Gatehouse Gazette

[Ottens]

A new steampunk e-zine is under development, scheduled for release this very week!

The first issue of the Gatehouse Gazette will feature:

*  An interview with Toby Frost, author of Space Captain Smith;

*  "Discovering Dieselpunk" with Piecraft and Ottens;

*  Steampunk summer fashion by Hilde Heyvaert, of Steampunk Fashion;

*  A review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by Jack Rose, of Gearing Up;

*  And essays, poems, historical articles, cartoons, and more!

[Jaqhama]

Excellent!

What's the web address?

Cheers: Jaq.

[Gilbert]

Oh I am certainly looking forward to this!

[Ottens]

What's the web address?

Ah yes, it might have been practical to include that....

The Gazette is under development at the Smoking Lounge;  you'll notice a seperate board about it all the way at the bottom.  However, it's publication will be announced on the front page of The Gatehouse too of course.

[Jaqhama]

What's the web address?

Ah yes, it might have been practical to include that....

The Gazette is under development at the Smoking Lounge;  you'll notice a seperate board about it all the way at the bottom.  However, it's publication will be announced on the front page of The Gatehouse too of course.

Thanks for that.

[Ms. Madeline S. Brightley]

Looks marvelous! (and may I say that the fact that one of the topics under the link is "The Diogenes Club" truly made me smile)

Thanks for sharing!

[Ottens]

Thank you all for your kind comments.  I hope our first issue will live up to your expectations!



“The new steampunk & dieselpunk magazine” is here with the release of the first issue of the Gatehouse Gazette.

In this first issue, the reader with find an introduction to the genre of dieselpunk by Piecraft and Ottens, an interview with Toby Frost, author of Space Captain Smith, steampunk fashion and couture by Hilde Heyvaert, a review of the latest Indiana Jones film by Jack Rose, steampunk poetry, essays, cartoons—and more! Click HERE or on the thumbnail to download this first issue!

[Ottens]

Bumping this in shameless self-promotion 'cause I fear some might have missed this when it got pushed to page two while hopefully it should certainly be of interest to steampunk enthusiasts, not? 

[HildeKitten]

It's really great, everyone should read it!

[von Adler]

There was something that nagged me in the Ottens/Piecraft dialogue, but I keep forgetting what it was.

[Ottens]

The fact that it seemed to run on forever?

[von Adler]

I think it was a strain of thought concerning the hedonistic, nearly end-of-the-world party mood in post-War Berlin (and to lesser extent other German big cities), the more optimistic tone of post-War USA and Britain and the post-Revolution euphoria in Russia and how it relates to the genre (the Soviets being especially prone to futurism, big plans and big machines), but I can't find the place where it might've applied. And as I kept procrastinating, the thought was never made flesh and now it's mostly gone.

[Ottens]

Hmm... well, we did talk about the optimistic, cheerful mode of the 1930s as depicted in some dieselpunk fiction which seem to presume that the Great Depression never arrived, and the 30s are basically a continuation of the Roaring Twenties.  In Sky Captain, for example, there's no sign of a Depression having occurred, skyscrapers and zeppelins still grace the skies, and society seems almost utopian. 

[von Adler]

Now I remember. I was going to make comments about the darker undertones in the German optimism, with the Weimar Republic essentially heading to hell in a handbasket and giving a firm birthing ground for Nazism, as well as the rather darker undertones in the Soviet vision (the terrors of the Revolution, the crushing of the Anarchists, subsequent machine-before-man -mentality). Which is to say, I see the optimism prevalent in the pulps as almost entirely a US/British phenomenon, and the Piecraftian dystopic vision stretching throughout the period.

[Ottens]

Though even the optimistic "Western" dieselpunk has darker underscores, with World War II looming inevitably on the horizon, and the negative sides of the era’s "laissez-faire" attitude depicted in works such as The Shadow (1994) and the Japanese anime, The Big O--the rise of totalitarianism, as you point out, as well as technocratic perception, and the “grit and oil [and] dust and mud” of pollution.

[Jaqhama]

Making a personal observation I have to say that people seem to want dieselpunk to become a term or expression for certain novels or movies.

Saying the Shadow is dieselpunk is silly. The Shadow is crime/fantasy pulp. That's what it was when it was written, and that's how most pulp fans would still define it today.
The Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu novels were the same. As were the Doc Savage stories. And The Spider and all the other similar stories.

Mad Max is also pure futuristic pulp adventure.

I think that what the majority of us know and love as pulp action/adventure is being re-named dieselpunk (and other things) by people who aren't aware that the pulpster genre has been alive and well for a number of decades now.

It's almost like some people have to have a 'punk' name for everything.

