Steamy

I have some friends who are into the Steampunk thing. In case you are unaware, Steampunk is, essentially, Victorian science fiction. Fans of it will dress in Victorian garb and spice it up with lasers, tech looking accessories along with a scattering of goggles, gloves and scarves.

In an effort to understand this bit of culture a bit more, I am taking in the book "The Affinity Bridge" by George Mann.

The book is classic Steampunk. A murder mystery involving weird apparitions, the crash of a crowded transcontinental dirigible, a zombie plague all set in a Victorian London complete with steam powered cabs and automatons programmed to carry our many every day tasks.

If simply reading about this sort of thing isn't enough for you, you can also head to my town, Tucson to be a part of the Wild West Con, a Steampunk Festival. Here you can put on your own Victorian costume and celebrate the era that never was with some complete strangers that you would probably avoid if you saw them elsewhere. And, with the wild west twist of being held at Old Tucson, it kind of has the feel of Doc in Back to the Future III. Kind of sounds like fun, maybe I will go.

I continue to be amazed at how many subcultures we can find to identify ourselves with today.