Roll up, roll up. For the first time in over a century the marvelously malicious, devastatingly delectable, catastrophically creative tale of “HARTMANN THE ANARCHIST” is back in print .   Originally published in 1892 by public schoolboy, E. Douglass Fawcett, it tells the tale of Rudolph Hartmann; an anarchist who uses a dirigible named ‘The Attila’ to rain “pitiless death and destruction from the skies on Parliament, St Pauls and the City [of London]“. This is a classic piece of Victorian Sci-Fi which is 100 years ahead of its time. Not only does it predict the Steampunk’s passion for airships it provides a stinging critique of the institutions that are causing immense suffering in today’s Britain.

Hartmann’s victims are the sly politicians and greedy bankers who caused the current economic crisis; Fawcett may have been a schoolboy, but he proves himself to be politically astute for his tender years. As Ian Bone say’s in his introduction “His analysis of the reasons to bomb the City of London show his prescient awareness of the evils of globalisation years before anyone else.” Hartmann’s ‘propaganda by the deed’ may be a little extreme (to say the least), but we ‘moderns’ can easily sympathise with his motivations. If Jules Verne were alive to witness today’s global recession he would have written this book.

‘Hartmann’ is an authentic example of what was once called a ‘ripping yarn’, but it also puts the ‘punk’ back into Steampunk. What’s more it is a real bargain – it’s only £5 – including postage – from..

Tangent Books – Hartmann The Anarchist

(submitted by Warren Draper via email)

From  the current Dr.Grordbort newsletter:

“Pre-orders placed for The Victorious Mongoose – Miniature Version and the Righteous Bison have been shipping from our US warehouse for a week or two and the feedback we have is almost embarassingly positive. In fact, there are rumours that rave reviews are about to hit the Electric Web as well as several printed publications.”

Hmm.. reviews, on the Electric  Web?.. All I can say is “Stay Tuned”.  Makes me want to start up ‘The League of Lunar Abhorrers” , just to be ready!

Weta Rayguns

What could be more iconic of Steampunk that gears? (well, lineshafting SHOULD be, if we really want to talk steam power and its transmission to devices, but don’t get me started..) Ahem.. As I was saying ? Ah yes.. What could be more iconic of Steampunk that gears? Which leads to clocks. Eric Frietas does some fine work..

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p style=”text-align: center;”>Have a look. The Clocks of Eric Frietas

To continue the ‘Steampunk Home” theme from yesterday, we present Jake Von Slatt’s delightful handcrafted light switch plates.

Wander on over to – The Steampunk Workshop for more, including pictures of the build process.

Have you ever wanted to steampunk-ify your abode? Well then, you are not alone.  There’s a wonderfully quirky blog that discusses that very premise, and has a great selection of pictures, links, and resources.

Check out the The Steampunk Home Blog

Are these games? Well, perhaps not, but they are gratifyingly strange and have a rather Steampunkish look to them. Timewasters for sure, but oddly ammusing.

The World of Fubbs

(submitted by Chronographia von Strangehours, via email)

As you may have gathered, my last post was published with a little delay, therefore, I give you now the links to truly the latest issues of our two steampunk online magazines:

• Click here for issue #6 of SteamPunk Magazine
• Click here for issue #8 of the Gatehouse Gazette

  SteamPunk Magazine takes on “The Pre-Industrial Revolution” as theme with this issue, featuring the Romantics, alchemy, Luddites, corsets, sculpture, windmills, poetry and the Victorian martial arts in their biggest edition to date!

The Halloween Edition of the Gatehouse Gazette celebrates “Forbidden Tales of Fervor and Fright” with articles about H.P. Lovecraft and the latest Wolfenstein video game. There is also an interview dieselpunk artist Sam Van Olffen and a short story by Natania Barron.

The next issue of SteamPunk Magazine is currently scheduled for release in March 2010. The next issue of the Gatehouse Gazette should appear around the 1st of November this year.

Did these ships, made in the mid 1860′s, inspire Verne for the design of his Nautilus?

The cigar ships were designed and built by the Winans family, successful railway engineers from Baltimore, Maryland who moved into marine engineering with enthusiasm and great expenditures of their family wealth, but less success. Their radical marine design concept included an ultra-streamlined spindle-shaped hull with minimum superstructure. The Winans constructed at least four ships between 1858 and 1866. Ross Winans and his sons were, first and foremost, engineers experimenting with innovative concepts. The innovative technology would certainly have attracted Jules Verne’s attention. He may well have seen one of the boats sailing or berthed in England. Verne went on to write “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ” in 1869-70.  Coincidence? Perhaps…

Winan’s Cigar Ships

(submitted by Patron Vectras, via email)

Zach Morris and Third Rail Projects are presenting a Halloween Steampunk Haunted House in New York City.

“This Halloween, enter an immersive world of churning gears, mechanical monstrosities, and steam-powered cyborgs as the Abrons Arts Center’s historic Playhouse and catacombs are transformed into New York’s first Steampunk Haunted House. Elegantly designed, and staged under the direction of Bessie award-winning artist Zach Morris, in collaboration with a team of installation and performance artists, including: Elizabeth Carena, Jesse Green, Marissa Nielsen-Pincus, Liz Sargent, Brigid C. Scruggs, Barry Weil, Kryssy Wright, and the Abrons’ Urban Youth Theater, this terrifying promenade fashions a lush, visually stunning, and fiercely designed and choreographed experience. The aesthetic of steampunk offers a fresh, romanticized spin on technology and fashion, creating an alternate, anachronistic Victorian-era that retains a pre-industrial elegance. The Steampunk Haunted House is like no other Halloween experience in the city, exploiting the more sinister aspects of the Playhouse’s early 20th-Century architecture to create a maze of science fictions. Clockwork spiders, legions of half-man/half-machine drones, and mechanized monsters and misfits manifest in eerie parlors, laboratories, and boiler rooms. Navigating dark, narrow hallways, corridors, and caverns, the audience is met with startling, stunning terrors around every turn.
Tour groups are admitted incrementally into the haunted house. Like most attractions of its kind, this is roughly a twenty-minute experience. Children under 8 will not be admitted”

Third Rail Project’s Steampunk Haunted House

From Dylan comes this:

” The UK Steampunk Network is an entirely un-exclusive club house for anyone involved in, wanting to get in involved in, curious about or entirely unaware of the Steampunk scene in the United Kingdom. The idea is that you come along, tell us about anything Steampunk-esque you’re involved in, organising, attending or know about, and we put it up on the site for other people to get involved in, help organise, attend and otherwise know about. You can leave comments on things other people have written, chat freely on the forum and check the calendar for upcoming events, gatherings and releases. With a little luck, we can get all the groups and–just as importantly–individuals who like this whole Steampunk thing and live in the UK introduced to each other and talking. We can get the community sharing ideas, sparking off each other, indulging in their passions and doing things together. If you have a few friends you meet up with, you could trade it up for a group large enough to make big outings worthwhile. If you’re wondering why you’re the only person who has seen the (gas)light in your area, you can find out you’re not! If you think Steampunks should descend en masse to a play in your area, you can make it happen! Okay, we’ve got big dreams. But no one ever got anywhere dreaming small, did they? We’re over at The UK Steampunk Network registration is free and easy and it’s going to be very dull without you.”

Worth a look, I’d say..