Steampunk Hands Around the World 2017 – Official Link List

Image Courtesy of Mr. XPK

Welcome to the fourth  year of bringing people together from around the world and sharing the amazing creativity of our steampunk community – Welcome to Steampunk Hands Around the World 2017!

This year’s theme is “Making Life Better”. Between February 1st and 28th, more than thirty steampunk creators will share examples of how steampunk has, or could, make life better for themselves, for our friends, and for our community.

We will see how steampunk has made a difference in people’s relationships, in their understanding of other people, and in helping them express themselves more fully. Steampunk may have helped people learn more, do more, and be more.

Steampunk can make a difference. WE can make a difference.

 

Your 2017 hosts come from:

Australia, England, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, USA, and more!

 

Follow along here for the daily link updates.

Follow on Twitter, using the hashtag #SteampunkHands

Follow on the Facebook Event page

 

We recommend using a translation service, such as Google or Bing (and several others), to access those pages not in your native language.

The Firefox and Chrome browsers have a built-in, right click menu option to translate selected text of a page using Google Translate.

Begin your travels here.

 

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February 1

Airship Ambassador – Welcome!

Thorsten Küper – Steampunk Theater, Live!

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February 2

Karen J Carlisle – A Whimsical Notion: Steampunk Hands Around the World #1

Airship Ambassador – Friends

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February 3

Airship Ambassador – Never Say Never

El Investigador – Steampunk, haciendo la vida mejor

E.A. Hennessey – SteampunkHands Around the World 2017: Making Life Better – Aesthetics

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February 4

Airship Ambassador – Learning

David Lee Summers – Making Life Better Through Astronomy

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February 5

Airship Ambassador – Self Expression

Beyond Victoriana – Making Life Better Giveaway! Steeplejack & Firebrand

Madeleine Holly-Rosing – Steampunk Hands 2017

Caelyn Tek – Steampunk Hands Around the World 2017

Spring Tiger – The Glasses for It

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February 6

Airship Ambassador – Collaboration

Decimononic – Amazing Steampunk-inspired fine jewelers

Steampunk Parliament – Steampunk is a Movement of Compromise

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February 7

Airship Ambassador – Relationships

Shelly Dusic – Vandalia-Con

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February 8

Airship Ambassador – Art

Metapunk – Steampunk and Happiness – #SteampunkHands 2017 – Part 1

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February 9

Airship Ambassador – Creativity

The Write Route – Dreaming Cost nothing.  Giving up All Dreams Costs Everything.

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February 10

Airship Ambassador – Music

E.A. Hennessey – SteampunkHands Around the World: Making Life Better – Maker Culture

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February 11

Airship Ambassador – Awareness

The Write Route – Steampunk Saved His Life

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February 12

Airship Ambassador – The World is Smaller

Stephanie Kato – Steampunk Hands Around the World 2017

Karen J Carlisle – A Sense of Wonder: Steampunk Hands Around the World #2

Beyond Victoriana – Steampunk Hands Around the World: Making Life Better Giveaway! Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly

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February 13

Airship Ambassador – Taking Action

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February 14

Airship Ambassador – Personal Challenges

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February 15

Airship Ambassador – Food

Major Q – Steampunk Makes Life Better (Video)

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February 16

Airship Ambassador – History

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February 17

Airship Ambassador – Philosophy

E.A. Hennessey – Steampunk Hands Around the World 2017: Making Life Better -Perspective

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February 18

Airship Ambassador – Fashion

Professor Elemental’s Guide to Making Life Better

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February 19

Airship Ambassador – Perspective

Karen J Carlisle – Firing the Imagination: Steampunk Hands Around the World #3

Radio Retrofuture – How does Steampunk make live better?

Beyond Victoriana – Steampunk Hands Around the World: Making Life Better Giveaway! The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis

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February 20

Airship Ambassador – Support

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February 21

Airship Ambassador – My Motto

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February 22

Airship Ambassador – Influencing the Mainstream

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February 23

Airship Ambassador – Stories

Ucronias – MAKING LIFE BETTER THROUGH STEAMPUNK

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February 24

Airship Ambassador – Positive Attitude

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February 25

Airship Ambassador – The Future

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February 26

Airship Ambassador – How Did We Get ‘Here’

Karen J Carlisle – Re-imagining a Better World

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February 27

Airship Ambassador – Changing ‘X’

Wolfgang Edwards – Informing the Future

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February 28

Ucronias – Steampunk as a Meeting Space for Creation

Madame Askew – Collaboration

Airship Ambassador – Wrap Up

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Airship Ambassador Interview #100, Part Eight

Welcome back for Part Eight of Interview #100. Here are answers to the fifth 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

 

How has steampunk, the culture, and the community affected you personally?

