Speaker 1: Brought to you by the Reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With
Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff dot com. Hello again, everyone,
Speaker 1: and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette
Speaker 1: and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com.
Speaker 1: Sitting across from me as always his senior writer Jonathan
Speaker 1: Strickwind Heidi who old Chap very nice. So we wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about steampunk, and one of our sister podcasts,
Speaker 1: pop Stuff, has has addressed steampunk, but we thought we
Speaker 1: would talk about steampunk as well because we're doing this
Speaker 1: whole series of episodes about technology that you reinvent you
Speaker 1: know in some way, so it is different from what
Speaker 1: it originally was, correct, and steampunk is is sort of
Speaker 1: an aesthetic approach to that it's and it's not confined
Speaker 1: solely to technology. In fact, you would argue, I would
Speaker 1: argue that originally was a literary genre or sub genre,
Speaker 1: and so let's kind of talk about what it is
Speaker 1: before we get into any steampunk hacks that we have
Speaker 1: seen and enjoyed on the interwebs. So you're familiar with
Speaker 1: some of the the forefathers of modern science fiction, were
Speaker 1: there for there's many more than that. But right, well
Speaker 1: it's f O R E. Uh So Jules Verne, Jules Verne,
Speaker 1: very famous author, H. H. G. Wells another one. Yes,
Speaker 1: Jules Verne and H. G. Wells together produced a lot
Speaker 1: of work that kind of serves as a an inspiration
Speaker 1: for the steampunk movement. Yes, and if they had actually
Speaker 1: worked together around the world in eighty days could have
Speaker 1: been accomplished with a time machine and it wouldn't have
Speaker 1: taken around the world yesterday. So uh sorry, but the
Speaker 1: time machine didn't it only travel in time but not
Speaker 1: in space. Wasn't that its thing? Anyway? So the the
Speaker 1: the Yeah, so you'd have to have it on the
Speaker 1: on the balloon. I guess nothing bad could happen from that,
Speaker 1: right So? So the the the aesthetic that Jules Vernon H. G.
Speaker 1: Wells kind of set is sort of what creates the
Speaker 1: foundation for steampunk. Steampunk in general takes a very Victorian
Speaker 1: era approach to technology. Yes, the idea is what if
Speaker 1: during the Victorian era, uh, tinkerers who have been able
Speaker 1: to build some of the more complex electronics and machinery
Speaker 1: that we have at our disposal today. But with that
Speaker 1: Victorian aesthetic and the materials that they would have used
Speaker 1: during that era. So you get a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: with copper and brass and uh and and sometimes things
Speaker 1: like vacuum tubes and stuff like that, although that's vacuum
Speaker 1: tubes really are post Victorian. But anyway, you get you
Speaker 1: get the lots of wood as well, a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of these materials that you would find in
Speaker 1: Victorian furniture and things like that would be incorporated into
Speaker 1: this sort of technology of this this fictional world, this
Speaker 1: world that could have been but wasn't. So, Yeah, the
Speaker 1: Victorian area that we're talking about is is the late
Speaker 1: nineteenth century, so you know around the eighteen eighties. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of different literature that came out around that time,
Speaker 1: eighteen eighties, eighteen nineties. Uh that that that really influences
Speaker 1: the steampunk aesthetics. So some of it is some of
Speaker 1: it is stuff that H. G. Wells and Jules Verne writing.
Speaker 1: Some of it is stuff like uh, Sir Arthur Glendon Doyle,
Speaker 1: the Sherlock Home Stories. That that definitely influences a lot
Speaker 1: of the steampunk aesthetic too. It's not just technology, it's
Speaker 1: a lot of different things but it's it's that feel,
Speaker 1: especially the feel that you would associate with something like
Speaker 1: London during this era. Although steampunk, I would say steampunk
Speaker 1: is kind of very much an English influenced UM esthetic
Speaker 1: or movement, or at least Western European. Yeah. And the
Speaker 1: reason why I say English is because a lot of
Speaker 1: the steampunk stuff I see is based off Victorian fashion
Speaker 1: or colonial fashion, the stuff that was done during that
Speaker 1: late UH nineteenth century colonial era, like in in UH
Speaker 1: in India. So you'll see a lot of steampunk that
Speaker 1: takes design elements from that as well. But the the
Speaker 1: idea of creating this sort of science fiction world based
Speaker 1: on the Victorian era of technology is a little more moderate.
