Steampunk at Comicpalooza by Maeve Alpin

Steampunk Lolitas – The Cupcake Girls

Steampunk made a big statement at Comicpalooza in Houston last month.Throughout the day I’m posting tidbits with photos of  Steampunk panels and events.

Lolita Alice and the Mad Hatter

I wanted to share helpful pointers from panels at Comicpalooza.

Since I’m a Lolita at Steamed, let’s start with Lolita fashion. When developing a steampunk persona and the costuming for it, you may find yourself building a lot of drama and hardship to your characterization. However, Lolita personas are lighter, let’s just have fun, let’s  have a tea party. For that reason many women are attracted to Steampunk/Lolita fashion crossovers.  For a good start to Lolita fashion, take a nice white blouse, add a frilly petticoat and a skirt trimmed in lace.  Goodwill, Salvation army, and local thrift stores are excellent places to get accessories and props to build a costume.

Steampunk Lolita – A Cupcake Girl.

Every aspect of Comicpalooza was a carnival of the fantastic and the Steampunk ball was no exception. The music was merry the hall was grand and one and all came with their dancing shoes on, in costumes both elegant and outrageous.

At the Ball

Buxom damsels in bustles and corsets and dapper men in Victorian attire swung their feet, kicked up their heels, and bounced at the ball.

Abney Park at the Steampunk Ball

Performances began with Frenchy and the Punk. Their flapper cabaret, Great Gatsby sound was a party in itself.

Professor Elemental’s performance as always was rollicking fun. I say steam, you say, punk. “I say steam, you say, ____.  I say steam, you say, _____.”

Marquis of Vaudeville with their rockin circus of sound, the smooth mellow vocals of Toby Lawhon,  and a sensual base guitarist with a magnetic flair and whipping hair had everyone prancing and dancing

The ball reached the height of amazement when Abney Park took the stage and the magic of music reached a whole other level.

Please comment for a chance to win a pdf Ebook of  To Love A London Ghost or Conquistqadors in Outer Space – your choice.

One of the panels I did at Comicpalooza was Steampunk Egyptology. Discussing mummies and the Victorians. Like we, modern men and women, are mad for zombies, Victorians were crazy about mummies. The whole revenge of the mummy premise was theirs. No myth or tales exist in Egyptian history about mummies coming to life and staggering around in all their grave wrappings. Scary, revenge seeking mummies are pure Victoriana.

It all began in 1821, when a theater near Piccadilly Circus held a mummy unwrapping. Inspired by this event, author Jane Webb Loudon wrote “The Mummy, A Tale of the 22nd Century” in 1827. This was the first mummy story, one of the first sci-fi stories and one of the first sci-fi stories written by a woman. From time to time, I like to remind people that female writers, such as Mary Shelley and Jane Loudon, wrote Sci-fi from the beginning and helped develop the genre.

Egyptian Steampunk – Maeve Alpin with an attendee of her Steampunk Egyptology panel

One of the futuristic depictions I love most is when Loudon’s describing the queen’s court in the

Steampunk Poison Ivy

22nd century, all of the women wear trousers. For a twenty-year old woman in the regency period, that’s pretty forward thinking.

Let’s get to the good stuff, Mummy Unwrapping Parties, now believed to be more like academic lectures. Evidently some were more of a party from the accounts of removing the amulets found in the wrappings as they unwound them and handing them out as party favors.

Some infamous mummy incidents involved Lady Pesed Ma Rheres, daughter of Heshor, priest of Khem. Lady Pesed has resided at Westminster College in Pennsylvania since 1885.  When a former student of the school served as a missionary in Egypt, he shipped her to the college as a donation. During the early 1900’s Lady Pesed was sometimes found in coed’s beds. Sounds like a party to me. That story

Women With Weapons

also lends truth to what they say…liquor use to be much stronger.

I had a blast at Comicpalooza in Houston Texas and I’ve included photos taken there of ladies and gents in their finest Steampunk costumes. Also at Comicpalooza author, Delphine Dryden and I discussed the variety in Steampunk at our Steampunk Tips and Quips panel. Writers and readers, take a look at Seampunk. Readers, you may find your favorite book or writers, you may find that this genre fits your writing voice.

Steampunk Sweethearts

My individual definition on Steampunk is: Historical/sci-fi based on the idea of the technological revolution and the Industrial revolution happening together.

Delphine’s definition is: Alternate history with a Victorian-era feel in which, for whatever reason, gas-powered technology never achieved primacy. Instead, steam power, clockwork, and other technologies involving various batteries and lesser-known devices like the Stirling engine, were further developed and refined to meet those same needs.

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Maeve Alpin