Posts Tagged Steampunk

(Spoiler-free Review!)

Start out by imagining Elizabeth Bennett. Add a hefty amount of steampunk, a few vampires and werewolves, and a good dose of wonderful sounding food and tongue-in-cheek humor. You might come up with something somewhat like Soulless, by Gail Carriger.

I would’ve known nothing at all about this unassuming little book if not for word of mouth, but it was a wonderful discovery. In the current literary world where vampire stories are a dime a dozen, and the majority of them rather decidedly bad, I found myself having to put aside a certain amount of suspicion of any book involving the supernatural.  Once assured that none of the vampires in the book sparkle (with, perhaps, the exception of Lord Akeldama, and that only with sequins) I decided to give it a chance.

I’m glad I did. This book was one of the most fun reads I’ve had in quite a while, largely due to the humor of the novel.  It has no problems poking fun at the tropes of the genres it straddles, while at the same time presenting them in new and rather refreshing ways.  Alexia Tarabotti is a heroine Jane Austen would be proud of:  an unconventional and independent woman in a society where free-thinking women were rarely welcomed. Like Eliza Bennett, she looks upon the women of her own family with amused annoyance as they natter on about fashion and society gossip.  Her male counterpart is a good bit more Heathcliff than Darcy, but a fitting match for her wits and someone who can appreciate a woman who can think for herself.

I couldn’t help laughing out loud at places, but don’t think that this book is all about the giggles.  At its heart are characters you can’t help but fall a bit in love with, a tightly written mystery story that never did lay all its cards on the table until the end, and a romance that is anything but Victorian.

If you like a little steampunk Victoriana and can enjoy a good supernatural story, be sure to pick this book up.

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• Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger (nethspace.blogspot.com)
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With only about four months to go, and limited time in general, it’s time  to start seriously thinking about con costumes.

We’ve had some vague, general ideas. B is actually beginning to get into the costuming aspect this year, and seems excited about a steampunk costume.  I already have the elements of one pretty much intact.  I got a wonderful tweed skirt with a bit of a mermaid-tail flair to the bottom of it for Christmas, and of course I have my beautiful corset from last year’s con. The fabric is a canvas map that is absolutely beautiful.

Example Bustle Belt from LoopTangle Blog

I don’t want to alter the skirt itself, since I want to be able to continue to wear it as a non-costume, too, but it does need a little something extra to give it that perfect flair.  A suggestion from my wonderful costumer friend @marillawen over on Twitter/WoW was to use a bustle-belt of some sort. She suggested some brown leather, perhaps some complimentary tweed, and I was thinking of adding some brown lace and chiffon to help further fluff up the bustle.

Now, I wanted to incorporate some sort of leather tool-belt into my steampunk costume (after all, what self-respecting victorian engineering lady would be caught somewhere without her spanner?), so my plan now is to somehow combine the two, sewing the bustle onto the back of a tool-belt.

I’ve been working on making some aviator goggles, too, but I think those will likely end up in the possession of B, because I’ve become somewhat entranced with ladies’ top-hats.  It shouldn’t be too difficult to find a suitable hat and spruce it up a bit.  I’d love it if I could find one of those miniature top-hats to pun on top of a nice big curly hairdo, but will likely make do with the full-sized sort.

Example of the sort of pants I'm thinking of making for B.

As far as B, he’s put forth the idea of being an aviator of some sort, a biologist, an engineer, etc. etc. etc.  He’s a pharmacist, so I rather thought the idea of a scientist would suit him well.  A belt with a suitable selection of sealed vials with little miniature plants in them would work nicely for a botanist of some sort, likewise with some “dubious” chemicals for a chemist.   A suitable pair of pants shouldn’t be too difficult to buy or make.   I already have a nice pattern for a tailcoat that will look phenomenal.

I likely have less actual sewing to do this year than I did for last . . . which may be a good thing, but gettng started much earlier will help to ensure that I’m not sitting there rushing to get things finished at the last minute again this year. I’ve also got a good, fairly clear picture of what it is I want to make. Now all I’ve got to do is aquire the materials and get to work.

I’m going to keep to my resolution and post to my blog at least once a week…even if I don’t have anything to post, and I don’t today, so you get to hear all about the thing I’m researching at the moment.

I had the luck of having a home essentially given to me at the time I most needed it. I’ve gradually been going through the house and redecorating it to suit my own personal tastes, which tend to lean toward the steampunk. Fortunately, the furniture in the house, for the most part old dark-wood antiques, lent itself to that aesthetic. Less fortunately, the walls, carpeting, etc. did not.

Enter the paint…at the moment I’m working on the master bathroom, painting the walls a deep sage green with the intention of accenting the molding and cabinetry in a deep chocolate brown, perhaps with some stencil-work. I haven’t got the budget to change out the fixtures or countertops, which are chrome and white, so I’ll be looking for other ways to soften their appearance.

The first movie based on Jeanne DuPrau‘s novel, City of Ember, hit theatres yesterday. I first learned of this movie, and the book behind it, through the Steampunk Home blog, and as I’d just run out of reading materials, I decided to pick up the book and give it a try.

The book was an easy and a quick read, clearly aimed at a young adolescent audience, but was still one of the best books I’ve read recently. It was a very cleanly written, wonderfully told adventure with no small amount of relevance to current politics, though the political aspects were just a minor atmospheric part of the story, and not forced down your throat as can often be the case. It was just an elegant and fun little book.

The movie was just as fun. They made a few changes, which made it rather more visually appealing and did not detract from the actual story. Well, at least not too much. I’m always one to encourage accuracy to the book where accuracy is possible. The special effects and settings for the movie were done extremely well, and all those lamps and clocks and gears made my steampunk heart go clickety-clack.

It got sort of hit-and-miss reviews, going by Rotten Tomatoes, but most of the negative ones seemed surprised that a kid’s book got turned into a kid’s movie, or had clearly not read the book at all and were annoyed with the (literal) darkness of it…when the whole basis of the story is about the lights going out. In that, I think, City of Ember, the movie, has been cheated.

Links: City of Ember Official Movie Website and at IMDB