Speaker 1: I mean, their inspiration comes from writers that we're writing
Speaker 1: around that era, but later writers really kind of brought
Speaker 1: that back up, like William Gibson and Bruce Sterling who
Speaker 1: wrote The Difference Engine, which kind of brought this aesthetic
Speaker 1: in to UH. The idea of well, what if we
Speaker 1: take this basic form of technology and then go a
Speaker 1: different evolutionary path than what we actually in reality took.
Speaker 1: And so this created this sort of idea of neo
Speaker 1: Victorian UH technology and you really you think about you
Speaker 1: would have advances in certain areas but not advances in others,
Speaker 1: and it's really arbitrary where those advances are. So, for example,
Speaker 1: in a steampunk world, you might have the equivalent of
Speaker 1: personal computer devices, even handheld computer devices, although they'd probably
Speaker 1: be clunkier and made out of different materials than what
Speaker 1: our current ones are, But you might not have airplanes.
Speaker 1: Because the blimps indirigibles are incredibly popular with the steampunk crowd.
Speaker 1: It's this idea of this sort of world of of
Speaker 1: luxury and uh, everything's a lot more. Uh, it takes
Speaker 1: up a lot more space than what we're typically used to.
Speaker 1: But I think the person who really kind of nails
Speaker 1: why the steampunk aesthetic is so compelling to certain people
Speaker 1: is Mark Fraunfelder, who was a he's the editor in
Speaker 1: chief of Make magazine and was the co founder of
Speaker 1: Boing Boing Yes, And he says the Victorian era was
Speaker 1: the great age of the amateur, where non professionals could
Speaker 1: contribute to the advancement of science. And because these amateurs
Speaker 1: were most often well healed gentleman, great emphasis was placed
Speaker 1: on ornamental beauty in their equipment. So the idea here
Speaker 1: is that the average person with with the right education
Speaker 1: would be able to make advances in science and technology,
Speaker 1: whereas today you're talking about really specialized, really advanced fields. Right,
Speaker 1: it feels like you have to be part of a
Speaker 1: much larger project often in order for you to make
Speaker 1: a big impact in those areas. It's not entirely true,
Speaker 1: but it's more true than not. So the Victorian era
Speaker 1: was a time where you could be on the cutting edge.
Speaker 1: You could be an average person with a good education
Speaker 1: and be on the cutting edge of science and technology
Speaker 1: at that time and thus be able to make your
Speaker 1: own impact on it. So that is one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why it's so compelling. Also with the emphasis on ornamentation,
Speaker 1: so um, it's it's funny that you would bring that up.
