Salt City Steamfest and Steampunk Video Games

Posted by Rampant Coyote on July 15, 2015

I’m going to be at Salt City Steamfest this weekend, Friday and Saturday. I won’t be showing off Frayed Knights 2 or anything, but I will be with the Xchyler Publishing booth selling and signing books, talking to folks, and attending what panels I can. And generally having fun being all steampunk-y.

What is “Steampunk?” Well… think Victorian Science Fiction. Or what would have been contemporary horror / urban fantasy / science fiction if it had been written / told / performed in the Victorian era. Think H.G. Wells, Mary Shelly, Edgar Allen Poe, and especially Jules Verne. Those are kind of the prototypes. Steampunk is speculative fiction set in a world or era vaguely reminiscent of a revisionist or mid-to-late 1800s (or very early 1900s). Steampunk conventions are a chance for people to dress up and have fun with the concept with other people who share the interest.

I’ll be on a few panels. On Friday, it looks like I’ll be on a panel at 1:00 in the afternoon called “To Be or Not To Be Published.” I don’t know much about this one, but I assume I’ll be able to draw upon my somewhat more familiar game industry experience than my much more limited fiction and non-fiction experience.

At 4:00 on Friday, I’ll be with the Xchyler Publishing on a panel called “Write Steampunk for Fun and Profit.” I know far more about the “fun” part than the “profit” part, but there are some great folks on the panel and I know it’s going to be informative as well as fun. If you are a new or aspiring writer, this will be worth attending.

The big one for me is at 4:00 Saturday, “Steampunk Video Games,” which I’m doing with Deli Interactive’s Nick Lives. We’ll be talking about a bunch of steampunk-themed (or at least steampunk-adjacent) video games, drawing inspiration from them, and even a little bit about getting started making video games. Here’s the video for the introduction to the panel:

Our vintage dancing group (yes, I do that… long story), Clockwork and Gears Vintage Dancing, will be performing / teaching period dancing in several classes on both days. I’ll be participating when I can, along with my wife and my daughter. Seriously, if I could learn these dances, anybody can. They aren’t too hard. And it is fun (he grudgingly admitted…)

My wife will be on a couple of Victorian Horror panels, as well as performing Victorian Ghost Stories (“Tales by Gaslight”) at 10:00 PM Friday night.

Anyway, if you are in the Salt Lake area and are at all interested in steampunk, come pay us a visit! It’s at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Salt Lake, and we’ve always had a lot of fun with it!

Filed Under: Books, Geek Life, steampunk - Comments: Comments are off for this article



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