Airship Ambassador Interview #100, Part Nine

Welcome back for Part Nine of Interview #100. Here are answers to the sixth question.

Read Part One here. Current Involvement, Part one

Read Part Two here. Current Involvement, Part two

Read Part Three here. Opportunities, part one

Read Part Four here. Opportunities, part two

Read Part Five here. Changes, part one

Read Part Six here. Changes, part two

Read Part Seven here. Next in Steampunk

Read Part Eight here. Personally affected

 

What is something noteworthy about steampunk which people should know about?

 

Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine: There are no limitations to this genre. It is open to all ages, all genders, all races, all sexual orientations. You can set your steampunk in our past, or you can set it in a universe completely your own. Because of the limitless possibilities of steampunk, anything is possible.

Jaymee Goh: Steampunk is the funnest form of counter-history. I love big machines and cannot lie.

Jean-Christophe Valtat: Well, everybody knows that, I guess, but I am struck by the fact that early steampunk had an interest in evolutionary science, which perhaps has been superseded by a more industrial, mechanical approach to the genre. I think the broader scope is always the best.

Nick Valentino: Steampunk is an all inclusive, no-holds-barred ride of wonderful. There are few things like it in the world and I hope that people continue to be drawn to it and make it even better than it is today. Sure it has it’s drama and egos and BS from time to time, but it’s noteworthy not only because of it’s creativity and ability to inspire, but it’s a fun )and good looking) culture that everyone can be a part of.

Evan Butterfield: I think the thing that saves steampunk for the longer term is that it’s not recreating or reenacting, it’s creating and making and developing something very new that just looks old. We all have these alt-hists going on, and some of them are parallel and mesh together and some of them veer off wildly and just barely stay on the “steampunk spectrum.” But that’s what makes it unique, that diversity and all the different visions. Some people are all Cthulhu and Lovecraft, and some are total pirates and airships and badass women in corsets; some are just Proper Victorians with elaborate timepieces, and some people just stick gears on stuff and call it steampunk, and others go whole-hog into dieselpunk and teslapunk, which–and I know this is heretical to some–are still on the steamy spectrum in my mind: it all sort of flows together. OK I know that this wasn’t the question, but here’s my beef: there appears to be a growing number of orthodox steampunks in the digital world who are always poised to archly condemn this or that as “not steampunk.” A lot of what I’ve done has fallen into that critique, and I think the very last thing that we need are keepers-of-the-flame who pronounce what is and is not allowable. The way a culture grows is by evolving through experimentation and diversity; the way it dies is to define everything to death until it all calcifies in a boring, gray, lifeless monument to what was. I think we really need to beware of these self-appointed “protectors.” Anyway, you didn’t ask, but that’s my speech.

Gail Carriger: One of the places steampunk still thrives is on Pinterest. I hang out there a lot these days.

Richard Preston: I think people should know that steampunk, even though it has such a gorgeous exterior in terms of look, such as the clothing, accessories and architecture, is also a place where the great themes of life and love can all be explored as deep as a creative artist wants to go. I’m not knocking costuming and cosplaying in any way–its such a joyous expression of the creative heart, and it is a vibrant community–but I hope people realize that steampunk goes far beyond its costumes, just like Star Wars and Game of Thrones do.

Diana Pho: Happening now? There is Steampunk Universe, which is the latest fiction anthology focusing on disabled and neuroatypical characters, coming from Alliteration Ink. Or Like Clockwork, the latest academic anthology from University of Minnesota Press this December. And the Airship Ashanti is producing a 2017 multicultural steampunk calendar too! What I love about the community is that it is always growing and producing things that can be expanding our creative horizons–nd in some small way, have an impact on our greater world.

Mike Perschon:  You aren’t doing it wrong.

 

Join us tomorrow for answers to the last question in Part Ten of Interview #100!

 

Thanks to everyone who has participated:

Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine, read the first interview here.

Evan Butterfield, read the first interview here.

Gail Carriger, read the first interview here.

Jaymee Goh, read the first interview here.

James Ng, read the first interview here.

Mike Perschon, read the first interview here.

Diana Pho, read the first interview here.

Richard Preston, read the first interview here.

Lev AC Rosen, read the first interview here.

Arthur Slade, read the first interview here.

Nick Valentino, read the first interview here.

Jean-Christophe Valtat, read the first interview here.

 

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement!