Steampunk.

So that thing I mentioned I might go to in the last blog post... Well, I went and it was super cool.
My library brings in guest speakers sometimes to talk about stuff. I went to a doll one once... and various ones on homeschooling.
Tonight's speaker, however, was talking about something super cool.
A little genre called "Steampunk" which some of you are familiar with.
I recently started to read Steampunk. I started with the Larklight series by Philip Reeve and went on to read the wonderful Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld (I've reviewed both series. To read my reviews go to the top of the page and turn right at 'books.' Then scroll down until you find the name of the book and click the orange link. And actually, if I were to be honest... the first Steampunk book I ever read was the Sherlock Holmes book I got at the Christian book store. That definitely had a Steampunk element in it).
Steampunk is a very unique genre. It mixes several genres together.
As I see it, Steampunk is basically an alternate history set in the Victorian era filled with steam-powered machines.
The lady had two ways of defining Steampunk. One was: Steam = All steam powered, gas lights, ect. Punk = Rebellious, edgy.
The other was.... What do you get when you mix mad scientists, top hats, gas masks ("Are you my mummy?" Let it be said here that she was using Larklight as an example), robots, detectives, clockworks, time travel, history, scary monsters, mechanical goofies, cowboys, zeppelins, romance, and aviation? You get Steampunk!

Steampunk is a relatively new genre. There were, however, precursors in the genre. They kind of laid down the foundation - thought outside of the box for their time and came up with new, fantastical ideas. These authors were H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes.
The first actual "Steampunk" authors were Tim Powers, James P. Blaylock, and K.W. Jeter. They all published Steampunkish books around the 1980's and their publishers didn't know what to classify the books as. Sci-fy? Fantasy? So, K.W. Jeter came up with the term Steampunk.
Since then, Steampunk has grown and more people have found about it and it is becoming popular.

What are some common things you see in Steampunk?
Almost all Steampunk is set in the Victorian era (mid-1800's-early 1900's) or has a Victorian era flair to it. So you see a lot of Victorian stuff in Steampunk.
But mixed in with that is crazy inventions and space travel and time travel.

There are also a lot of gears in Steampunk. And, of course, steam powered machines. (And weapons too. Lots of cool weapons, it seems.)

You also see a lot of top hats and goggles.

Which leads me into Steampunk fashion....
Again, it's all very Victorian. Suits and vests for the men. Top hats, goggles, and cool boots for everyone.... For the women, it becomes a bit more complicated. Steampunk women usually wear tight dresses (but back then, all dresses were tight because of corsets) and corsets with high heeled boots (with weapons concealed within).
Lots of layers for both men and women... The outfits are kind of haphazardly. They look somewhat sloppy - like the characters are on the run from something and wear what they can find. I like the look. It's cool. It fits with the whole gears and steam-powered thing.

And I just HAVE to share this next picture.... It's Wil Wheaton who played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek The Next Generation. I personally love Wesley. And Wil too! Wil Wheaton is a huge geek and always has been. He runs all his own websites and has published several books on geekiness. He also plays computer and strategy board games. He plays Dominion and Ticket To Ride, which are two strategy games I love to play with my Dad and Cousin.

 

I'm not exactly sure if the picture is meant to be Steampunk or not.... But it sure looks like it! Wil Wheaton, his wife Anne, and the TARDIS. Ah, perfect. It's one of my favorite pictures. (Edit- Sure enough, it IS meant to be Steampunk! They are actually posing here in merchandise for a Steampunk store... Which I will enumerate on later).

As Steampunk grows more popular, more and more books and movies are being written and produced. One thing that the books have in common with each other is their writing style. They are written very much in the style of the Victorian era - flowing, beautiful, with big words that need to be looked up in the dictionary.

A few Steampunk websites that the lady mentioned....
One is Steampunk.com which has a list of Steampunk books.
Then there is a Steamcon.com which has a list of where Steampunk Conventions will be held in the future (Evidently there are Steamcons as well as Star Trek cons and Comicons!).
Gentleman's Emporium.com has Victorian style clothes and accessories for men and women.
Clockwork Couture is a website featuring Steampunk style clothes and accessories which you can buy and it is for this website that Wil Wheaton and his wife posed. So I guess the police box maybe wasn't the TARDIS.... But it still looks like the TARDIS and Wil Wheaton is a Doctor Who fan soooo.....
Anyway, I checked out all these websites briefly and they all look super cool! Especially the Clockwork Couture because of Wil and Anne Wheaton. =)
(However, everything looks super expensive! But it's still fun to look at.)

