Dabbling in Steampunk

Steampunk is defined as follows;

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.^[1] Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.

(Definition found on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk)

I learned about steampunk last year at the FanExpo in Toronto. Oddly enough I had always liked the blending of these two subjects the Vitorian Era and Techology I just didn't realize there was an entire subgenre for it. Since then I have been trying to find anything I can on the subject. Recently I saw an episode of Fanboy Confessional on Sapce which featured Steampunk (http://www.spacecast.com/fanboyconfessional.aspx Episode 102). During this episode they showed a group based in Vacouver that live a steampunk lifestyle, they invent, craft and share their passion. After the episode I ventured onto google (as I often do when intrigued by something) and searched for Steampunk Canada. This is what I found http://www.steampunkcanada.ca/ I immediately signed up for membership and newsletters and anything else I could wanting nothing but to emerse myself in the subject. One newletter lead to another and I started hearing about Nancy Overbury so I checked out her website http://overburyink.com/. While perusing around I clicked on the Book link, because lets face it I'm like a bug to a bug zapper when the word book appears. It was here that I found an article about a series called the Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger. A series of books about a preternatural mystery solver Miss. Alexia Tarrabotti who finds herself in the most unusual predicaments. So I did what anyone would do ... I looked them up on kobo. My search resulted in four books Souless, Changeless, Blameless, and Heartless so I purchased the first and there began my journey into the steampunk genre of books. I was enthralled by this series and quickly finished the first book, then the second, third and yesterday the fourth. After finishing the series to date I went to goodreads and updated my recommendation.

If I could give this series 10 starts I would, I loved the blending of the Victorian Era, Vampires, Werewovles, Preternturals and technology (not necesarily in that order). The clever twists and turns that the plotlines take to the wonderfully ridiculous and hilarious situations Alexia finds herself in are something I have rarely found before, and not likely to find outside of this series. I truely feel for Alexia's much abused bustle and believe it deserves credit for it's dexterity and willingness to continue for, if nothing else, but fashions sake. Hat's off to the parasol without which many a Dandy, Vampire, Werewolf and suspect other might not have suffcient punishment or repremand. A nod to Lord Akledama who is always in the know, providing not only needed information, wonderful new toys that more times than not come in very handy, but also some of the best nicknames I have ever heard.  There are so many more charcters that I love in these books, including but not limited to, the following Lord Connell Maccon, Miss. Ivy Hisselpenny and her incredibly aweful taste in hats, most of which could be stand alone characters in and of themselves, Floote whom I believe everyone should have one of, Professor Lyall and of course Madame Lafeux.

I am so looking forward to the next installment; Timeless which is to be released March 2012.

I can't recommend this series enough it's everything I would expect a steampunk genre novel to be and so much more. For more information on the Parasol Protectorate here is a link to Gail Carrigers website. A personal recommendation of mine would be to check out Gails blogs, links can be found on the contact tab of her website. http://gailcarriger.com/index.php

        

         

Coming February 28, 2012...

Dabbling in Manga

By now I'm sure anyone who read my first, and only post, can tell I'm quite literally dabbling in blogging. However recently I have been reading ... a lot and I find that once I've read a book I usually have questions, almost always have comments and sometimes the feeling the I've just read something that has changed  me forever. So I got to thinking why not blog about what I've read? which made me think about all the blogs I read that other people write about books they've read, and I enjoy them all.  So now I'm thinking I want to add a little more to mine, not just blog about what I'm reading but anything that catches my fancy, not only will I have lot to write about but I'll be able to display for you all just how frequently my attention wanders.

Take the past couple of weeks for example, I was in chapters (where your likely to find me anytime I'm not at work or at home reading) and I decided to give Manga a try. I searched through the volumes of colourful spines and read the back (or was it the front?) of several that caught my eye. I ended up choosing one that featured one of my favorite beasties, Vampires.

The Manga I chose is called Vampire Knight by Matsuri Hino. Having read through the first book rather quickly I jumped onto the internet to find out more about the series, what I found amazed me not only were there 13 books in the series, but also a two season anime. In the space of a weekend I caught up on both seasons, ordered the first season on DVD (second season isn't out until 20 September, 2011 or I'd have ordered that too) and purchased books 2, 3, and 4. I absolutely fell in love with this series, although there was one element that was slightly disturbing and probably pushed me to be team Zero vs team Kaname I find it a beautiful blend of serious and funny. The constant need for Yuki and Zero to keep all the day class girls from walking right into the Vampires dorm and finding out that there is more to these gorgeous night class guys than charm provides the humorous and light side to some of the dark themes and angst.

I haven't finished the book series as yet and so I can't provide much more on it than I have, the rest remains to be seen. From what I have read and from the anime I can say this, if you've been looking for something different, something fun mixed with a little dark this series is for you.

Before I send you on your way, if your like me and have never read a manga before here are some helpful hints:

1. Manag are read from back to front, you'll notice the cover is on what we would usually think of as the back of the book.
2. The flow of the book is from right to left. The first caption will start at the top right of the right hand page.
3. If all else fails there are instructions printed in the back of the book to give a visual reference for reading the book.

I noted step three because as this was my first time reading a Manga and I knew I had to read it backwards it wasn't apparent to me that I would be reading from right to left, so a lot of the first few chanpters were a little garbled. Seeing my difficulties my Dad offered "Why don't you read the instructions in the back of the book?", I'm certain if you knew my Dad you would have thought the same as me, he's having me on, and so I did what I always do when he passes on a gem like that. I gave him a friendly punch in the arm followed by "ha ha your sooo funny". It wasn't until later that day when I finished the book, and had already figured out through trial and error which way I was supposed to be reading it, that while browsing through the advertising in the back I actually found instructions ... I didn't tell him XD

Yuki Cross's earliest memory is of being attacked by a vampire and saved by Kaname Kuran, also a vampire. Ten years later, Yuki and a vampire hunter, Zero Kiryu attend Cross Academy as school guardians protecting the "Day Class" and the "Night Class" from each other to keep vampires secret.
Synopsis and picture from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Knight

To Dabble

To dabble, the dictionary defines it as "a superficial or intermittent interest, investigation, or experiment" it's true that when most people dabble it's only to satisfy a fleeting interest, or to disprove a theory, even to win a bet. In my case it's become something of an art form (hence the title of this blog).

I've learned a lot through years of dabbling, some good, some bad, and yes some plain ugly; okay so singing Phantom of the Opera through a karaoke machine to a class of my peers was maybe not the best idea I've ever had and did lead to a life long fear of singing anywhere but in my car ... alone, but I learned something. So in the spirit of sharing embarrassing moments of my life I thought I'd log all my dabbling experiences here. Perhaps it will help the with the sting of failure, even though what I tried didn't work out I can still successfully write about it, or to lend encouragement to those of you who have wanted to dabble in something, but wasn't too sure about it. If all else fails it can be a place for those of us who dabble to talk about it, maybe something of a group, a Dabblers Anonymous if you will.

So here goes, my blog about the Art of Dabbling, and I think it only fair to warn you that blogging is indeed the newest of my dabbling and if I stay true to the definition I might not get beyond the first two posts.