I Finish A SteamPunk Novel (Tolstoy And Wonderful, Groznium Powered Robots)

Thursday, September 2Nd, 4:18 P.M.
Mood: Tired, Slightly Disenchanted
Music: Accelerate, by REM



I finished Android Karenina today. It was produced by Quirk Books, which also produced Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, to great reception amongst obscure literary circles. Ben H. Winters, the mash up author of this work, did a stunning job of converting Tolstoy's descriptions of early Russia into a bustling SteamPunk paradise.



Gone are the starchy upper class people wandering about with parasols. Gone are the coal fired trains, the domestic servants, and the villainous Tsar Alexi Alexandrovich. In their place are the by far more awesome hovering "grav" trains, companion robots designed to mimic their masters, and in place of the book's corrupted Alexi, we now enjoy the despicable mannerisms of "THE FACE".

"THE FACE" is, in fact, a mechanical face grafted onto Alexi's. So that rather than being corrupted by the inner turmoil of early Russian politics, he is corrupted by a mechanical oculus bearing face that speaks into his mind.

There are also aliens, trips to the moon, androids, artificial limbs, and more robots than one could count. The book was excellent, I thought it extremely good. Why not read it for yourself?

Steampunk Shopping

Wednesday, September 1St, 4:13 P.M.
Mood: Happy, Whimsical
Music: The Ghost Inside, by The Broken Bells



I like SteamPunk, this much is clear. So when I want to buy a new oculus, monocle, cane, etc. I really have to look. I have found a few good sources though. Etsy is FANTASTIC as far as SteamShopping (to coin the phrase) goes. I found a few sellers that produce amazing works of art that are not only ornamental but functional.









Oldjunkyardbotique on Etsy is great for wearable items for a decently low price, you can view their page here. The picture at right is of their "Tesla Goggles" and it is going for $35.00 nicely priced and good looking, as well as functional, perfect for that lightning experiment I had in mind.











The other seller I found is SteamPunkDesign. You can see their page here. The marvoulus pieces that this craftsman creates are incredible. These are NOT things to wear during your experiments. No, these are the things that the classic SteamPunk denizen wears to costume balls and keep in velvet lined cases in safes when not in use. These items sell for hundreds of dollars and are created from the finest brass and leather. The picture at left is a pair of their dual oculars, selling for $160.00.





Those are my sources for SteamPunk atire, be it goggles, gas masks, monocles or teaflasks. And thus finishes my Steam Culture post for today.

SteamPunk Alphabet, An Apology, and an Excuse

Tuesday, June 1St, 10:06 A.M.
Mood: Slightly Sick (A Cold)
Music: Panic, Shear Bloody Panic, by Hans Zimmer

I have not posted in nearly three weeks. As you have probably guessed by now there where a few possible explanations for this. For example, I could have been incredibly negligent, I could have gone missing, my computer could have broken, or I could have died. Fortunately enough it was none of the above. I was on a cryptozoologic expedition to the coast. I was hoping to be lucky enough to have spotted the serpent that supposedly inhabits the bay of the area I visited, but I had no such luck. It was a wonderful respite from the stressful routines of everyday life, though. Most of the days I was there it rained, so I was able to walk along the beach in the fog, spotting scope in hand, in hopes of spotting the mysterious cryptid. I was then able to go into town to relax in the evening, sampling the cuisine of the local restaurants before retiring to my beach house. All in all, a successful exploit.

Apologies aside, that bring us up to today's post.



The SteamPunk Alphabet. By: The Raven King



A- Airship
B- Bolt
C- Chains
D- Dreadnought
E- Elements
F- Fire
G- Gears
H- Helium
I- Ingenious
J- Jacket
K- Kaleidoscope (Eye Piece)
L- Light Bulbs
M- Master Switch
N- Navigator
O- Operation
P- Patachute
Q- Questions
R- Rotors
S- Steam
T- Technology
U- Uranium
V- Victorian
W- Weld
X- Xray
Z- Zirconium


That's it for today. Don't worry though, I'm not about to leave on another trip anytime soon.

My Top Ten

Monday, April 3Rd, 10:03 A.M.
Mood: Reflective
Music: Blue Orchid, by The White Stripes



For your viewing pleasure, I present my top ten of just about everything.
**********************************************************************
Lets Get Started, Shall We?
**********************************************************************************
Books
******

1. The Book Thief
2. Skulduggery Pleasant, The Faceless Ones
3. The Inheritance Cycle
4. Air Man
5. The Lord of The Rings
6. The Tunnels Series
7. The Chronicles of Narnia
8. Artemis Fowl
9. The Hunger Games
10. Dracula

Movies

*******

1. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2. SteamBoy
3. Sherlock Holmes
4. The Corpse Bride
5. Alice in Wonderland
6. The Nightmare Before Christmas
7. 9
8. I, Robot
9. Coraline
10. Gladiator

People
*******
1. Nikola Tesla
2. Albert Einstein
3. Tim Burton
4. Danny Elfman
5. Edgar Allan Poe
6. Ray Bradbury
7. John Keats
8. Uthire Pendragon
9. J.R.R Tolkien
10. Chris Marten

Music
******
1.Coldplay
2. U2
3.Dido
4. Phoenix
5. The Broken Bells
6. The White Stripes
7. Oingo Boingo
8. John Lennon
9. Danny Elfman
10. Pink Floyd

Characters
************

1. Saphira
2. Aragorn
3. Skulduggery Pleasant
4. Gandalf
5. Tanith Low
6. Edgar
7. Drake (from Tunnels, Deeper, and Free Fall)
8. Data
9. Edward Steam
10. Barnaby Grimes

Creatures
********************

1. Dragons
2. Sea Monsters
3. Black Tigers
4. Spotted Lions
5. Flying Snakes
6. Wyrms
7. Giant Lizards
8. Lake Monsters
9. MothMan
10. Previously Extinct Organisms

Things
*******
1. SteamPunk
2. Magic
3. Dragons
4. Poetry
5. Gloom
6. Science
7. Music
8. Cryptozoology
9. Mysteries
10. Airships