Speaker 1: Was that, well, I mean one of the uh Now,
Speaker 1: one of the things that you'll find if you start
Speaker 1: looking for UH steampunk and search engine on the computer,
Speaker 1: one of the first things you're going to find is
Speaker 1: UH clothing. You know, lots and lots of of well,
Speaker 1: i mean existing clothing that you know. I'm sure that
Speaker 1: people are really excited about because they really wanted to
Speaker 1: make lots of bowler hats but couldn't figure out why
Speaker 1: no one would buy them or top hats anymore, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden they're going. Steampunk has really increased
Speaker 1: the demand for certain articles of clothing. Yes, loves and
Speaker 1: vests and pocket watches. Crazy and and some of these
Speaker 1: pieces of clothing don't necessarily have any uh added ornamentation
Speaker 1: to them. They may very well be essentially a Victorian costume,
Speaker 1: but then you would might have a coutrement which makes
Speaker 1: that go beyond a period costume and turn it more
Speaker 1: into steampunk. Yes. For example, goggles seems extremely popular. Well,
Speaker 1: they almost throw requirement with the steampunk costume. Um. Yes,
Speaker 1: And I'm not making fun of anybody who who does
Speaker 1: steampunk and likes goggles. It just seems that they're ubiquitous
Speaker 1: and it's not uh, well, you think about the early
Speaker 1: people who were driving or flying, Um, they wouldn't have
Speaker 1: a windscreen necessarily. Yeah, so you you'd see that, you know,
Speaker 1: they'd have their their driving outfit where they had the
Speaker 1: gloves and the hat with the goggles to keep the
Speaker 1: dust out of your eyes. Very necessary. But the funny thing,
Speaker 1: and I I find this amusing, but not again not
Speaker 1: in a making fun way just sort of, um, that's
Speaker 1: kind of funny sort of way. Um, the people who
Speaker 1: some of the people who do who dress in the
Speaker 1: steampunk fashion embrace the the clothing, will you know, use
Speaker 1: unadorned goggles just sort of the same kind of thing.
Speaker 1: But I've seen others that have really modified them with
Speaker 1: brass fittings, hands flares and things that you know, really
Speaker 1: make them stand out. And they're they're very large, and
Speaker 1: it's just it's kind of amusing to me because I'm going, Wow,
Speaker 1: you're really going out of your way to draw attention
Speaker 1: to the goggles. Well, and they might they might have
Speaker 1: a to they might have attachments where they have different
Speaker 1: filters like glass exactly. Yeah, like a like a magnifying
Speaker 1: lens that you can swivel in or out of the way. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's and again there you have the idea of Well,
Speaker 1: the practicality would be if you are a tinkerer, then
Speaker 1: you would have this magnifying glass. You can see the
Speaker 1: very small intricate parts because you're doing all this work
Speaker 1: with your hands, at least in theory. You know. Now,
Speaker 1: a lot of the people who are into steampunk do
Speaker 1: not necessarily make their own gear. But the folks who do, uh,
Speaker 1: take a lot of pride in it, you know, because
Speaker 1: again these are works not just of technology or costume,
Speaker 1: their works of art. You know, there's there's artistry that
Speaker 1: goes into this. Although there are those who will say that,
Speaker 1: you know, there are plenty of people out there who
Speaker 1: are into steampunk who what they'll do is they'll get
Speaker 1: a costume to throw on a pair of goggles. They
Speaker 1: might wear a necklace has a gear on it and boom,
Speaker 1: it's steampunk. Uh. Then there are others who will go
Speaker 1: into great detail on their costumes and incorporate these really
Speaker 1: intricate pieces of equipment and even come up with very
Speaker 1: uh whimsical names for for the things, because you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're using that Victorian naming convention where it's almost
Speaker 1: like Louis Carroll has named all of their items where
Speaker 1: it's it's this odd you know, nothing is nothing, thing
Speaker 1: is a simple device. They're all going to be adorned
Speaker 1: with these very elaborate names. Um Like, for example, instead
Speaker 1: of saying a computer, you might say that it is
Speaker 1: a manipulator of random information or something like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's um, you know, the the or you it's some
Speaker 1: variation on the difference engine, because they're actually that's a
Speaker 1: good example to say, if you've ever seen an picture
