Welcome Awesome WisCon People

I am currently at WisCon, and I promised a bunch of people that I would post a sort of reading list for folks who want to read steampunk novels that have tackled the issues that I spoke about today at the Politics of Steampunk panel. So, this post is kind of a placeholder until I can get that reading list up. However, if folks don't mind being spoiled, feel free to go through the spoiler-tastic posts I have already written on various books. 

The panel at WisCon went excellently, and I sat with Nisi Shawl, Amal el-Mohtar, Liz Gorinsky, Piglet and Theodora Goss, and we had some really awesome comments from the audience. I love the fact that half the panellists were PoC, and a lot of people were really interested, although I was kind of out of my element because I was confused, well, different spheres of steampunk react to social issues differently.

Anybody interested in other non-social justice-related reading should also check out the links to the left, in particular Steampunk Scholar and Beyond Victoriana.

China Mièville's Perdido Street Station

 PSS's description on the back does nothing to really describe the convoluted events of the book, which is more than "Issac is given a job to help a garuda; ominous statement made as to the fate of an entire city". The writing is, as expected, tremendously well-written, and it's certainly a literary highlight. The concepts are also deeply abstract and high-flown as well, ambitiously penetrating different dimensions in ways regular human beings can't hope to understand.

But this isn't a review, it's an analysis, and Steampunk Scholar Mike Perschon told me the other day, "You like to rip shit up." Which I do, so let's get to it. Spoilers ahoy, under the cut!

Con Report: Steampunk World's Fair

So, Steampunk World's Fair 2010 has come and gone! For an event that initially planned for 500, it swelled to 1,000, and at the end, the organizers estimated a crowd of 3,700 throughout the whole weekend! Congratulations to Jeff Mach of WickedFaire, Josh formerly of SalonCon, and Whisper and Cap of the SS Icarus for such a hugely successful event!

Unfortunately, I was still recovering from a cold at this event, and one of the results of this cold was a lost voice. So, for anyone who thought I was stand-offish and wished I talked more, I apologize! I can be very chatty at these things, but I thought it prudent to do as little talking as possible. I failed to keep my mouth shut most of the time, alas.

This was going to be a Very Serious Con Report, but to be honest, this was my very first convention, and Ay-Leen beat me to the punch with a really good con report at Beyond Victoriana, so, this will just be some general impressions, also because I neglected to take notes of the Roundtable and Steam Around the World.