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Tag Archives: steampunk
2023 Quarry Farm Symposium: Twain and Sci-Fi Theme
I’m chairing the annual Quarry Farm Symposium at Elmira College, October 6-8, 2023, and we’re looking for folks to come talk about early science fiction, steampunk, basically any science/literature overlaps during Mark Twain’s lifetime (1835-1910). If you’re reading this and … Continue reading
At Twain Museum for Big River Steampunk Fest
As I’ve noted before, Hannibal, Missouri hosts one of the biggest outdoor steampunk festivals in the Midwest. This year, I am coincidentally driving cross-country and will be in Hannibal for the event. So, on Sunday, Sept. 5 at 1pm, I’ll … Continue reading
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Tagged Big River Steampunk Festival, Hannibal, hollow earth, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, science fiction, steampunk
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Science Fiction Studies New Issue: Nostalgia & Reviews
The new issue of Science Fiction Studies came out this month. I’m calling attention to it for two reasons: First, it’s a special issue focused on nostalgia in SF, a topic near to my heart and mind. Guest editors Aris … Continue reading
Essay from Worlds of Steampunk Exhibition
NOTE: UC Davis Librarian Roberto Delgadillo asked me to write this essay for Shields Library’s exhibition Worlds of Steampunk: Fiction, Art, Fashion and Culture in 2012. The online display has been taken down, so I’m reprinting it here before the … Continue reading
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Tagged Ann VanderMeer, boneshaker, Bruce Sterling, cherie priest, Custer's Last Jump, Future Perfect, H. Bruce Franklin, Howard Waldrop, Jeff VanderMeer, Jess Nevins, John Prine, Reflected Light, steampunk, Steven Utley, The Anubis Gates, The Difference Engine, tim powers, UC Davis, Walt and Emily, William Gibson
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Celebration of Authors at C19 Conference
I’ll be participating at the “Celebration of Authors” event for the all-online C19: Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists conference this October. My book came out over a year ago, but it’s a biennial conference and the book wasn’t available last time … Continue reading
Americana Music in Sci-Fi Games
There’s a fascinating video on Polygon from last week that begins by asking “Why is there so much banjo music in science fiction video games today?” (I’m not a gamer, so I wasn’t up on this trend–but I’m obsessed with … Continue reading
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Tagged americana, banjos, Douglas Adams, gaming, lisa yaszek, Mark Twain, Science Fiction Music, steampunk
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Gears and God Reviewed in Extrapolation
My book on 19th-century American science fiction was reviewed in the journal Extrapolation. I’m linking to the review’s first page, although the rest of it is behind an academic paywall that will prevent most folks from reading the whole thing. … Continue reading
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Tagged Edisonades, Extrapolation, Gears and God, steampunk, University of Alabama Press
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C19 Presentation on Steampunk
I learned this week that my proposed presentation, “The Pros and Cons of Steampunking a C19 Syllabus,” was accepted for the C19 (Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists) 2020 Conference. The presentation will be part of the “Teaching the Weird Nineteenth Century” … Continue reading
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Tagged C19, c19 conference, steampunk, Teaching the Weird Nineteenth Century
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Full ConQuesT 50 Schedule
My full schedule for Kansas City’s 50th Anniversary ConQuesT SF Convention is now available under Appearances. Come by the Sheraton at Crown Center and see me talk about Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Doctor Who, and read some of the stranger … Continue reading
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Tagged American Gods, ConQuesT, Doctor Who, Gears and God, Kansas City, Neil Gaiman, steampunk
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Cambridge History of Science Fiction is Out!
I received my contributor’s copy of The Cambridge History of Science Fiction this week. This book is a thorough, thoughtful collection of essays about key developments in the history of SF worldwide. Gerry Canavan and Eric Carl Link have done … Continue reading
Projects from Steampunk Freshman Seminar 2018
This week, students in my Fall 2018 “First-Year Seminar” on steampunk turned in their first round of creative projects. The assignment asks them to “steampunk a common object.” As you can see from the photo below, I got some clever … Continue reading
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Tagged First-Year Seminar, steampunk, steampunk an object, UC Davis
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Gears and God Signing at Avid Reader
I’m doing a reading/signing for my book, Gears and God, at the Avid Reader in Davis this Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Please share with friends who like Mark Twain, science fiction, or U.S. history!