Speaker 1: of the replica of Babbage's difference Engine, people have actually
Speaker 1: built the difference engine. Ah. It's a massive device made
Speaker 1: out of brass and other medals, and you see all
Speaker 1: these gears and things that you turn and that's how
Speaker 1: you work this, this difference engine. That speaks a lot
Speaker 1: to the aesthetics of that Victorian era where you've got
Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't need to look sleek. It can
Speaker 1: look complicated, complicated and even bulky, but it's done in
Speaker 1: such a way that it's uh emphasizing the aesthetic not
Speaker 1: you know, it's not it doesn't look like a big
Speaker 1: clunky piece of equipment ideally unless that was, of course
Speaker 1: the intent from the big get go. But yeah, if
Speaker 1: you if you look up these devices, you'll often come
Speaker 1: across names that are just uh, you know, really tongue
Speaker 1: twisters and and you know there's usually an ether thrown
Speaker 1: in there somewhere like it uses it uses the ether,
Speaker 1: this this nebulous source of energy. Um one uh one
Speaker 1: really cool thing about steampunk and it it could be
Speaker 1: frustrating for somebody who's getting into it UM who may
Speaker 1: need a little bit more UM structure. Is that unlike
Speaker 1: other UM hobbyists and cost players and and you know,
Speaker 1: groups of of that style. UM, you don't have like
Speaker 1: a Star Trek universe or a Star Wars universe or
Speaker 1: a Lord of the Rings. You don't have something that
Speaker 1: tells you what is and what isn't steampunk. So for example,
Speaker 1: you have somebody who dresses in Victorian garb and they
Speaker 1: are speaking uh, you know English, with the the verbal
Speaker 1: expressions that they might use in yes, the vernacular of
Speaker 1: the time. However, uh, they might have a uh, they
Speaker 1: might use a computer with brass fittings and ornamentation on
Speaker 1: the front. Or they might carry ray guns of the
Speaker 1: buck Rogers, talking like old style buck Rogers, you know,
Speaker 1: with the big bulgy stuff in the big um cannab
Speaker 1: on the on the shooting end. So it could be
Speaker 1: anything could be steampunk because there's not you're not having
Speaker 1: to go, well, that's cannon or that's not cannon. So
Speaker 1: it could be kind of anything you wanted to be.
Speaker 1: If you if you look at UM like you know weather,
Speaker 1: you know weather industries, whether the effects companies that did effects. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they did the They did a lot of the props
Speaker 1: for the Lord of the Rings movies. Um, they have
Speaker 1: a division called Dr groad Boards uh and it's uh
Speaker 1: Dr gord boards ray guns essentially, and these are the yes, yes,
Speaker 1: beautiful devices. But these are all designed after that old
Speaker 1: science fiction aesthetic, which definitely is related to steampunk, but
Speaker 1: it is not necessarily It isn't isn't because because some
Speaker 1: of the ideally the steampunk type stuff should look like
Speaker 1: it's technology that runs on Victorian era resources, thus the
Speaker 1: steam the steam power being far more nah common than
Speaker 1: other forms. Now there are other forms of of this
Speaker 1: punk aesthetic to there's diesel punk. Yeah, I was gonna
Speaker 1: mentioned that you had done something on that. Yeah, diesel
Speaker 1: punk is a slightly later era. It's usually like World
Speaker 1: War One era technology aesthetic. So the aesthetic is different
Speaker 1: the you know, and you would argue that the whatever's
Speaker 1: running the technology is a different source of energy, but
Speaker 1: it's the same sort of idea that you're taking this
Speaker 1: aesthetic from a different time period and applying it to
Speaker 1: modern day clothing, electronics, all sorts of stuff. I have
Speaker 1: an example that I wanted to mention something that I
Speaker 1: thought was really clever in the sense that a lot
Speaker 1: of the steampunk projects you'll see are not just beautiful
Speaker 1: but are also equally um impractical. But but they're impractical
Speaker 1: on purpose. They're not, you know, it's practicality was not
Speaker 1: part of the design element. So one of those is
Speaker 1: what It's a project that was created by John Knight,
Speaker 1: as in, uh, let's get up on a horse and
Speaker 1: have a squire Knight he created something that he calls
Speaker 1: the electromagnetic Geospatial Globe and remote view with obligatory goggles
Speaker 1: and goggles have to be in there. But this is UH,
Speaker 1: this is his version of Google Earth and what it is.
