För säkerhets skull annonserar vi detta några dagar innan, så att ni inte kommer att tro att det handlar om ett aprilskämt: Tisdag, den 1/4, ska våra arrangörer Anna Davour och Kristin Thorrud hålla ett spännande föredrag: ”Vad är Steampunk?“ i Gävle, närmare bestämt på Sveriges Järnvägsmuseum, Rälsgatan 1, där också festivalen ska äga rum.

Det kommer att bli en kort överblick över hur steampunk har uppstått, lite information om hur vi arbetar med att få in olika aspekter av steampunk i festivalen, och tips för den som själv vill bli mer steampunkig.

Föredraget börjar kl. 18:00. Inträdet kostar SEK 80,- (SEK 40,- för medlemmar i Järnvägsmusei Vänner). Antal platser är begränsat.

För att inte få intrycket att Steampunkfestivalen är allt som händer i Gävle: Den 4:e och 5:e april blir det en filmfestival i Furusalen! Gefle Science Fiction och Gävle kommuns kulturutveckling organiserar evenemanget, där 10 science-fiction-filmer i ett spann från 1902 till 2011 ska visas:

• Plan 9 from outer space (1959)
• Destination Moon (1950)
• Le Voyages dans la lune (1902)
• A little bit behind (2011)
• Radar Men from the Moon ep 1 (1952)
• La Jetée (1963)
• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• Primer (2004)
• The Time Machine (1960)
• Operation Outland (1981)
• Föreläsare: Fil. Dr. Jerry Määtta / Uppsala Universitet

Redan imorgon, 20:e mars, bjuder Gefle Science Fiction på pressträff, där både film- och Steampunkfestivalen ska presenteras. Träffet pågår mellan 19:00-19:45 på Furusalen, Silvanum. Efteråt visas filmen ”Destination Moon” (1950). Mer information, karta, festivalprogram, och -biljetter finns det här. Välkommen!

Igår kunde vi ses på tv: SVT har gjort ett inslag om Steampunkfestivalen och lokmoddingsprojektet som visades i lokala nyheterna. Vi är glada att Swecon 2014 möts av så stort intresse!

Under intervjuerna uttryckte en av våra medarbetare sina förhoppningar om att festivalen fortsätter, vilket kunde tolkas som att det är ett återkommande evenemang. Vi vill klargöra att det inte finns några planer från de nuvarande arrangörernas sida att göra om det under kommande år. Om ni vill vara med får ni helst satsa på 2014 – och gärna bli medlem så snart som möjligt.

Kristin och Åka (Anna) från Steampunkfestivalen kommer att medverka på steampunk-kväll på English Bookshop i Uppsala torsdag den 13 mars. Missa inte det! Passa gärna på att prata med oss också om Steampunkfestivalen — vi svarar gärna på frågor, och tar emot förslag.

Idag är det precis 182 dagar – eller ett halvt år -  kvar till Steampunkfestivalen / Swecon 2014 börjar. Ni har alltså rätt mycket tid framför er för att fundera på om ni vill köpa ett medlemskap (observera: priserna kommer att höjas i början av nästa år), eller för att anmäla er till vår marknad, eller för att börja sy kostymen ni tänker ha på er under festivalen (i fallet att ni vill ha en, vilket inte är obligatoriskt). Bortsett från detta ni får se fram emot några varma svenska sommardagar med intressanta debatter, spel, böcker, och – viktigast – massor med steampunk, science fiction, och fantasy. Välkomna!

Det finns en hedersgästsintervju kvar: Vi ser fram emot samtal nummer fyra, med Cory Doctorow.

1) If you were to give away a Steampunk-book for Christmas, which one would it be?

Cory: The Difference Engine.

2) What do you find most fascinating about Steampunk?

Cory: Here’s an essay I wrote about that: Love the machine, hate the factory

3) Is there an author (dead or alive) you really would like to meet, and if so, why?

Cory: Not really! I’ve met most of the ones I want to meet, and meeting dead
people is creepy.

4) What is the role of Science Fiction / Fantasy in a world that considers Edward Snowden to be a traitor?

Cory: I answer this in the next question.

5) Ursula LeGuin said that Science Fiction /Fantasy is not about the future but about the present. Does something similar apply to Steampunk, too?