 

What I really like about Steampunk is the creativity. Because it has so many genres poured into one, you can literally do ANYTHING! Just so long as you stay within the parameter of steam-powered Victorian-era stuff. But you could be a cowboy or you could time travel or you could be in space and meet aliens.... Anything! Plus, the fans are so creative! Perhaps the biggest thing I love about being a geek is the imagination.... To be a geek, you have to imagine that this or that is actually happening. You can take what the creators started with and you can expand it. You can become a part of it! You can build things (like TARDIS's or Enterprise's or Steampunk computers, bikes, cars, etc). You can make your own costumes like the ones above.... You have to be creative to be a true geek and Steampunk really fits into the category of creativity.

So that's what I learned today. =)

Live long and prosper!

Barking spiders! It's ANOTHER book review!

This is my last book review for awhile, I promise!

 

 

Title: Leviathan (#1), Behemoth (#2), and Goliath (#3).

Author: Scott Westerfeld.

Synopsis: The world is enveloped in The Great War - Clankers against Darwinists.
Alek is the heir to the Austrian throne and is running for his life to escape his uncle, the emperor, who wishes him dead.
Deryn is a girl dressed up as a boy, serving in the British Air Service.
When the two cross paths by chance, many adventures ensue.
Will Alek end the war?
Will Deryn's secret be revealed?
And, most importantly, will Borvil, the Perspicacious Loris, quit repeating everything and learn to think for himself?!

My rating: 8/10 stars for the whole series.

Why I liked the story: I loved these books. They were so creative! They were in the genre Steampunk (which is kind of an alternate history), which gave the author a LOT of creative freedom. Mr. Westerfeld did a great job with that. I especially liked the Leviathan (an airship). He also did a GREAT job changing World War One into his own thing, without changing too much history. I loved the little mentions on real people... Like Edison and Henry Ford.
The characters. I know, I know... I mention characters every time.... But these were really good characters! I especially liked Deryn and the background characters (like Count Volger and Klopp).
Speaking of Deryn.... I was talking with Miss Jack about Deryn (and other female characters who dress as guys) and we both agree that Deryn is done very well. Usually girl characters who dress as guys think they are the best thing since sliced bread and think they can do everything by themselves without a guy's help. Deryn doesn't think she can do everything. She acts just like all her crew mates... Loyal, brave, and would do anything for her friends.
I loved how Westerfeld kept Deryn's secret from Alek until the last book. It really helped the story and was a good way to go.
There was a relaly good message of friendship and telling the truth.
The book took place in a lot of different locations (London, Austria, Istanbul [was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul not Constantinople, been a long time gone, old Constantinople, still it's Turkish delight, on a moonlit night....], Japan, Siberia America... lots of places). I love books that take place in many many locations. (Like Tintin!)
The drawings! Oh my word. Beautiful! I love black and white drawings.... Sidney Paget type work. These book were illustrated in that way and it was great!

(Borvil's buddy.)
BORVIL! He was so cute. On that note, I shall go onto what I didn't like.

Why I didn't like the story/things you should know: There were several things that stood out to me about these books that I didn't particularly like....
I'll start out with the smallest things. There were some swear words in the books, especially the last one. Only a couple (less than the Larklight series). I don't remember any in the first two... Except Deryn's "barking spiders!"
Deryn and Alek's relationship. Now, Deryn falls in love with Alek pretty quickly, but since he doesn't know that Deryn is actually a girl, Deryn can't tell him. When he finally finds out in the third book, he ignores her for awhile. But then, in the end, falls in love with her as well... And ends up killing a man for her.
Anyway, Alek and Deryn know each other for about four or five months. Those five months are war-torn and ravaged. Alek doesn't even know Deryn is a girl until near the end. They have a very strong friendship before that.
My point is, that, Alek and Deryn really don't know the 'real' Alek and Deryn. Alek is devastated that his parents are dead, and he thinks the war is his fault, and therefore, he has a responsibility to stop it.
Deryn is a girl dressed as a boy.
They don't know the real Alek and Deryn, the Alek and Deryn outside of the war. Alek ends up throwing away his throne to be with Deryn in the end and they don't even know if they will like each other after the war. They are only sixteen or so in the book.
That aside, I can still say that I was hoping they would get together because they do go well together. =)
Some of it was confusing... The biggest question I had was about Deryn and Newkirk. They were midshipmen, newly enlisted in the Air Service, yet they seemed to have a pretty high rank and could order people around. Their opinions were taken into regard. To me, it would seem that midshipmen, newly enlisted, wouldn't have so much power... But I don't know. Anyone out there know?
The two major powers in this series are the Clankers and the Darwinists. The Clankers rely heavily on machines that they make. The Darwinists "fabricate" beasts. Once upon a time, Darwin (in this alternate history) figured out how to separate the life threads and then mix them up again to create something new, like a Tigeresque or an Elephantine, or Leviathan itself. All of the beasties are fabricated from many different species. Leviathan itself is made out of over 100 different species.
I think that you need to be careful when reading books like this. At the same time, I can appreciate the author's creativity. I know the real story - God created animals and there is no way to take the different life threads and mix them together to make something different.