Speaker 1: What what he can do is he runs Google Earth
Speaker 1: on a computer and this globe, this it looks like
Speaker 1: a big brass globe is hooked up to the computer.
Speaker 1: So as he uh moves a little UH indicator on
Speaker 1: the physical globe, the virtual globe on Google Earth will
Speaker 1: turn and show whatever point is in focus on his
Speaker 1: indicator on the screen. So, in other words, it's a
Speaker 1: way to navigate Google Earth using a physical globe and
Speaker 1: UH it's kind of an interesting um approach. It again
Speaker 1: not necessarily practical, but definitely very visually arresting, very pretty. Uh.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of really well known artists within
Speaker 1: the steampunk world. Uh, two of them I wanted to
Speaker 1: mention in particular. Although there are lots and lots of them,
Speaker 1: don't don't think that you know these are like the
Speaker 1: end all be all. But one of them in particular
Speaker 1: is known for his his work as as sort of
Speaker 1: a pioneer in the steampunk physical Let's make stuff space,
Speaker 1: and that's Jake von Slat. Jake von Slat has done
Speaker 1: lots and lots and lots of of projects where he's
Speaker 1: taken either modern day technology and and put new stuff
Speaker 1: on it to make it have a steampunk sort of aesthetic,
Speaker 1: or has actually built steampunk style devices from the ground
Speaker 1: up that do something that a modern device could do
Speaker 1: in a totally different way. So he's he's taking both
Speaker 1: approaches where he's altering something that exists now or building
Speaker 1: based upon the old methods of building. UM. He's featured
Speaker 1: in in Make magazine actually up of years ago, and
Speaker 1: I have an article on the site how Steampunk Works,
Speaker 1: and I have some of his work on there as well. Uh.
Speaker 1: He has a website called the Steampunk Workshop where he
Speaker 1: actually shows you if you want to build your own
Speaker 1: steampunk devices. He has do it yourself guides on how
Speaker 1: to do them. Now, for people who want to get
Speaker 1: into this, you have to be really comfortable with using
Speaker 1: things that allow you to work with metals, like soldering
Speaker 1: is really important. Uh, you might need you might need
Speaker 1: access to special tools to be able to work metals
Speaker 1: in a way so that you can shape them and
Speaker 1: not just metals, but would as well, you know, all
Speaker 1: sorts of materials. So you're it's for someone who has
Speaker 1: like a workshop space that has uh the ability to
Speaker 1: use or the access to use these sort of tools.
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily something that you can do just you know,
Speaker 1: go home and fire up the website. Oh well cool,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make my own steampunk laptop now. Because a
Speaker 1: lot of this involves uh, eating things and in curiosity
Speaker 1: shops or antique shops or or even like you know,
Speaker 1: there used to be a shop near where I live
Speaker 1: that sells all sorts of old cabinet fittings, and you
Speaker 1: you could go to a place like that and sort
Speaker 1: through and say, oh, this has the look that I'm
Speaker 1: going for, and you take that and you might repurpose
Speaker 1: it for something totally different, like instead of this being
Speaker 1: a cabinet handle, it's going to be the corner the
Speaker 1: top left corner of a computer display. That kind of thing. Well,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to, you know, manipulate that
Speaker 1: metal in whatever way you may have to trim stuff
Speaker 1: off or reshape something, so you you may need some
Speaker 1: special tools for a lot of these d I Y projects.
Speaker 1: But he he actually goes through what he does to
Speaker 1: to build out these things. And another pretty well known
Speaker 1: artist in fact, I remember seeing some of his work,
Speaker 1: uh in the sci fi series Where House thirteen. So
Speaker 1: Where House thirteen, you know, you've got these these interesting
Speaker 1: pieces of technology that are in artis office where he's
Speaker 1: got like a computer that has these old typewriter keys
Speaker 1: instead of regular keys. Those were built by a guy
Speaker 1: named Richard doc Nagi also known as data Manser and
Speaker 1: data Manswer has done some really amazing work with custom keyboards, laptops, uh,
Speaker 1: desktop computers. He's really created some neat stuff, and not
Speaker 1: just in the steampunk aesthetic. He's also branched out. He
Speaker 1: did some in a sort of an Art Deco inspired
Speaker 1: approach as well. So he's he's tried a couple of
Speaker 1: different things. He takes commissions um, and his work is
Speaker 1: really really labor intensive, so they are expensive things to buy.