Cory: Here’s an essay I wrote about that:

A vocabulary for speaking about the future.

6) Finish following sentence: ”Steampunk taking place in space…”

Cory: ”…if you have very loose definitions of ‘space,’ ‘steampunk’ and ‘taking place.’”

Vi antar att ni redan har väntat på att få öppna present nummer tre. I dag får ni en intervju med Mike Perschon, vår Steampunk-scholar. Njut av läsningen!

1) If you were to give away a Steampunk-book for Christmas, which one would it be?

Mike: Just one? It would really depend on who I was giving it to, but if I could only pick one, it would be Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan in its original hardcover; it is a beautiful book to just hold and look at, and Keith Thompson’s art is gorgeous. Plus, the story appeals equally to male and female readers, and if they aren’t snobs, Young Adult books are fun for everyone to read, regardless of age.

2) What do you find most fascinating about Steampunk?

Mike: I get most excited when I start reading a book using the steampunk aesthetic, and realize that the author has really thought through the ramifications of whatever changes they’ve made to history. Even if that’s just for fun, like in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate Books, I am most fascinated by world building. The steampunk books I find least interesting are the ones that just throw in big ideas and changes without regard for why that would be happening.

3) In your opinion, what are the main parallels or differences between Science Fiction /Fantasy and Steampunk?

Mike: Steampunk is science fiction, insofar as it is about technology, and is fantasy insofar as it does things with technology that are either very improbable or simply impossible. I don’t think of steampunk as a genre category unto itself, Rather, it is a style that affects science fiction and fantasy. Some steampunk is very close to pure science fiction, attempting to ensure that the technology obeys the laws of physics – books like Gibson and Stirling’s Difference Engine or Cherie Priest’s Clockwork Century series are examples of this. Some steampunk is much closer to fantasy, with technology that works more like magic than science; books like James Blaylock’s Adventures of Langdon St. Ives series or Stephen Hunt’s Jackelian are examples of this. I’ve joked that I’d like to make a t-shirt that says, ”Steampunk: Looks like Science, Works like Magic.”

4) Is there an author (dead or alive) you really would like to meet, and if so, why?

Mike: For dead authors, I’d have to say Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series. I have so many questions for him about his writing process over the nearly 20 years he worked on that series. For living authors, I’ve been lucky enough to meet many of the steampunk writers I would be interested in talking with: Gail Carriger, Arthur Slade, Cherie Priest, Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, and James Blaylock. To be honest, I’d love to meet Guillermo del Toro, who counts as an author for his Strain series, because I love everything he’s done, and we share a lot of the same interests in fandom.

5) In recent years, Steampunk has become very popular in Sweden; what is the situation like in Canada?

Mike: Canada has a long history of catching a fad when it’s already reached its peak in the United States. I think that’s the situation for steampunk here. It is declining in popularity in the States, but we just had an event here in Edmonton that reminded me of the first big steampunk convention in the US back in 2008. I think steampunk suits our history, since we were the British colony that politely waited to be released to live on our own. So many Canadians have a strong identification with the Victorian look.

6) Ursula LeGuin said that Science Fiction /Fantasy is not about the future but about the present. Does something similar apply to Steampunk, too?

Mike: All writing says something about the culture that produces it. People mistakenly think that tales in other time periods or imaginary lands don’t speak to our current situation. I think that steampunk, because of the wide application of the aesthetic in multiple genres, says many things. But it primarily speaks of nostalgia for another time, which is obviously about dissatisfaction with our current world. That said, the same is true for much of fantasy and SF – speculative literature allows us to escape for a time, and at its best, teaches us how to reengage with the real world when our escape is over.

7) Finish following sentence: ”Steampunk taking place in space…”

Mike: Steampunk taking place in space is a lovely thing: just read Philip Reeve’s Larklight or Kenneth Oppel’s Starclimber to see what I mean!

Vi har lovat att ni får fler presenter, och vi håller vårt löfte: Här kommer en spännande intervju med vår hedersgäst Chris Wooding:

1) If you were to give away a Steampunk-book for Christmas, which one would it be?