 

Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine: We have met some of the finest people—con organizers alight with passion for the punk, talented people like Thomas Willeford, Voltaire, Doctor Q, The Men Who Will Be Blamed for Nothing, and those voices of the movement like The Steampunk Ambassador, Suna Dasi, and Diana Pho—through this genre. It’s a wide-eyed wonderful community, some whom have read our books, some whom have heard us talk about steampunk, and we feel welcomed. The creativity is nothing less than inspiring. The community continuously keeps us driven.

Arthur Slade: It’s curious. I’m just a writer. And I write whatever comes to mind for me. So in many ways I fell into the steampunk world by accident. But I’ve come away from the experience with loads of respect for the creativity of that community. Even though steampunk is about the “old” days, it’s also about creating something new from the old. Whether that be books, movies, clothing or really cool devices. I’ve found it to be a very welcoming community. So thanks for letting me step onto the airship.

Jaymee Goh: I’ve met some of my most favourite people through steampunk, and had some really unique experiences that I don’t know if I could have replicated elsewhere with some other lifepath. I appreciate daily little technologies a lot more, too, and I’ve learned that working with my hands has a distinct pleasure that doesn’t contradict the life of the mind.

I’ve also learned more about history, and histories, which I was probably happier not knowing, because they’re such painful histories. But the sadness I have spurs me on to a refined sense of justice that is neither reductive nor simplistic (even though I can be a reductive and simple-minded person at times).

Jean-Christophe Valtat: Beyond what I said about having an audience that could “get it”, I think that first and foremost, the huge amount of research one has to do has  to as a streampunk writer, has considerably enriched my own culture and made me reflect on the impact the past has upon the present. As to the community, what I found the most interesting perhaps was this drive to change your daily life, make it more harmonious, more significant, not only through reading, but also through dressing up, or surrounding yourselves with beautiful objects. I like this idea of reading seeping in real life, instead of just being a separate reality, or pure escapism. It certainly changed the way I dress…

Nick Valentino: I guess the biggest thing for me, is that it’s opened my eyes to so much. It’s made me a more open person, and I’d like to think it’s made me a better person.I feel that interacting with so many people over the years has made me more fun, and generally happier than I ever have been. It’s been a chain of awesome that seems to exponentially compound for me. Personally, a simple Steampunk book begat friends, connections, travel,  opportunities, and meeting the most amazing person I have ever met. Who knew? It’s funny how such a seemingly small thing can change your life.

Evan Butterfield: I’ve met some delightful, creative people, which is always nice. I’ve always had a steampunky aesthetic even when I didn’t know that’s what I had, so I can’t say it showed me The Way, but really more confirmed what I already felt. I suspect that’s not a unique experience. Mostly it’s given me a really interesting thing to explore in my photography, and keeps me from spending all my time randomly surfing the Internet.

James Ng: It has given me a community where I could connect with other artists and fans. It has done a lot more for me than I ever expected. It is more than just work.

Gail Carriger: Aside from changing my life? Well I just ordered a new corset, does that count? I suspect if I weren’t a steampunk author I would have long since gotten rid of most of my costuming, and likely wouldn’t still be creating, mending, and modding as much. For that, I’m grateful. I like still having an alternate creative output to writing.

Richard Preston: I think I have had a very good experience, overall, with the steampunk community. When I published my first book I contacted both Cherie Priest and Gail Carriger with a sort of “Hi! I’m publishing a steampunk book and do you have any advice?” kind of thing and they were both so kind, supportive and full of good advice. Writing steampunk has enriched my life intellectually and also in terms of adventure and fun, and I think I’ll always keep my hand in the genre one way or another.

Diana Pho: It’s strange to think that I’ve been active in the community for about 8 years now — a good chunk of my independent adult life. It has affected me on so many levels; I mean, looking through photos from my steampunky-Vietnamese beachhouse wedding this year says a lot. 🙂 Without being involved in steampunk, my life could have dramatically veered into a different direction — now that is a what-if to ponder!

