The Traveler's Steampunk Blog

Daguerreotype Cthulhu

I've had this image in my collection for quite a while now. My speculation is it was Cthulhu's dreams he sent that kept me from publishing it. Perhaps he is simply not quite comfortable in his new found role as a gentleman of leissure, yet. I guess that's undertsandable. After being a cosmic horror for

vigintillions of years ( Quote from Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu)

Review: K.W. Jeter "Infernal Devices" and "Morlock Night"

For those of you who were not aware of it: Mr. Jeter named us, the genre, the lifestyle. He is the inventor of the term Steampunk. His two defining steampunk novels Infernal Devices and Morlock Night are back in print now, for the first time since the late '80s, actually, and I have had the great pleasure of reading and reviewing them. Morlock Night Morlock Night is a sequel to H.G. Well'...

Review: Cari Silverwood – Iron Dominance

I first came across Iron Dominance on a Twitter channel I am following. I had not heard of Cari Silverwood before, so I proceeded to look her up on the ætherweb. What I found explained why I had not heard of her: Ms. Silverwood specializes in erotic fiction, a genre I tend not to read and I have mixed experiences with the books I have read and reviewed here. Still, the story sounded intrigu...

Review: Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories

Once again I was contacted via the æthernet and asked if I was interested in doing a review for an upcoming Steampunk anthology. This time it was Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories, due to be released October 11th. Anthologies have thus far been something of a mixed blessing, but I was intrigued by this particular review offer, because it is a collection of Yo...

The Three Musketeers and Airships

Mon Dieu! I wonder if Monsieur Dumas is turning in his grave right now or having a hearty chuckle somewhere on the other side. As you may have heard, Dumas' most famous novel, The Three Musketeers has been turned into a movie yet again. This time it is a little... Different. How exactly? Well, since I feature it on my blog, it is rather obvious. But take an extended look at the trailer: ...

SteamUp Festival Vol. III - Travel Log Part 1: The Video

On the 14th of April 2012 (i.e. yesterday), I made my way to the beautiful city of Prague to attend the SteamUp Festival Vol. III at the Hoodoo Music Club. Getting there was just a tiny bit of an adventure itself, I took the long-range express bus: It was far better than I expected and definitely preferable to taking the train. You get coffee and snacks brought to you, the staff is friend...

Review: Carnal Machines - Steampunk Erotica

Steampunk Erotica is a part of Steampunk fiction I have thus far only encountered on the website SteamyPunk. I did not really enjoy what I read there back then, when the site was pointed out to me. So recently, I received an email with the following press release:

Carnal Machines: Steampunk Erotica Edited by D.L. King Erotica at its steamiest -literally! D. L. King, editor of the bestse...

A Pocket Zeppelin

This time, I have to thank both of my main contributors of material to this blog, Timo and Luftschiffharry. Within almost exactly three hours of one another they send me a link via æthermail. They both do not know each other, so this was not a orchastrated event. What they had to show me was this:

A collection turning into a uniform

Right, I am a self-confessed Zeppelin aficionado and I have a nice if rather small collection of Zeppelin paraphrenalia. In particular it appears small compared to the amounts of material collected by my friend Luftschiffharry (you find him in my links to the right). In any case, I am now actually able to dress up as a Steampunk Zeppelin captain. The thing is: It more or less just happened. ...

Dieselpunk Alice with Guns and Zeppelins

Right, next year the director of Watchmen and 300 has a new project. This one is Sucker Punch and IMDB has the following very short statement concerning the plot:

A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility.

Alice ...

Steampunk Novel Excerpt

I have been writing a Steampunk novel on and off for over a year now. More often than not, life, family, the day job interfered with my progress goals but recently, I was able to make some progress. The novel is still far from finished and at the current rate, I guess it will take at least another year. I just though I share this description of an air-battle with you. I struggled with the de...

H.P. Lovecraft's original Facebook and the Dancing Goths

Out of the Æons comes the stark revelation, H.P. Lovecraft, Master of the Macabre had a Facebook decades before it was fashionable. I dare speculate the Great Race of Yith had a hand in that one. Here is proof, by the way: And while we are a bit on the lighthearted side of darkness, we continue in the same vein and take a look at this highly educational video on "How to Dance like a Got...

Interview with Alex White of The Gearheart

After finding my review of his podcast The Gearheart on my blog, Alex White got in touch with me and we had a little email exchange during which he suggested doing an interview I could publish on my blog. Obvioulsy, I jumped on this opportunity and here's the interview: Where did you get the idea for The Gearheart from, what inspired you? Well, as sources of inspiration go, I was really qui...

Unapologetic Patriotism in Germany

A while ago, I ranted about Germans being completely devoid of patriotic feelings. Well, it seems we are changing. Right now the FIFA Word Cup is on (I guess you noticed...) and Germany is once again all coloured black, red and gold, people are going around with painted faces, flags ties around their shoulders etc. Actually, as I am typing this, there's a German flag painted on my right che...

Cthulhu iPhone/iPad Game

Oh well, I should have known, since I am taking a vacation at one of the centers of cult activity around the globe... Anyway, yesterday evening a few local folks and me were sitting around a table in the lobby of the Gilman House and one of them brought the following to my attention:  

The Stars are Right as 'Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land' Launches! After a year of intensive deve...