Have I read it before? Nope.

Will I read it again? Maybe!

Would I recommend it? Yes! Just be careful with the whole Darwinist thing. Also, this book probably isn't for smaller children.... I'd say 12+

Now I start reading Moby Dick. Scary!

Live long and prosper!

A review for you.

I had my big choir concert tonight and it went very well! Now I'm chillin' listening to "Your Song" by Elton John (Harry Connick Jr's version) - it's one of my favorite songs.
I figured I'd do a review on a series of books for you.
I'm not exactly sure what the series is called.... So I shall dub it the Larklight series by Philip Reeve.

Title: Larklight (#1), Starcross (#2), Mothstorm (#3).

Author: Philip Reeve. (Illustrated throughout by David Wyatt).

Synopsis: Arthur and Myrtle Mumby, siblings, go on lots of adventures filled with aliens and pirates!

My rating: 8/10 stars for the whole series.

Why I liked the story: I believe this series is set in the genre "Steampunk" (which is kind of an alternate history with cool machines). This was a great series to introduce me to Steampunk! (Next on the list is the Leviathan series! and Miss Jack's book [more on that later]).
I LOVED that these books took place in space. The author really changed it up and made space just another place to explore... And not in the usual Boldly Go way. The air in outer space was breathable (though thin) and all the worlds in our solar system were inhabited by all sorts of fun aliens. I really loved how inventive Philip Reeve was!
Larklight, Art and Myrtle's home, is soooo cool.

Is that not the coolest house you've ever seen? I would LOVE to just go explore it. Plus, it's in space, so that's an added bonus!
Jack's crew. Jack is a space pirate and his motley crew are all aliens! I loved them all... Very inventive and creative and each one had such a great personality! I can't decide who I like best... Perhaps Nipper or Mr. Munkulus.
All the characters were very vibrant and had the right amount of character development for their roles in the book.
I loved the Moobs. They are the bad guys in the second book and they come from the future. Even though they were evil and took over people's minds, they were cute. Especially at the end when they all fall asleep.
They mention God and ask him for help in situations. They don't make fun of God and treat him with respect.
The sheer imagination of this series is staggering and that - and the wonderful characters - are enough to make these books absolutely wonderful!

Why I disliked the story/things you should know: There were two big things that bothered me about this series.
1. All the swearing (particularly in the first two books, not so much the third). Swearing is never necessary - whether it be in movies, TV, or books. I especially didn't like the way Mr. Reeve did the swearing in his books... Instead of writing the words out he wrote the first letter and then cross the rest out. Like this: D---. I found it very unnecessary and quite annoying.
Myrtle (being a lady) always chastises characters for their dirty language but not much is done about it. The swearing seems kind of made fun of.... The only swearing I like is Captain Haddock's because it isn't swearing (blistering barnacles!).
2. I mentioned above that they give credit to God in the books.... They do. But Mr. Reeve also adds in his own invention... Shapers. According to the book, God sends out Shapers in their special Shaper ships to create galaxies for him, while he's the overseer of it all.
Now, the Bible says absolutely nothing about 'Shapers.' It says, In the beginning, God created the earth and he said it was good.
I felt uncomfortable with the idea of the 'Shapers.'
Those were the two biggest problems I had with the books. Now onto the littler things.
Jack and Myrtle's relationship. I agree with Art and Myrtle's father when he says, "Isn't Myrtle too young for a sentimental relationship?"
But that's probably because me myself am opposed to teenage dating and while Jack and Myrtle aren't dating per say... They still kiss and embrace each other. Luckily there are no drawings and they aren't elaborated on. Their relationship is a little comical and it didn't bother me too much... But I still wish that maybe they hadn't been so physical.
That's just me, though. I'm very sensitive towards those things (especially where teenagers are concerned).
And then there were the giant spiders.... I hate spiders and in book #1 the bad guys were giant spiders. This wasn't really a problem, except that I don't like spiders. xD

Will I read them again? Maybe someday!

Would I recommend them? If you are a fan of sci-fi and/or Steampunk you would enjoy this series. It is very fun and the characters and the imagination are great! You rarely find a really really good sci-fi series. This is an exception!

Now... Before I sign off... My good friend Miss Jack Lewis Baillot has just published her first book, Haphazardly Implausible! (Okay, that's a bit of a lie.. She came out with a Short Story collection as a prelude to Haphazardly Implausible last month, but I'm not counting that).
Here is the link to Jack's blog where you can learn more about her book! HERE.

 

CONGRATS JACK!!!! =D

Tomorrow I go see The Hobbit! Look out for my review. =)

Live long and prosper!

P.S. My condolences go out to the families who have lost their children in the Connecticut school shooting today.
Please be praying for the families, that they can get over their loses in healthy manners.