Preparing for Steamcon...or where is my steamer trunk when I need it?

So much to do!

Steamcon II is just two weeks from tomorrow. Yikes, time to start packing. And packing for a Steampunk convention is a no small undertaking. Still, the cares and labors, not to mention the excess baggage fees, will all be worth it, of that much I am certain.


Your author will be appearing on the program this year. Last year, I was but a humble neophyte and dazzled rubber-necker, nearly overwhelmed by the the sights and sounds of this delightful and innovative subculture that has enchanted me from the first moment I beheld a picture of a Jake Von Slatt steampunked computer.

I don't remember where I saw it.  It must have been featured on Boingboing, but I have since become a regular visitor to Mr. Von Slatt's amazing website, The Steampunk Workshop. He will be a guest of honor at the forthcoming Steamcon, along with numerous other artists, makers and modders.  I will have the privilege of moderating a panel entitled, "Everyday Steampunk" with artists Shawn Gaston and Anthony Jon Hicks.


I am glad to be the moderator because I have many more questions than answers and am relying on my fellow panelists to expound on the Steampunk philosphy of living.  How are people bringing it into their everyday lives and what can Steampunk culture teach mainstream culture? I spoke to this topic briefly in an early post on this site called "Living Steampunk,"  in which I shared a picture of my beloved Steampunk house near Boulder, Colorado.

Kevin Steil, aka Airship Ambassador

I will be interviewed by Kevin Steil, whose website and blog, The Airship Ambassador is a fabulous resource for anyone wanting up-to-date information on all things Steampunk.


Kevin will be busy that weekend interviewing a vast array of authors and artists, united in their love of Steampunk. Cherie Priest, Gail Carriger, Paul Guinan, Mike Pershon, Caitlin Kittredge, and many, many more.


In addition to speaking on Everyday Steampunk, I have also been asked to hold forth on "Becoming a Writer," (a topic I still wish I knew something about) and "Researching the Victorian Era," (an activity I have spent countless hours engaged in over the last two decades, but about which I still wish I knew more).


The presentation I am most excited about will be--regular followers of this blog can already guess this--sharing my obsession with Absinthe:  Its history, its mystique, its ritual, not to mention all the artists and poets inspired by it. Which leads me back to my original topic:  How to pack for a Steampunk adventure?

My first challenge is packing the absinthe fountain.  It is huge and weights nearly a ton.  Okay, I am exaggerating, but it is breakable and awkward to pack.


Of course, I own a smaller absinthe fountain (what self-respecting absinthteur doesn't own more than one?) and though it is lighter and easier to find a space for, it is much more breakable and not nearly as pretty.  And pretty is IMPORTANT. I would even hazard to say, pretty is crucial to the world of Steampunk aesthetic.

At least the absinthe spoons are easy to pack.  I plan to give them away as door prizes along with free copies of The Second Glass of Absinthe.


Not to suggest that The Second Glass of Absinthe is a Steampunk novel (though I would be proud to bestow that designation). I like to think of my two most recent Victorian West novels as Steampunk-adjacent. Both Second Glass  and Séance in Sepia are mystery novels set in Victorian-era America and both deal with the world of the Victorian occult.  The supernatural is hinted at in both books but makes itself known in ways too subtle for either novel to jump the aisles between mystery and fantasy.


Alas, I am reaching the end of this post and have not yet begun to address the crucial topic of fashion.  Stay tuned...

Happy Birthday, Victoria Woodhull!

On this day in 1838, a woman was born who would change American history forever--Victoria C. Woodhull.  She would become the first woman to run for the U.S. presidency, but that is only one in a long list of "firsts" for this remarkable woman.


Born into poverty in Ohio and given little formal education, she married at fourteen and gave birth a year later to a handicapped son. Her new husband proved to be an alcoholic, incapable of supporting her, so she was forced at the tender age of fifteen to become the primary breadwinner for herself, her child, and even her husband, whenever he managed to be on the scene.


She supported herself as a spiritualist--a popular and lucrative career for a woman in the mid-Nineteenth Century when women's options were few.  Just after the Civil War, she met her future husband, James Blood, in St. Louis.  They fell madly in love, divorced their current spouses and quickly married.


Blood was an intellectual and a social radical. He tutored Victoria in all manner of political discourse of the day and recognized not only her astonishing intellect, but her amazing gift for oratory.  They moved to New York and together with Victoria's younger sister, Tennessee Claflin,  started a radical newspaper, Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly.  They opened the first women's brokerage house on Wall Street.


Victoria began speaking out on women's issues, particularly suffrage, and was the first to address the Judiciary Committee of Congress on the issue of whether women were "persons" within the meaning of the newly passed Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the constitution. (A topic still inciting controversy to this very day.) She became famous--some would say, notorious-- for her advocacy of the notion of Free Love.  She knew through her own hard experiences in life what many women's rights advocates of her time did not: that women needed much more than the vote to achieve a fair and equal place in American society.  They needed a full bank of rights--liberalized divorce laws, fair property rights, in short--equal protection under all the laws.

Available on Amazon

This is just a short introduction to the life of this amazing woman.  I found her so fascinating, I included her as a character in my next novel, Séance in Sepia (coming in October 2011).  To learn more about Victoria, there are several good biographies available.  My favorite is: Notorious Victoria, by Mary Gabriel.


A comprehensive website to visit is http://www.victoria-woodhull.com/