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 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.

Here There Be Dragons

Tuesday, April 27, 10 :27 A.M.
Mood: Focused
Music: Seven Nation Army, by The White Stripes

Truly one can say that there is not a more pure symbol of power and magic than the dragon. Dragons have been revered for centuries as guardians and protectors in eastern culture, whereas western dragons tend to be viewed as evil creatures.

The existence of dragons remains questionable, however with the evidence provided by archeology we have discovered that nearly every culture had a dragon like god or symbol. All of these examples carry similar structures and themes, which leads one to wonder about the existence of these mysterious creatures.

Even today, there have been many sightings in lakes around the world of beings that could be described as dragons, or at least "dracopormorphic" animals.

Many locations around the world are traditional held by the people who live there as the home of dragons. For instance, the Reuss River, in Switzerland (pictured here) is held to be the home of "a massive sky serpent" that flew from a nearby lake into the upper part of the river in the early 16th century.

Loch Ness, the most famous site of dragon sitings in the world had it's earliest recorded siting in the 15th century. So these mystical beings have either reproduced by now or have incredibly long life spans, as we are taught by tales of dragons that have been passed on.

I often wonder if they do exist. Perhaps increasing pressure from human expansion and construction has forced them from their natural habitats and this can account for the increased number of sightings in recent years.


One can hope that these beautiful and mysterious creatures can continue living in a changing world as a last hope, a last glimmer of magic in a dimming time.