Chris: Oh wow, well I guess that brings up the whole question of what Steampunk actually is and how you define it – a question that will probably take me the entire convention to figure out! But I think I’m going to go with The Scar by China Mieville, because for raw imagination, there aren’t many that match him, and that’s my favourite of his.

2) What do you find most fascinating about Steampunk?

Chris: I like that it’s still a relatively new sandbox to play in. Despite the limitless possibilities in invented world fiction, the vast majority of genre books are pseudo-European fantasy or far-future SF, and both genres have been going so long that they’ve developed many tropes which define and – to some extent – limit them. Steampunk offers a different set of rules, and they’re much less defined in my mind, which is why I like it. Nobody’s really told us what Steampunk has to be yet.

3) In your opinion, what are the main parallels or differences between Science Fiction /Fantasy and Steampunk?

Chris: There are lots of parallels and differences. I suppose one difference is that lots of Steampunk fixes itself to a real historical time – the Victorian era – in a way that fantasy and SF don’t. Even Steampunk not set in Victorian times takes its cues from that. That’s always interested me about it: it provides a feel and an atmosphere based on our own – arguably misremembered and rose-tinted – vision of our Victorian past.

4) Is there an author (dead or alive) you really would like to meet, and if so, why?

Chris: Tolkien. Because he seems like a stout feller to have a pint in the pub with. Oh, yeah, and because of The Lord Of The Rings and that.

5) Is there a difference between writing for children, young adults, and grown-ups, and if so: What is it?

Chris: Yes, there is, but it’s mostly in the issues you choose to address and the way the characters react. There’s no point writing a book about corruption on the stock market for a child, for example. A book aimed at children would tend to have child protagonists dealing with relationships and adventures the way a child would, thinking and feeling like a child. I think fantastical stories cross age boundaries more readily than some other types of literature, because fantasy is pretty much universal to the human condition. That’s also why it’s awesome.

6) Ursula LeGuin said that Science Fiction /Fantasy is not about the future but about the present. Does something similar apply to Steampunk, too?

Chris: I think all literature is about the present. We enjoy and understand stories only because we can relate them to our own experiences and our present-day way of thinking. I think some of the appeal of Steampunk is down to a craving for a lost time where we could relate to the machinery around us, where we could see the cogs and gears, before everything became plastic and technology became incomprehensible and we no longer felt in control of our world. That’s a direct response to the present day.

7) Finish following sentence: ”Steampunk taking place in space…”

Chris: ”… was good enough for H.G. Wells, so it’s good enough for me.”

Det värsta med att vänta på jul är att man inte får öppna sina julklapp. Därför har vi hittat på några väldigt speciella presenter för er: Fina hedersgästintervjuer i veckan innan jul! Idag börjar vi med Steampunk Emma Goldman, de andra kommer att följa varann dag. Njut av läsningen!

1) If you were to give away a Steampunk-book for Christmas, which one would it be?

Emma: But The Anatomy of Steampunk is quite good. Not that I observe religious holidays, of course, but there’s never a bad reason to give your friends books.

2) What do you find most fascinating about Steampunk?

Emma: The intersection of past and future; the blending of possibilities when we are able to reimagine history and the future.

3) In your opinion, what are the main parallels or differences between Science Fiction /Fantasy and Steampunk?

Emma: I consider steampunk to be, roughly speaking, the intersection of sci-fi/fantasy and history, but I think what they have in common, at their best, is imagination.

4) Is there an author (dead or alive) you really would like to meet, and if so, why?

Emma: I was supposed to meet Oscar Wilde once in the late 1890s, and we barely missed each other.  I would dearly love to have met him.

5) Is it actually possible to write Steampunk that is not feminist?

Emma: Absolutely!  It is incredibly possible to write steampunk that is not feminist; steampunk is written in the present, in which misogyny is alive and well, and it draws from the 19th century, in which it was even stronger.  But I think at its best steampunk plays with the infinite variations of gender and gender roles.

6) Ursula LeGuin said that Science Fiction /Fantasy is not about the future but about the present. Does something similar apply to Steampunk, too?

Emma: I think so.  Anything that portrays the past, or the future, is really about portraying our own time.

7) Finish following sentence: ”Steampunk taking place in space…”

Emma:… should probably include the possibility of establishing anarchist colonies on uninhabited planets.