Mike Perschon: I’ve traveled across the world and had the opportunity to meet some really wonderful people. The greatest gift steampunk has given me is a bunch of good friends.

 

Join us tomorrow for answers to the sixth question in Part Nine 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!

Airship Ambassador Interview #100, Part Seven

Welcome back for Part Seven of Interview #100. Here are the answers to the fourth 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

 

What would you like to see happen with steampunk in the next year or two?

 

Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine: Aside from AMC, HBO, or Netflix turning our books into a series? We would love to see just that—a hit series or film, animated or live action, where the steampunk is out there, front and center.

Jaymee Goh: That seems really short a time period to have any substantial change happen at the scale I am thinking of. I would LIKE for there to be more awareness of other histories beyond the obvious Eurocentric and American-centric stories. I would LIKE for there to be a more international presence in Asian countries that isn’t derived from Victorian forms. But this is not really a thing that could happen in a year or two. The Victorian-centric aesthetic has a great deal of cultural capital and presence across the world.

I would also like for teachers to be able to use steampunk in a resourceful way of engaging students with history: “Go find out what was real and what wasn’t in this alternate timeline!” or “how do you think this machine would work!” or “why is America still settled by white folks; is this realistic in this fantastical world!”

Jean-Christophe Valtat: If it’s not too a harsh thing to say, I would like Steampunk to keep exploring new aspects of  the XIXth century culture (and beyond). I am well aware the pleasures of recognition are part and parcel of the experience – they are even the foundation of the genre-  but, at some point, there is no harm in taking them somewhere else.

Nick Valentino: As always, I’m not afraid of the mainstream. I want to see a full blown high budget Steampunk movie. I want to see a dedicated steampunk drama television show. I want it to explode across more screens, book covers, and movie theaters across the world. I’m sure that ruffles the feathers of some, but this isn’t an exclusive club. What makes Steampunk great is everyone from any sex, creed, race, culture, or belief can do it and have fun with it. Steampunk’s cultural core is based on equality for all and acceptance of all. no matter how different. At conferences, you’ll see all races, literally all ages and everyone has a smile on their face. And the greatest part is that no one worth their Steampunk stripes is judging them. So I’d like to see more more more of everything from every angle.

Evan Butterfield: I’d like to see steampunkians keep working hard to be unpopular, honestly. I mean, it’s fine to let some of the aesthetic get commercialized and broadly adopted, but it seems to me healthy to keep a little subversiveness in the subculture. The risk of not doing that, of not maintaining at least some piece of steampunk out of the mainstream, is that we’ll witness a “Trek-ification” of steampunk. Now, I’m as big a trekkie as anyone (well, maybe not anyone, but a lot), but what you see there is a “subculture” that was born from, and emulates, a pop-culture entity. In an odd way, I could see the same think inadvertently happening to steampunk: as it becomes more broadly recognized and adopted, our cons and makers will start to be seen not as original sources of creativity, but as reflections of whatever the broader commercial application of steampunk looks like. And that would be sad. Still fun, but not the same.

James Ng: The release of my comic! haha. Though my experience with some “mainstream” production have been bad, I still hope to see Steampunk shown with respect in the media in the near future, so hopefully there will be a new production with good financial backing.

Gail Carriger: The world is ready for a great steampunk TV show or major (well done & popular) motion picture. There have been some shows that edge on steampunk and taken on cult status, but nothing has really broken out yet. But I keep my ear to the production rumor mill in Hollywood and I haven’t heard of anything.

Richard Preston: I’d like to see that BIG steampunk movie/book/etc. take the world by storm. I don’t see it coming, but you never see these things coming. There are so many great human themes in steampunk, themes that are still relevant today, such as industrialization vs. agriculturalism, man vs. machine (jobs), Darwin vs. creationism, etc. It isn’t going to be me, but we need that story that is able to take all the great creative aspects of sci-fi and retro-futurism and bust our world wide open like 2001: A Space Odyssey did. I also think, in the finest Jeff VanderMeer tradition, that steampunk is a perfect weapon to tackle stories about human interference in world ecology, and can be set in the Anthropocene as well as the antipodes.

Diana Pho: It’d be awesome to have Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker to be made into a movie. Or maybe my own airship novel I’m editing could make it big. Who knows? 😉

 

Join us tomorrow for answers to the next question in Part Eight 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!