Category: small WORLD

Steampunk combines science fiction elements from the Victoria era with the edginess of Cyberpunk of the 1980s. So why is Steampunk exploding in popular culture in the 21st century?

To find out, today on the Small World, we’ll talk with Bruce Sterling who, along with William Gibson, wrote The Difference Engine, the book that first pushed Steampunk into mainstream culture.

We’ll also talk with David Simkins, a writer and executive producer for Syfy’s Warehouse 13 has been described as “part The X-Files, part Raiders of the Lost Ark and part Moonlighting.”

Finally, we’ll talk with Steampunk Tales Evelyn Kriete, a penny dreadful you can read on your iPhone.

Steampunk was originally a blend of 19th century science fiction from writers like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne and the 20th century Cyberpunk themes of rebellion and dystopianism.

Steampunk has steadily been growing in popularity. Some people modify their laptops or cellphone with polished brass, iron, and wood while some musicians are incorporating Steampunk elements into their music. There are even Steampunk conventions where people can gather and display their wares or dress in pseudo Victorian fashions.

My introduction to Steampunk was The Difference Engine, a novel by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson, back in the early 1990s. The Difference Engine explored an alternate history where computers existed in the 19th century and the impact they had on that world.

What better place to begin today’s show than talking with Bruce Sterling?

Bruce not only co-wrote The Difference Engine with William Gibson, but he also put Cyberpunk on the map with the Mirrorshades anthology. Bruce has also written Zeitgeist, which is one of my favorite novels, as well as The Zenith Angle, and his most recent book, The Caryatids.

Warehouse 13 is a mashup of the The X-Files and Indiana Jones with our heroes Peter Lattimer and Myka Bering hunting supernatural objects.

I really enjoy the bickering and bantering on Warehouse 13 but what first got me interested in the show were the artifacts and devices that appeared on the show. There are gadgets like Tesla guns and archaic looking communication devices and supernatural objects like Lewis Carroll’s mirror Harry Houdini’s wallet. All of which is steeped of Steampunk.

You know, I almost hate to admit this, but I love my iPhone.

I listen to music and podcasts on my iPhone, I play games on my iPhone, I read blogs and books on my iPhone and sometimes I even call people on my iPhone.

The iPhone is such a 21st century device that I was surprised and charmed to find an application for the iPhone called Steampunk Tales.

Steampunk Tales describes itself as a penny dreadful for the iPhone and features Steampunk stories that you can read on Apple’s nearly ubiquitous device.

Evelyn has been kind enough to give away a copy of the latest Steampunk Tales. Send me an email at smallworldpodcast@gmail.com for your chance to win a copy of Steampunk Tales for your iPhone.

The music heard on today’s show is “Mr. Soot’s Little Black Book” by the Unextraordinary Gentlemen and Hannah Fury’s “No Man Alive.”

The incidental music heard on today’s show was “Sûrement” by Ez3kiel, “Cold Fuzzies” by Skerror, “Landlost” by In the Nursery, “Arcanum” by Ben Houge and “Yeesha’s Joyride” by Jack Wall.

Join us next time on the Small World when we’ll talk with singer/song writer Michael Hayes about his retrospective album, Diamonds Down the Drain.

Hey, everybody, got a great show for you today! Our guest is Keith Goldman and he builds amazing LEGO dioramas. Today’s show is an enhanced podcast so you’ll get to see his dioramas on your iPad, iPhone, iPod or on iTunes and see for yourself how amazing they are.

Come to think of it, you might have already seen dioramas based on the Logan’s Run movie last week on the web on blogs like Make and io9, which is how I found out about Keith.

I think the reason why people got so excited about Keith’s LEGO Logan’s Run diorama is because they combine to magical elements: LEGOs and Logan’s Run.

LEGOs are magical because you can build your own toys and create your own stories around them. And then you can take them apart and create something new. And while there seems like an infinite combination of things you can make with LEGOs you’re also challenged with building within the constraints of LEGOs plastic bricks, and that’s part of the fun, too.

And Logan’s Run?

If you recall, that was a movie where people lived in a domed city that was I’m complete ecological harmony but was essentially a shiny mall. Everyone was attractive and were complete hedonists. The only drawback to this utopia was that you had to die when you turned 30.

Some people didn’t want to die and wanted to escape to a place called Sanctuary where they could live out the rest of their lives. These people were called runners and the people who hunted them down were called Sandmen. And one Sandman, Logan, our titular hero, decides to run with our heroinn, Jessica, which takes them outside the domed city to the real world.

Looking back Logan’s Run seems kind of cheesy but there’s a lot going on in that movie. Logan’s Run is a retelling of the Garden of Eden story, but in reverse. Logan and Jessica are Adam and Eve who are kept infantilized in an artificial paradise. It’s only until they flee into nature that they become adults and can have a mature relationship with each other.

Logan’s Run can also be seen as a story about how civilization flattens us as individuals to better fit in a society. Logan’s Run can also be seen as a retelling of Plato’s cave story. When Logan returns from the natural world to the domed city to tell people that they don’t have to die, that there is a world beyond the domed city, he, like the character from Plato’s story, is regarded as crazy and a threat to their comfortable illusions.

Like a said there’s a lot going on.

And finally, as fake as the domed city looks in comparison to our CGI generated movies, I wanted to live in that world. By sheer force of imagination that world became real to me as a kid, and that’s kind of what it’s like building with LEGOs.

And that brings us back to Keith. So let’s go talk to him.

Songs heard on today’s show:

1. The Daisy Riots “Girls Don’t Play Lego”

Hey, everybody, I’ve got a great show for you today!

We’re going to talk with Ian McDonald about his book, The Dervish House, that will be released in July through Pyr.

The Dervish House combines Islamic mysticism, political and economic intrigue, a terrorist threat, and a nanotechnology with the potential to transform every human on the planet. The Dervish House takes place in Istanbul in 2027. The Dervish House is seven days, six characters, three interconnected story strands, one central common core—the eponymous dervish house, that pins all these players together in a weave of intrigue, conflict, drama, and a ticking clock of a thriller.

Ian is a science fiction novelist who’s themes include nanotechnology, postcyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies.

We’ll also talk with Cory Doctorow about his latest novel, For the Win, a book about gamer kids all over the world who use multiplayer games to organize and fight back against abusive employers by forming a union. It’s a wonderful book that I couldn’t put down.

Cory is a blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of Boing Boing, a blog and directory of wonderful things.

You can download a free electronic copy of For the Win and Cory’s other novels at his website but I encourage you to support Cory by purchasing at least one of his books at your local or online bookstore.

Music featured on today’s show:

1. Futuristic Sex Robot “WoW” [FREE DOWNLOAD]
2. Backini “Istanbul” [FREE DOWNLOAD]