STEAM-BLAST FROM THE PAST

The Steampunk community is sweeping the country from East to West and all points around the globe. That is because steamers can time travel to alternative histories and walk through portals that open into secret realms hidden beyond the vail of reality.

Steampunk also has many sub genera like Dieselpunk, Darksteam, Weird West, Atomicpunk, Mad Scientist, Spypunk and Sky Pirate just a few to stimulate your imagination. For that is the biggest deal with Steampunk. There are thousands of clever and creative ways to take almost any subject and steam the hell out of it.

I’ve long been a fan of all things steam and the influence is evident in my Crossbreed series. A Sci-Fi action adventure with a Dieselpunk Weird West flavor. #CrossbreedsbyKCV

Steampunk evolved out of the sci-fi sub genera Cyberpunk and has been lurking around comic and game shops for decades. With the rising popularity of Cosplay at comic cons steamers are climbing to the top tier of cosplay and their costumes and props are winning prizes acclaim and new converts at a phenomenal rate.

Vampires, the Victorian age and Frankensteinian mad scientists blend perfectly to create a gas-lit world of bizarre gadgets and horror. This is the dark steamy world that gave us Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, Harry Houdini and Edger Allen Poe.

In a modern world of solar panels, powerful computers, smart android phones and cars that will soon drive themselves why do so many people want to escape to a time when coal was king and a smart horse new the way home when his master was blitzed on Absinth?

The same question can be asked of 1950s Americans sailing along new super highways in big gas powered Jetstream cars. Yet millions wanted to be like the Lone Ranger, Daniel Boon and Roy Rogers.

We embrace the new and ultra-modern but cling to the past. We know where we’ve been and feel comfortable reminiscing, but the new and as yet unknown future can be frightening. We can revisit the past and rewrite it as alternative history. The future of present reality only guarantees one thing for sure. The inevitability of certain death. So by returning to the past we create the illusion that we are somehow further away from Dark Eternity.

There is more to it than just costumes and gear. The steampunk community is attracting writers, film makers and musicians.  Why not? Anytime a new art form stimulates the imagination to then exorcise creativity it’s a good thing. Steamers are not new to this as many have come from the renaissance fairs, Pirate Festivals and Star Trek fan clubs.

The fascinating thing with Steampunk is how like a mechanical virus it can infect a fantasy genera once thought to be incorruptible. All one need do is dig out your old super hero costume from the basement. With a few gears, a bit PVC, some junk hardware from your grand pa’s garage add a little spray paint and Holy Steampunk Batman neat-o Bat-goggles.

To prove my point, I being a grand-pa went into my garage and filled two boxes with junk and odds-n- ends of crap I was thinking of tossing out. I took it to Steamathon Las Vegas with my granddaughter 'Spiritualist Madam Geraldine' and made a bundle.

I’m going to fill more boxes and when next you lay eyes on a Dark Steam Vampirate have a look in my chests filled with priceless loot.