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, these are devices that are
Speaker 1: made by hand from materials that are more expensive than plastic.
Speaker 1: So the expense is in not just the labor but
Speaker 1: also the artistry that goes into it. So you know,
Speaker 1: you might sit there and think, oh, my gosh, that's
Speaker 1: a keyboard. I can't spend twelve buying a keyboard from
Speaker 1: my computer. But then you think, all right, when you
Speaker 1: factor in the materials that went into it, how much
Speaker 1: time was spent for him to track down all the
Speaker 1: different stuff that he used to make it, and also
Speaker 1: just the hours of of work that he puts into it,
Speaker 1: then you start figuring, Okay, now it's it's a work
Speaker 1: of art that I'm buying, not just a functional piece
Speaker 1: of technology. Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean there are there
Speaker 1: are people who actually make their living modifying people's living spaces. UM.
Speaker 1: I went to a Modern Victorian which is at mad
Speaker 1: vic dot com, and they basically remake people's homes into
Speaker 1: steampunk like environments. Um. You know, wood burning stoves and um,
Speaker 1: you know, portholes and things that you might see big
Speaker 1: big gears that you would turn in order to open
Speaker 1: the door and of a regular door knob. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I mean just that that kind of thing. And if
Speaker 1: you've got the uh, either the ability to do it
Speaker 1: yourself or the wherewithal to pay someone who knows what
Speaker 1: they're doing, um, you can do that too. But just
Speaker 1: the creativity that that's involved in doing that, and even
Speaker 1: even something as simple as you know, the keyboards that
Speaker 1: you see with the typewriter keys instead of uh computer keys. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just kind of fascinating. I saw one computer desk
Speaker 1: that had uh pipes behind it or you know at
Speaker 1: the back where it made it look sort of as
Speaker 1: the as though the computer we're sitting in as part
Speaker 1: of a pipe organ and it was just kind of
Speaker 1: cool the the idea behind that. Um. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: these these are all I mean, there's there's no large
Speaker 1: company that I can think of that that makes this
Speaker 1: stuff in in amounts that make it would make it
Speaker 1: cheap for the average person to own one of these.
Speaker 1: You know, this is all done by hand, but you
Speaker 1: know you can also say, uh, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: done custom work. Not everybody is going to own something
Speaker 1: like this, Um, there are a lot of one of
Speaker 1: the kind pieces out there. Yeah, and it's also an
Speaker 1: opportunity for uh, for you know, the casual hacker to
Speaker 1: maybe try his or her hand at something like this. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean this is you know, their plans and and
Speaker 1: and things like this, and not all the projects are
Speaker 1: super complex. And that's that's sort of again, that's the
Speaker 1: whole point that uh that was made about the appeal
Speaker 1: of steampunk in the first places, that you are creating
Speaker 1: something that's much more personal to you. You know, it's
Speaker 1: not this mass produced piece of technology that looks exactly
Speaker 1: like every single other version of that particular device, right
Speaker 1: like every iPhone, like every iPhone four looks like every
Speaker 1: other iPhone four until you put like a skin on
Speaker 1: it or put a case around it or whatever. But
Speaker 1: you know, on its own, they all look the same.
Speaker 1: And it's this the approach to mass manufacturer that has
Speaker 1: created core sort of a homogenized approach to technology. And
Speaker 1: this is kind of a rejection of that, saying I
Speaker 1: want something that has more personality to it. It's just
Speaker 1: that this is a personality that evokes a very specific
Speaker 1: feel and era. So it's interesting because every year that passes.
