On the heels of recovering from Steampunk World’s Fair, Lucretia and I will be at Book Expo America, working on promoting Art Donovan’s upcoming art book The Art of Steampunk at Book Expo America this Wednesday.
Check out where we will be at during BEA, the upcoming book signing for The Steampunk Bible & happenings at Wiscon!
The Art of Steampunk seeks to celebrate the world of Steampunk: a world filled with beauty and innovation. A world in which steam power and technology intertwine to create machines that are not only functional and practical, but unique and striking.
Inside, you will find the fantastical and stunning artwork of Steampunk artists from around the world. The 17 artists featured on these pages, among the frontrunners of the Steampunk genre, have had their work displayed at an exhibition at The Museum of History of Science at the University of Oxford, UK and have attracted the media attention of BoingBoing, one of the world’s largest blogs. Their artwork consists of everything from clocks and watches to light fixtures and jewelry, but every piece demonstrates hours of painstaking work and devotion from its creator. You will find that the artists themselves are just as unique and colorful as their masterpieces. Fully embracing Steampunk ideology, many have adopted a Victorian alter ego—a mad scientist persona to match the complicated intricacies of their artwork.
The Art of Steampunk brings the vision of the Steampunk artist alive on the page, providing a unique insight into the captivating and dynamic world of a vastly underground genre.
Art Donovan himself will be having a book signing at the Fox Chapel booth #4546 at 3 PM. If you’re there, I hope you can stop by!
In other steampunk book news, you already know all about The Steampunk Bible, right?
And if you’re in NYC, you’ll be planning on attending the Bible signing at Barnes & Noble this Thursday, of course!
Thursday, May 26 at 7 PM
Barnes & Noble (West 82nd & Broadway)Co-authors Jeff VanderMeer and S.J. Chambers host an event featuring a calvacade of Steampunk Bible (Abrams Image) contributors. Join Beyond Victoriana’s Ay-leen the Peacemaker, author Dexter Palmer, artist Aleks Sennwald, editor Liz Gorinsky, fashionista Evelyn Kriete, writer G.D. Falksen, and Silver Goggles’ Jaymee Goh for a multi-media presentation focused on new steampunk projects, highlights from The Steampunk Bible, and Punksteamer Jeff VanderMeer’s patented “Contraptor’s Single-Question Revealing Interrogation” of each participant. With signing, and time for audience questions.
Then, this weekend, I will be off to Madison, Wisconsin to attend the prestigious and rambunctious feminist sci-fi convention Wiscon! Below is my speaking schedule:
Immigration, Fictional and Non-Fictional
Fri, 4:00–5:15 pm Senate B
Moderator: Mary Anne Mohanraj. Fellow participants Mary Anne Mohanraj, Suzanne Alles Blom, Amal El-Mohtar
People have moved around on this planet since there’s been people and since there’s been a planet. However, since this newfangled “nation-state” invention, it’s gotten a little more complicated. Come talk about both fictional and nonfictional examples of people emigrating from one nation-state to another nation-state, remembering that immigrants aren’t an abstract construct, but real people.
Steam Around the World: Steampunk Beyond Victoriana
Sat, 8:30–9:45 am Assembly
with co-presentor Jaymee Goh
Beyond Victoriana, what steampunk possibilities exist? Come join us as we take you on a trip around the world to see how steampunk manifests in the minds of those who don’t think within an Eurocentric context, whether they blend Western influences, or use recognizably steampunk elements within a distinct flavor outside of Europe. We will also approach the ethical challenges that come up when engaging in multicultural steampunk and discuss matters of race, privilege, and cultural appropriation.
Postcolonial Steampunk: A Global Perspective
Sat, 1:00–2:15 pm Senate A
Moderator: Jaymee Goh. Fellow participants: Amal El-Mohtar, Liz L. Gorinsky, Nisi Shawl.
The steampunk aesthetic is anchored in the 19th Century British Empire and, more specifically, Queen Victoria’s London. Still, there are efforts to separate steampunk from its Victorian roots and reclaim the time period in the name of the formerly colonized. How do we write our own specificities into the genre? What pushback do we receive for daring to break away? How do we negotiate appropriation and privilege when confronted by it in steampunk circles? What’s REALLY steampunk?
Beyond Victoriana 
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