On to the second part of the Western states! As promised, I am puncturing some cowboy myths. Cowboys didn’t always ride horses. They likely weren’t white. It was a career that attracted the outcasts of society, so many were black, Hispanic, mestizo, Native American, or of mixed race. It was not considered a fun or …
Tag: Steampunk
Dec 30
Worldbuilding Wednesday 12/30/20: The Best of
xxxxTwittersnips (SFF Novels)
A selection of randomly generated SFF novel titles that appeared in my Twitter feed 2017 – 2020. Any one of them would make a fine book. SF, Fantasy, and Steampunk Novels Rebellion’s Acolyte Shadows of Stinging Grass Dowsing the Dragon Harry Potter and the Brawler of Blackworth Harry Potter and the Assassin’s Blade A …
Nov 13
Worldbuilding Wednesday 11/13/19: Steampunk Characters
Steampunk as a genre got its start with The Difference Engine and The Diamond Age, both set in a alternate world Victorian England. So, it bears to follow that Steampunk characters have English language names that were popular during that time. There are no hippy names like Rainbow or Phoenix in Steampunkland, and neither are …
May 08
Worldbuilding Wednesday 5/8/19: More Steampunk Novels
For all my fooling around with steampunk slang, clothing, and book titles, I doubt I’ll ever write one. Why? I don’t like the Victorian Age that much Oh, I’ve tried to like it. I had an older sibling who was infatuated with Victorian decor, china, and 1980s Victorian revival fashions. I liked them from an …
Apr 03
Worldbuilding Wednesday 4/3/19: Steampunk Novels
Steampunk, a term coined in the mid-1980s, is a catch-all term for artistic design and subject matter that harks back to the Victorian Age, when steam-powered machinery and clockwork mechanisms began to drive the Industrial Revolution. The term was invented by SF writer K.W. Jeter in a tongue-in-cheek reference to Cyberpunk. But the term and …
Nov 21
Worldbuilding Wednesday 11/21/18: Archaic Clothing
Knickerbockers, tam o’ shanters, farthingales, liripipes… who wears these things anymore? But even if we don’t, we remember them because of their odd and lyrical names. Here’s a list of more you probably haven’t heard of (because I randomgenned them up) but will remember once you hear them. So will readers and campaigners. Use at …
Jul 18
Worldbuilding Wednesday 7/18/18: Steampunk Jargon
One of the things that really makes Steampunk literature, and Victorian literature in general, is the use of odd English words to describe little odds and ends that need describing, like parts of machinery, personal items of clothing, genitalia, obscure occupations, and other fluff. Charles Dickens was a pioneer of these charming names, through …