The Steampunk Librarian

A postscript and a compass

As promised long ago, I'm doing book reviews over at the Pandora Society. Here's the first of what may be many. I encourage everyone to go visit the Society - they're good people. Thanks!

see that little dot where the sky meets the sea?

Like a dirigible, the Steampunk Librarian has been slowly sailing toward the horizon. Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, and participated in the website over the years and its various locations on the interwebs.

However! I’ll still be writing some reviews (and possibly other stuff) as well over at the Pandora Society.  Perhaps I'll see you there!

February flyby

February steampunk events, courtesy of Tor! (Anachrocon was great fun, from what I hear.)

 

The Steampunk Hands Around the World project is still going on – a myriad of wonderful websites awaits.

 

DC Comics is apparently showing off a steampunk version of the JLA. I am intrigued. Wary, but intrigued.

 

Disney is also going steampunk – take a gander at the mechanical Maleficent dragon debuting this year.

 

And finally, opera and steampunk meet in The Dolls of New Albion.

A seasonally appropriate link

No Victorian Era explorer would be caught dead without a Burroughs Wellcome & Company First Aid Kit!

 

(Well, actually, they might be caught dead, now that I think about it...)

Back for more in 2014

Happy 2014! We are slowly making our way back into the steampunk world. Here, look at the Chicago World's Fair, from the perspective of 120 years. And go see it in person, too, if you can!

Cross-posted from my other website, Spooky Librarians:

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Hi, everyone.

Here at SpookyLibrarians HQ, we like the number 13, which is probably not surprising. We are not triskaidekaphobics; we think 13 is a great number, and nothing to fear.

However, 2013 has been one really tough year. We’ve been thrown off course by unforeseen circumstances, and by some circumstances which were foreseen but still tricky to navigate. There’s been loss and uncertainty and a wide array of technical difficulties, as any reader has seen over the erratic postings this year. We are fine and everything is okay, but it’s been a crazy time.

We’re taking December off and hope to be back in 2014, reorganized, rejuvenated, and refreshed. Thanks to everyone for your patience!

We’re on a hiatus due to a death in the family, but I just learned of a death in the steampunk family. Rest in peace, Datamancer – your creations brought joy to all of us.

Contest Winner - The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi

Many thanks to everyone who entered our giveaway contest! We rolled a die -- not a steampunk die, unfortunately, but a die from Arkham Horror, which is the next best thing -- and it landed on 1. So congratulations to Gerard Quinn, who submitted the first comment and wins an advance reader copy of The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi! Stay tuned, for more giveaways are imminent.

Book Giveaway Contest: The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi

We have another Burton & Swinburne adventure to give away to some lucky person!

 

 

Three years ago, we started our review of The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, the first book in Mark Hodder’s series, thusly:

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 In the middle of this place and time -- London, 1861, to be exact -- Mark Hodder places explorer Richard Burton and poet Algernon Swinburne as the protagonists of a wonderful tale. It begins as one would expect a normal story involving Burton to begin, with him planning to debate John Speke at the Royal Geographical Society...but then there is violence and chaos, and Burton takes the atmospheric railway home and receives a message by greyhound which... 

Wait, what?

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 Now, in The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi, the action begins in 1859. Richard Burton has just discovered the source of the Nile, and is on his way back to England aboard the airship Orpheus to meet his Royal Highness Prince Albert, when…

 

Wait, what?

 

As you can tell, reality has shifted once again, and Burton is about to discover that nothing is quite what it seems…or what it once was…or what it might be.  Reading the earlier books is definitely recommended, although this is, in a way, a new adventure, with different characters (and some wonderful historical cameos). For those of us entranced with Hodder’s fantastical Victoriana – or is it Albertiana? -- it’s a welcome return.

 

 

We have an advance reader copy of The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi to give away! To enter the contest, post a comment below and talk to us about the poets of the Victorian era. Are you a fan of Swinburne? Do you have a bone to pick with one or more Rossettis? Let us know! The deadline for entering is Sunday, November 17. Good luck!

 

More information on The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi is available, along with an excerpt, at Pyr’s website. More information on author Mark Hodder can be found on his website.

Contest Winners - Osiris Curse!

Well, as luck would have it, there are two entries in the giveaway, and two copies of the book! Alden Ash will get the hardcover, and the paperback advance copy will go to soundofthunder.  Thanks! More soon!