 Fantasy: October 16, 2019 Issue [#9814] |
This week: Powered by Mechanical Means Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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"To invent you need a good imagination, and a pile of junk."
- Thomas Edison
Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Fantasy Newsletter. I am honored today to be your host in the exploration.
“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
Lord Kelvin, British mathematician and physicist 1895 |
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Greetings, fellow inventors of tales and verse fantastic. Today I would like to explore fantastic tales in prose and verse 'crafted' of fantasy, science real and imagined, mystery, history, adventure. Steampunk is defining itself (over the past few decades} from classic steampunk mysteries of the past (Jules Verne's, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes) to mysteries penned today by authors, like Michael Coorlim in his Bartleby and James detective stories (where the pair make reference to knowing 'Holmes' as an older gent, retired), which are set in Edwardian England. Each of these above are puzzled by - and solved by - means of devices mechanical, steam powered and some intriguingl clockworks.
The classic (alternate Victorian era of steam, clockworks, airships) tales most often incorporate real science of the times with science fiction and fantasy. The classics usually take place in the underside of society, with intrepid craftspersons, tinkers, airship pilots and mechanics building tales that the reader can envision as past possibilities.
Classic steampunk tales, like present-day urban fantasies, take place in the underside of urban society of the time; they're gritty and fast paced, built of fantasy, science, history and adventure.
Some common tools used to build the classic steampunk fantasy =
 Airships - hot air balloon powered by steam. Boilers add weight, making liftoffs (and landings) in narrow city streets often a challenge. If not airships, or in addition to, steam-powered carriages (rather than horse-drawn).
 Clockworks - mechanical robots with wind-up keys, machines, dolls, pets that run on metal gears with interlocking teeth (like the inner workings of a clock) - if you can imagine it, you can build it.
 Tinkers - the craftspersons who create and tend both the steam and clockwork powered works. The tinker may ve a scientist, a mechanic, an artist, sculptor, sailor, or someone who just enjoys crafting things. They may work in their watch shop, attic, factory, or basement laboratory.
As you can see from the above, steampunk doesn’t always involve steam power. Everything can instead be run by clockwork. Instead of steam puffing robots, robots with wind-up keys or gears that look like the innards of a clock. Limbs, joints, that work by virtue of interlocking gears (picture metal tendon and bone setup in the knee).
Steampunk of the classic (Victorian era) variety uses both steam power and clockworks. Like in other forms, I believe that 'hard' steampunk focuses on the science, the how of it; and 'soft' steampunk more on the story, the why of it. I see Jules Verne, as a master tinker
Classic steampunk is distinct from classic fantasy or science fiction, as it requires knowledge of the period for the story's foundation. Not just the clothing, décor and language, but social classes, ideas, etiquette. Then, knowing the background, we take poetic license with some of the details while holding the integrity. Read Jules Verne, read tales of Sherlock Holmes, for some great leads into the era. Fun reading
The language of the times can be fresh while being true to the time. Using archaic terms today would take the reader out of the story, if only by making said reader have to stop and look up terms. Rather, use today's language, but avoid terms that didn't exist during the Victorian age. For example, you would wind a clock, a timepiece, not set a digital watch. Your character would say, good morning, not how ya' doin'. So we don't want to mimic the language itself, but want to use terms that existed at the time. So, write the story, then confirm the possibilities and remove the improbables for a fun, creative Steampunk story or poem
For convenience, here's a link I found online with an alphabetical list of words that can help make the story real ~ I had to copy and paste - but it works
https://www.wordnik.com/lists/steampunk
Write On
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading |
Peruse the following tales built of steam and clockworks; enter each author's otherworld of history and fantastical possibility. Let them know, if you will, how you've enjoyed the journey (with a review perchance
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#2017759 by Not Available. |
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#2134346 by Not Available. |
| |  | Wheels of Progress (18+)
WeirdWest/Steampunk short story about what happens when progress comes at people's expense
#2108804 by KenF  |
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#1791596 by Not Available. |
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#2092527 by Not Available. |
| | | Red Tide (ASR)
Submariners in a post apocalyptic Victorian era take port in an abandoned facility.
#1284136 by EvilEgg |
Now, try your hand at tinkering ~ you know you want to
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I hope you've enjoyed our exploration of classic steampunk. May your stories and verse run as smooth as a steam powered clockwork computer ~ why not  
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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