Speaker 1: I think, Okay, steampunk has gotta like that. That fat
Speaker 1: is got to be on the decline by now, because
Speaker 1: there are artists who get into it and they're really
Speaker 1: really active in it for a couple of years, and
Speaker 1: then some of them are saying, you know, I really
Speaker 1: want to do other stuff. I had fun with that,
Speaker 1: it was great, But as an artist, I want to grow,
Speaker 1: so I want to try different things. So I often
Speaker 1: expect to see that kind of trickled down to the
Speaker 1: general uh steampunk niche, Like I was gonna say general public,
Speaker 1: but really steampunk is a very specific niche of people. Um,
Speaker 1: but so far that hasn't really happened. We'll have to
Speaker 1: keep your eyes open, because I mean, I find it
Speaker 1: a very compelling aesthetic myself. I really do like the
Speaker 1: look of it and uh and and it does have
Speaker 1: an interesting um impact on me emotionally when I see
Speaker 1: something that's been really well designed and a very clever design.
Speaker 1: Because well designed and clever again, doesn't necessarily mean that
Speaker 1: the device is practical. Sometimes the more impractical it is,
Speaker 1: the more enjoyable one is. Yeah, that's true, that's true. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean it's a it's a human thing I think, um,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I am fascinated by alternate histories and anachronisms. Um,
Speaker 1: you know it it the what IF's if you will
Speaker 1: um and just to imagine the like the the what
Speaker 1: if you know you have a steam steam powered world
Speaker 1: with the internet. You know, how could those things go together?
Speaker 1: You know, handwriting messages and sticking them in pneumatic tubes? Yep, yep.
Speaker 1: You know. My dad start writing a science fiction novel,
Speaker 1: uh that was based in a steampunk type world and uh,
Speaker 1: sadly he was one of those projects that never they
Speaker 1: never completed. But it was funny because when he was
Speaker 1: writing it, it was before steampunk had really become a thing.
Speaker 1: Like there were some examples, early examples in the genre,
Speaker 1: and I think had he had he completed, it would
Speaker 1: have been one of them. It certainly would have been
Speaker 1: an interesting addition to the library of literature that supports
Speaker 1: this genre. Uh. Of course, we'll never know, because it's
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe one day he'll go back and finish it,
Speaker 1: but by then it's gonna seem like he's you know,
Speaker 1: following a trend as opposed to being on the forefront
Speaker 1: of it. At least it's not another vampire book. You
Speaker 1: know it's funy you mentioned it's the steampowered vampires. There's sparkle. No,
Speaker 1: not at all, not even a little. It's a steampowered
Speaker 1: vampire that sparkles in the daylight. But he gets invited
Speaker 1: to go to a wizard college. No where, it's with
Speaker 1: were wolves, right, I wonder how many more I can
Speaker 1: fit in there. Uh, there's a Chicago detective who's also
Speaker 1: a magician who shows up. No, uh, none of this
Speaker 1: is true. And there's a good cop in a bad
Speaker 1: cop right, and the bad cop is three days from retirement. Um. No,
Speaker 1: we're gonna stop throwing in random references now. No, but
Speaker 1: he really did have a fantastic idea that I got
Speaker 1: to read the early chapters and I was really excited.
Speaker 1: I was very sad when that project fell through. But anyway,
Speaker 1: maybe one day that will happen. That's neither here nor there.
Speaker 1: I'm gonn. I'm going to conclude this podcast on that note. So, guys,
Speaker 1: if you have any suggestions for topics we should tackle
Speaker 1: in the future, let us know, or in the past
Speaker 1: and an imagined in a in an alternate present, let
Speaker 1: us know, right are real world? This is it email
Speaker 1: address tex Stuff at Discovery dot com or contact us
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Speaker 1: is tech Stuff hs W and Chris and I will
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