One short year ago, Beyond Victoriana made its first blog post on a wee Dreamwidth journal.
And what a year it’s been since. To mark our first anniversary, let’s take a moment to review the wide range of content this blog has produced (oh yes, I’m celebratin’ with a LINKSPAM.)
And cake. Yummy, yummy gear cake…
How about this one? Image courtesy of Venus Cakes. Click for link.
Over the past year, we tackled a variety of topics, spanning art, theater, music, fashion, history, literature, science & technology.
Steampunks from around the world have also popped up on this site: Bruno Accioly on Brazilian Steampunk; Jha Goh, our Malaysian “postcolonialist steampunk” and friend of the blog; Michael RedTurtle for an American Native perspective, and the UK band Sunday Driver stopped by for a chat.
On the science & tech front, we covered technology from the East, in the Muslim World, and for First Nations.
The arts have also been spotlighted here, with works from historical artists (like Charles Frederick Goldie) to modern artists (like Yinka Shonibare MBE, Lalla Essaydi, Willie Bester, and Mary Sibande). Webcomics like The Seven and Virtuoso have been featured. For literature, the books that take steampunk to new locations and realms of thought were highlighted, such as Boilerplate, Magic Under Glass, Black Hills, The Shock of the Old, Little Bighorn and Isandlwana: Kindred Fights, Kindred Follies. Award-winning authors Karin Lowachee and Nnedi Okorafor were interviewed.
And as steampunk music is still being established, we’ve talked with several artists who each bring their own unique style to the table: from Sunday Driver to Coyote Run to Emperor Norton’s Stationery Marching Band.
Multicultural and obscure histories have also been covered, from the record of Asians in the Americas, to Noah Meernaum’s survey on representation in Weird West, Kevin Mullins’ work on Fernian bombers, Evangeline Holland’s posts on race and women, and Matt Delman’s historical epic of the Great Game.
And of course, there have been several articles and linkspams which featured new ideas, writers, thinkers, creators, movers and shakers in the growing steampunk community.
Overall, not bad for the first year.
What can we expect in the coming one? More diverse interviews, analysis, pictures, and articles of course!
Several major projects are in the works for Beyond Victoriana, which we hope to unveil later this fall. More importantly, though, here is what we’re looking for now:
That’s right– take a word from Uncle Sam Abe Lincoln and consider what you can contribute to make this blog the best thing ever. Are you a writer, performer, artist, cosplayer, academic, tinkerer? Do you have an opinion, a story, a book review or outfit you want to talk about? Do you go to conventions and like taking pictures or writing about them?
Then consider hosting your work here!
Beyond Victoriana has had an amazingly successful year because of the wide range of voices present on this site. And we want yours too.
We are looking for guest posters, regular contributors, and potential interviews. In particular, we are also looking for reporters to cover the array of upcoming conventions & events. Immediate help is needed for TeslaCon & SteamCon II coverage, but we are also interested in covering future cons throughout 2011.
People from all backgrounds are open for consideration. Previous journalism or blogging experience a plus. If you’re interested, please drop an email to attic [dot] hermit [at] gmail [dot] com.
And of course, a big THANK YOU goes out to everyone in the community who have stopped by, e-mailed, blogged, linked, or talked up Beyond Victoriana in the last twelve months. We’re one year–and 21,000+ hits– in and more ready than ever for Year Two.
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