Monthly Archives: October 2011

Introducing Steampunk.com’s NaNoWriMo Forum

October 31, 2011

Today is Halloween, which is cool in its own right. In addition to its own haunted fun, Halloween is the last day before the start of NaNoWriMo, that annual frenzy of typing and caffeine.

For the uninitiated, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, an international event in which people try to complete a first draft of a 50,000 novel in one month. Sounds crazy? Maybe it is, but if you force yourself to crank out those 1667 words per day, you’ll find yourself looking at something you can edit and improve rather than a blank page.

I know a lot of you out there are planning to write some steampunk for NaNoWriMo, so I decided to give you a place on steampunk.com to blow off some steam, discuss what your doing, seek commiseration, or even celebrate when you make it: the Steampunk.com NaNoWriMo Forum. W00t!

Please let us know who you are, what you are writing about, and how it is going. You might find friends, beta readers, or even just some sanity in the wee hours when those last few hundred words are eluding you.

Good luck, NaNoWriMonauts!

Suggestions for 2011 Steampunk.com Award Categories

October 28, 2011

It’s getting late in the year, so it’s time to revisit the Steampunk.com awards… in particular what categories we want this year.

Last year, we just did “Book of the Year” which generated a lot of nominations and votes and fun. Even so, it certainly leaves out a lot of the steampunk, er, stuff. For example: short stories, short films, graphic novels/comics/web comics, games, websites, music, 2D art, 3D art.

We have had some suggestions already:
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Steamcon III Airship Awards Winners

October 18, 2011

The Airship Awards were presented on October 14th at Steamcon in Seattle. Steampunk.com would like to congratulate the winners, as well as all the nominees for their contributions to the steampunk movement.

Written

Any written piece of work, including but not limited to: novels, short stories, blogs, screen plays, etc.

Winner: Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel by Tee Morris & Pip Ballantine

Visual

Any visual piece of work, including but not limited to: 2D art, 3D art, digital art, fashion design, website design, making/modding, short film (by an individual)

Winner: Joe Benitez

Aural

Any aural piece of work, including but not limited to: Bands, songs, musicians, music videos, etc.

Winner:Vagabond Opera

Community Contributor

An individual who is outspoken and supportive in the steampunk community, including but not limited to: Blogger, event organizer, convention runner, scholar, speaker etc.

Winner: Jordan Block – Sepiachord

Potpourri

Anything not yet covered, including but not limited to: Game design/designer, acting troupes, short film (by a group), movie, television, etc.

Winner: Rise of Æster RPG

It’s All Your Fault

A special “It’s All Your Fault” award was presented to Guest of Honor K. W. Jeter for coining the term “steampunk.”

[Thanks to Mike Perschon, the Steampunk Scholar, for giving me the list of winners. - jrrl]

It’s Steampunk Week at Tor.com

October 5, 2011

This week is Steampunk Week on Tor.com, this year led by the esteemed Ay-Leen the Peacemaker, creator of Beyond Victoriana, a must read site for steampunk outside the UK. Steampunk Week will feature tons of articles from members of the steampunk community, online and off, covering everything from fiction and fashion to machinery and music. You can keep an eye on everything going on over there on their Steampunk Week index page. You might even see an article by me later this week.

[N.B. This should have gone up a couple of days ago, but it's been a crazy busy week. Mea Culpa.]