Steampunk Fortnight at Tor.com

Tor.com are hosting a Steampunk Fortnight over at tor.com, building on the success of last year’s Steampunk Month.  From 20th October through to 3rd November, there will be stream of articles, stories, desktop backgrounds and giveaways all on the steampunk theme.

If you aren’t familiar with steampunk, it’s a sub-genre of sci-fi where scientific discovery stopped in the Victorian era and it’s a world of trains and airships, of brass and wood, of cogs and lenses, of cloaks and cravats.  Innovations are as the Victorians would have created, with large machines driven by steam, rather than the miniaturisation of electronics and the microchip.  I love the aesthetic: powerful constructions of metal and wood from the 19th century contrast sharply with today’s era of plastic mass production.

There are a few modders out there who enjoy retro-fitting a steampunk look to modern gadgets.  The Mac Mini is a work of art and there’s a whole PC on the other end of the link.   And for a Victorian take on the videophone, here’s the Telectroscope.

Start polishing the brass and buffing the woodwork!