Monthly Archives: April 2011

City of Heroes Plans Steampunk Booster

The online game City of Heroes will soon be releasing their latest booster pack, this time with a steampunk theme.

The announcement came during a recent UStream Developer Chat and highlights were posted in the COH forums. For people who don’t feel like watching the full video, several screen shots (including the one I have here) are also posted in the forum thread.

Other details of the steampunk booster pack include:

• cog/bits aura
• animated steampunk backpacks
• steampunk rifle
• animated Victorian decor
• steampunk mechanical wings
• steam jump travel ability

Mark Hodder’s Jack wins Philip K. Dick Award

This past weekend at Norwescon, the Philip K. Dick Award was given the Mark Hodder’s steampunk novel The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack.

The Philip K. Dick Award is given each year for excellence in a novel first published in paperback. Now, Philip K. Dick may not be a writer most people think of when they think of steampunk, but there is a definite association. Among other interesting accomplishments during his writing career, Dick helped shepherd along three young writers named Tim Powers, James P. Blaylock, and K. W. Jeter. A few years later, Jeter would coin the term “steampunk” to describe the books he and his friends were writing.

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