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Tagged Avid Reader, Davis, Gears and God, Mark Twain, science fiction, steampunk
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Mark Twain Forum Reviews Gears and God
As promised earlier, here is a link to the full text of John Bird’s review of Gears and God on the Mark Twain Forum. Here’s an excerpt: Gears and God is important for the way it places Mark Twain’s works within … Continue reading
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Tagged dime novels, Gears and God, John Bird, Mark Twain, Mark Twain Forum, steampunk, Technology
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Steampunk Class Projects
Last quarter, I finished up another section of my UC Davis first-year seminar on Steampunk. Fifteen students came on board to read the VanderMeer’s short story collection, the original League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel, and watch Wild Wild West … Continue reading
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Tagged First-Year Seminar, howl's moving castle, pedagogy, steampunk, UC Davis, Wild wild west
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Twain and Dime-Novel Science Fiction
If you’re interested in listening to my October 11, 2017 guest lecture on “Mark Twain and the Inventor Fiction Boom, 1876-1910” the audio is now available online. You can’t watch the slideshow that went with it, but there is a … Continue reading
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Tagged A Connecticut Yankee, dime novels, Electric Bob, Frank Reade, Mark Twain, steampunk, Tom Edison Jr, Tom Sawyer Abroad
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Steampunk Images from Hannibal
Just posting some photos from the Big River Steampunk Festival in Hannibal, MO. My parents went up there over Labor Day weekend and snapped these. As I said in an earlier post, it’s nice to see one of America’s best … Continue reading
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Tagged Big River Steampunk Festival, Hannibal, Mark Twain, steampunk
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Mark Twain’s Town Discovers Steampunk
I recently returned from a Mark Twain conference in Hannibal, MO, and I noticed a change in Twain’s hometown since the last time I was there in 2011. There’s a lot more steampunk stuff. The town is already a tourist destination, … Continue reading
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Tagged Becky Thatcher, Clemens Conference 2015, Hannibal, Mark Twain, steampunk, Tom Sawyer
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Steampunk Links from UC Davis Course
We just finished up this quarter’s Steampunk first-year seminar. I thought I’d share a screenshot of the class’s SmartSite folder of external links and pictures to give a taste of what the students examined. As you can see, we … Continue reading
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Tagged Comstock, Dr. Jekyll, Fu Manchu, Mr. Hyde, Nadar, Pikedevant, Portlandia, steampunk
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Dime Novel Sci-Fi at “God and the American Writer” Symposium
At the end of February, I’ll be presenting a paper on the Frank Reade, Jr. dime-novel inventor series at a special symposium on “God and the American Writer” sponsored by the American Literature Association. What do those early science-fiction stories–best … Continue reading
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Tagged ALA, dime novels, Edisonades, Frank Reade, science fiction, steampunk
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Scott Westerfeld & Justine Larbalestier Interview is Out
The interview Laurie Glover and I did with YA science-fiction giants Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier is now out. It appears in the Spring 2014 issue of Writing on the Edge (WOE), pages 96-106. It’s not available online, so Larbalestier/Westerfeld … Continue reading
Forthcoming Westerfeld and Labalestier Interview
Last week, Laurie Glover and I interviewed authors Scott Westerfeld and Justine Labalestier for UC Davis’s interdisciplinary writing journal, Writing on the Edge. I’ve been transcribing and editing for the past few days with a February 28th deadline. We discussed … Continue reading
Steampunk Final Exam, Part 2
As promised, here is the second half of the final questions I posed to students in my Steampunk first-year seminar at UC Davis. This was the essay portion of the exam, and their answers were thoughtful. Instructions: Take a position … Continue reading
Steampunk Final Exam for First-Year University Seminar, Part 1
O.K., I didn’t actually give my students a final exam for our Steampunk seminar. I did, however, make a mock final and asked them to come up with answers for me. Part 1 was an identification section. Answers are listed … Continue reading
More Films from Steampunk Seminar
It took two class sessions, but we finally watched all of Howl’s Moving Castle. What a great movie. Lots of discussion regarding whether or not the steampunk setting–with the mechanical/magical castle and the old planes and the pre-WWI uniforms–was really … Continue reading
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Tagged anime, atlantis, howl's moving castle, scott mcloud, series of unfortunate events, steampunk, treasure planet
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Nathaniel Williams 