At long last, the Steampunk Librarian has packed up the links and has moved over to Vox, which promises to be friendlier to regular posting! Come over and have some tea.

The Steampunk Librarian is currently transmogrifying and migrating and rearranging itself into a new form (and possibly a new home). Hang on and the new information will be up soon. Sorry for the dust around here.

(an addendum: since it's taken a few hours to publish this very small entry on Blogger, I think the new home is more "probable" than "possible"!)

Steampunk, by its very definition, lends itself to a great deal of wind-up clinking and clanking noises. This virtual museum of electrochemical & electronic instruments makes quite a racket, no doubt, and the towering, behemoth-like GM FuturLiners must have roared as they zoomed along. Today, the marvelous CrabFu steamtoys provide the clickety-clackety noises, while Tubular Rails, Inc. dreams of a silent, airborne future in transportation.

In less mechanized doings, the Living Tower concept investigates "farming in the z-axis." Perhaps one day we'll take flowers from our vertical farm's produce shop and place it in a Wonder Vase that we take out of an envelope and shape ourselves.

Just a quick heads-up post here: check out SubdivisionModeling.com's SteamPunk Engine Competition! I can't wait to see the designs!

More soon. Honest. Really!

The term "steampunk" is terribly nebulous in its definition. There are all sorts of arguments as to whether it's even a viable label in the first place, much less using it to define objects or concepts. My own personal (and therefore very subjective!) definition of steampunk is always changing as well, but it starts with the idea of combining new technology with Victorian style and goes from there. A pocket watch that plays mp3s is dead-on steampunk, as far as I'm concerned. A washing machine that uses steam is close, too. (The company has a press release with a little more information.) A backpack which uses solar energy is pushing things a little - after all, backpacks aren't terribly stylish - but the idea of using natural resources to power technological gadgetry is right on the mark.

The Empire State Building's original construction plans included a docking station for airships (aka blimps or dirigibles) at the very top. The Hindenberg disaster put an end to that idea, and now the dock is an antenna instead. (The idea of the docking station lives on in movies like Sky Captain, though, and it looks gorgeous.)

A while ago I mentioned the mysterious death of a Sherlock Holmes expert. The death is still unexplained, and for some, the game is still afoot.

Happy 2006 to all! One resolution of mine is to update the Steampunk Librarian at least twice a week. Let's see how well I do.

Has BMW got a steampunk lover in their planning department? The "Turbosteamer" uses good old-fashioned steam to increase efficiency. Perhaps they could add a horse, too, just in case...

Meanwhile, a wristwatch billed as the "sundial for the 22nd century" uses the sky above to tell you the time. It's not in production yet, but it might be soon!

The Maunsell Towers in the UK date back only to World War II and therefore don't really fit into the steampunk concept, but I can just imagine them suddenly automating and walking through the sea. (I'm a big fan of 1930s-themed sci-fi and fantasy, a la Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, so I can't help but sneak in a few bits from that scene as well.)

The Crosley turntables pictured here are also not really Victorian - or neo-Victorian - but look how cool they are!

Sabrina Raaf's "grower" robot uses carbon dioxide levels in a room to paint "grass" on walls. The more people in the room, the higher the green lines grow!

Arthur Ganson sculpts beautiful creations with the help of gears. There's even a DVD available.

The New York Times Style page did a photoshoot last fall with what they termed "Victorian vampires," but I think they look rather steampunk myself. I want the outfit in the second photo. Rowr!

(I wonder how long a title can be in Blogger's parameters...)

In going through the backlog of old links, a collection of Verne-related links was found. I am somewhat tempted to turn this weblog into a purely Wells and Verne-related endeavor. At any rate:

• The Smithsonian observes the centennial of Verne's death, and explores his influence on today's literary world.
• if anyone should say Verne is no longer relevant to modern society, then the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is very interested in his Leyden Jar, would like to have a word with him or her.
• Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires featured over four thousand illustrations! The mind boggles!

Verne and H.G. Wells are often compared, especially in the small (but opinionated) world of steampunk. In a nice summary, Bookslut introduces interested readers to the works of Wells.

The primary reason for not turning the Steampunk Librarian into an all-Verne/Wells/Victoriana extravaganza is that, despite and in spite of the modern world, the aesthetic can be found everywhere these days, not just in literature. From the optical toys of the past, to schematics of planes which never flew, to the Atomium of Belgium's 1958 Expo ("the most astonishing building in the world," as it's billed, is slated to reopen in January 2006), to a gorgeously disturbing modern contraption called The Most Beautiful Machine, steampunk is all around us.