Sorry, this entry is only available in Svenska.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Svenska.

Yesterday we were in the news: SVT, a big Swedish broadcasting company, has made a television piece about the Steampunkfestival and its locoproject, which was shown in the local news. We are very glad that Swecon 2014 is greeted with such great interest.

During one of the interviews, one of our colleagues expressed his hopes for a sequel of the festival, which has been interpreted as it being a recurring event. We would like to clarify that there are no plans on the current organizers’ side to repeat it next year. If you want to be part of it, it’s best if you go for 2014 – and become a member as soon as possible.

We are contributing to a steampunk night at the English Bookshop in Uppsala on March 13. Don’t miss this, if you are in the region. Please feel free also to take the opportunity to talk to us about the Steampunkfestival — we are happy to answer questions and we’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions.

In exactly 182 days – or half a year – the Gävle Steampunkfestival / Swecon 2014 is going to take place. So there is quite a while left for you to think about buying a membership (mind you: prices will be increased next year), or to apply for our market, or to start sewing the costume you are planning to wear (in case you want to have one, which is not obligatory). Otherwise, feel free to look forward to some warm Swedish summer days with interesting debates, games, books, and – most importantly – loads of steampunk, science fiction, and fantasy. Welcome!

We have one more GoH-interview under our tree: Enjoy the fourth conversation, with 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: http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol17/?pg=16&pm=1&u1=friend#pg16

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:

http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2012/01/cory-doctorow-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.’”

We suppose you are already waiting to unpack present number three. Today, you’re gonna get an interview with Mike Perschon, our Steampunk-scholar. Enjoy!

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!

We have promised that you’d get more presents from us, and we keep our promises: Here comes a great interview with our guest of honour, 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.”

The worst thing about waiting for Christmas is not being allowed to open one’s presents. So here’s our special gift for you: Sweet little GoH-interview-packages the week before Christmas. Today we start with Steampunk Emma Goldman, the others following in two-day intervals. Enjoy reading!

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.