How long will it be before someone terms ERB John Carter of Mars series as dieselpunk? I mean the Mars series has flying vessels, guns, swords, exotic science and even the occassional dark sect of beings who worship various ancient gods or ideals...but it's correct term is sword and planet adventure.

Cheers: Jaq.

[Ottens]

I'm also averse to inventing all sorts of "punk" literary genres, however, everything associated with "dieselpunk" are things I all like;  it's not just pulp,  it's pulp anachronized like in steampunk, scientific romances and voyages extraordinaires are.  I wouldn't consider movies like Mad Max and Sky Captain "pulp", if only because they were published years after the Pulp Era.  Of course, pulp still is published, the majority being the hard-boiled detective kind of stories, stylistically inspired by film noir, but what makes installments like Mad Max and Sky Captain different is that they take place in a world that never was.

[Jaqhama]

I was reading an advertisment for a book written by a jewish chap yesterday...mixing Hebrew myths and monsters with modern concerns...and I kid you not...it was listed as Hebrewpunk.
Honest! 

As for what is and isn't pulp...well for myself and a few readers and writers I know...pulp doesn't have an era...pulp is any sort of genre that contains action and adventure, without worrying a great deal about the technical side of any technology that is used.

Pulp has become a term for any action orientated story that is big on thrills and spills and short on long winded techo jargon or scientific explanations.
Crime pulp is just a small segment.
Heaps of other pulp genre stories still being written and available to read...set in the ancient past or the modern day or the far future. Anthing from swords and spears to lazer guns and spaceships.

Cheers: Jaq.

[Ottens]

Exactly!  "Pulp" can mean so many different things, that is, refer to so many different types or stories with different kinds of settings, that I'm in favor of using "dieselpunk" for a specific kind of pulp-like fiction, inspired by Adventure Pulp as well as film noir with retro-futuristic aesthetic.  Because dieselpunk has all these three, along with steampunk-esque elements, I don't think it would be appropriate to call it just "pulp". 

[Jaqhama]

Yes, I take your point my dear Ottens.

I guess there should be some way to classify Doc Savage from say Tully Zetford's Hook series.

I'm just not convinced that dieselpunk really hits the nail on the head.
In fact where pulp is concerend I'm not sure we should be using the punk term at all.

Pehaps dieselpulp might be a closer expression?

By the way I was remiss in not praising you and your staff for your efforts with the Gatehouse Gazette. Stirling stuff to be sure.

My own suggestion to further enlarge the content of the Gazette would be the inclusion of reviews of further novels and movies and perhaps a fictional story each issue...even perhaps a serial?

Cheers:Jaq.

[Ottens]

I like "dieselpulp" too.  It has been suggested before, in fact by our dear Tinkergirl herself!

I'm glad that you liked our first publication.  Our second should include a book review, however we have no fiction planned.  (There was, of course, the preview of what might become a steampunk novel in issue 1!)

If there are people interested in submitting fiction for the Gazette, read here how to get involved.

[Ottens]

Steampunk is “History in the Making” with the second issue of the Gatehouse Gazette.

From the origins of World War I by Robert Rodgers to an article about Japan’s reasons for attacking Pearl Harbor by J.D. Roger, it is history we are writing. Between all this war, there is fortunately more adventurious spirit also, in a narrative about the first motorized crossing of the Sahara, by Joost van Ekris. And we offer an exclusive preview of Toby Frost’s upcoming novel, God Emperor of Didcot!

Click here to download it!

[Ottens]

Steampunk is all about “Playing Roles & Dressing-Up” with the third and holiday issue of the Gatehouse Gazette.

Read about the most stylish history maker, Beau Brummell, from Mr James Roberts or discover the glory of the Venetian Carnival in an article by Mr Joost van Ekris. Learn the life story of the first steampunk musician from the man behind Vernian Process himself, Mr Joshua Pfeiffer, and let Mr “Piecraft” teach you about the early history of the dieselpunk genre with the films Metropolis and Man With A Movie Camera.

Furthermore, we have an article about steampunk makeup by Miss Bérengère Couneson, two articles about steampunk role-playing as well as a Steampunk Wardrobe column about the “Airship Pirate” look all by Miss Hilde Heyvaert, reviews of Unhallowed Metropolis, Scarlet Traces and BioShock, plus a column by Professor Delphinius J.C. Tucker, and much, much more steampunk goodness!

Click here to download and read it!

[Jaqhama]

I'm pleased to see you're still steaming along Ottens, well done old chap.

A few SF webzines have bitten the dust in the last couple of weeks.

Might I suggest that you pop over to http://forum.sfreader.com/ and ask Dave, the webmaster/forum host for your own spot in their magazine/webzine forum listing.

Quite a few writers and readers over there would doubtless be interested in The Gazette.

Cheers: Jaq.

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

If it be not too heretical a thought.....


Why doesn't BG try to make one of these ourselves?