is dated the 13th of May, 2008. Nine days later I posted a snippet of silly bandom fic that would have fit into the steampunk genre if I'd ever completed it. From there it's all research and discussion and recs and talk of a novel I may very well one day finish writing with theemdash. (I'm being the slow one. I'm stubborn about Ideas.) To put things bluntly, steampunk ate my soul. And that's where the wind up begins.
Crick.
Steampunk, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term, is a literary and musical genre-as well as a quickly growing subculture-that concerns itself with alternate histories set between the Victorian Era and WWI. In steampunk there's certainly contraptions and brass and clock work gears. There's also gaslight and fog and the smog of the Industrial revolution. But there are other things layered over the coal dust on the goggles, as it were. Steampunk, for me anyway, is about optimism and hope and possibility above all else. It's a spirit of adventure that my life so sorely needed. Still needs. It makes me want to be a better person; a snappier, braver, more intelligent, more self-reliant person.
Crack.
There's a band called Abney Park. They were my first introduction to steampunk music and the idea of 'playing the part' until it became your reality. Captain Robert* sat on a Dragon*Con panel with Cherie Priest**, Stephen H. Segal***, and the Davenport Sisters**** and made it clear to every one of us curious people in the room that to him, steampunk was not a fad. It had become his way of life. If we wanted it to be our way of life, we could make it happen. All it took was some tweaking in our wardrobe and our brains. (And probably a certain amount of pigheadedness, but I have that in spades.) I don't often try to become other people, but I have had to train myself over the years to be the person I am now. I've had to consciously work at being kinder, happier, stronger, and more confident. If it was just a matter of owning what I wanted to be, I could make myself more adventurous as well. He was giving me, all of us, permission. I could take those steps I've been dreading, if only I could work out how to do it.
Creak.
Steampunk, because it teaches us that anything is possible, breeds creativity. A lot of the dress up these days gets flack for the people who merely stitch some brass cogs onto jackets and think they've got it, but there is some real genius lurking about the community. You've probably heard of Jake von Slatt of The Steampunk Workshop. He and the other contributors to the site spend their time adding a bit of alternate history beauty to real world applications. Tom Sepe's steampunk motorcycle is a thing of personal joy for me. And there's always the brilliance of Les Machines de L'Ile. The inventors and artists in the steampunk community show us that things don't have to be perfect and clean and rounded off at the edges to be beautiful. We can make beauty out of anything we want if we show it a little love. To me that means that I don't have to be perfect either. I don't have to fit into an iPod shaped hole with perfect curves and straight lines. And if I don't let fear of the imperfect limit me, out of my imperfections I might create something that's amazing.
Twang.
So really, steampunk ate my soul because steampunk is my hope for my future self. It's filled up all of the cracks in me that I was afraid of polishing up and showing off. It's given me an aesthetic to work toward and a science fiction based literary genre that's based in optimism and creation rather than destruction or cynicism. I love it. I read and I research and I study. I know so much, and yet I'm still a little afraid to participate. There is so much beauty out there that I don't want to mar it with my ridiculous ramblings and my inability to draw or write songs that make sense or build fantastic machines. I don't want to dress up an empty shell, glue some cogs to my head, and be the fashionable new thing for a while. I want to be the real thing, for life. But that's the next step. That's the thing I'm working toward and winding myself up to be. Like the Tin Man, I've always had a heart of brass. I just haven't had the courage to tap into it. I've done enough reading. It's time to stick my toe in the community and see who I can let myself become.
* Captain Robert (robert_from_ap) is the singer for the band Abney Park.
** Cherie Priest (cmpriest) is the author of Boneshaker, as well as other Clockwork Century works.
*** Stephen H. Segal was the editor-in-chief for Weird Tales magazine at the time I first saw him. He is now an editor at Quirk Books.
**** The Davenport Sisters run the Clockwork Cabaret podcast. (clockwrkcabaret)
This entry was written for Topic 1: Winding Up at therealljidol.