Bayou Renaissance Man

It's a stand-alone novella in his steampunk series, giving added depth to one of his characters from his first steampunk book, "For Steam and Country".  The new book is titled "Knight Training".




The blurb reads:

Airships, Guns, and Gadgets! The Knights of the Crystal Spire are more than ordinary fantasy knights.

Life as an apprentice knight hasn’t been easy on James Gentry. As a commoner and an outsider, he’s been ridiculed, picked on, and shunned by the other boys. But he’s determined to become one of the finest knights Rislandia has ever seen.

During his training, James stumbles upon a master knight selling information on Rislandian troop movements to a Wyranth spy. To keep Rislandia safe, he must root out the traitor and put a stop to the enemy's schemes. Does he have what it takes?

Jon writes a rattling good story, and I'm sure you'll enjoy his latest one.  He has two follow-up novels coming out soon:  "The Blood Of Giants" in August, and "Fight For Rislandia" in September.  He's publishing them close together, as I did with my recent "Cochrane's Company" trilogy, to build reader interest.  You can learn more about them by following his blog.

If steampunk appeals to you, Jon's books will too;  and if you haven't tried the genre before, they're a good introduction to it.  He's a good guy, and his wife is a lovely lady.  Miss D. and I were pleased to see them again at LibertyCon a few weeks ago.

Peter

It seems a robot designed and built during the 1920's is about to be resurrected.  The Telegraph reports:

Britain’s first robot, Eric, is to be rebuilt and sent on a world tour after curators at the Science Museum tracked down lost plans while researching a new exhibition.

The automaton was built by First World Ward veteran Captain William Richards and aircraft engineer Alan Reffell, to replace the Duke of York in opening the Exhibition of the Society of Model Engineers in London in 1928.

On September 28 1928 Eric stood up at the Royal Horticultural Hall, bowed, looked right and left and moved his hands as he proceeded to give a four minute opening address as sparks flashed from his teeth.

The robot was so successful that after his appearance he embarked on a world tour, amazing crowds in Britain, UK and Europe, before vanishing forever.

There's more at the link.

I'm not sure whether Eric could be described in the same terms as a modern robot.  I suspect he'd more correctly be classified as an automaton.  Whatever the classification, though, it's very cool from a techie perspective to see a piece of history like this revived.  I imagine the steampunk brigade will be thrilled!

Peter

A couple of weeks ago I put up a video about a steampunk steam train race.  Now, from the same studio, here's a steampunk wizard SWAT team - a Special Wizards Assault Team.




Requires a bit of a stretch of the imagination, but it's still an intriguing use of CGI.

Peter

This tickled my funny-bone.  Watch it in full-screen mode for the most amusing results.







Peter

Larry mentioned GIANT STEAM POWERED FIGHTING ROBOTS! in his latest blog post.  I couldn't resist posting the link to 'A Gentleman's Duel' in his Comments, as one of the funniest short films on steam powered fighting robots I've ever seen.  I've put it up here before, but it's so good I reckon it won't hurt to do so again - so here it is.  I recommend watching it in full-screen mode.




Yes, it's still as funny as ever . . .





Peter

Here's a marvelous computer-generated graphic video in the steampunk genre, with plenty of other bits and pieces thrown in.  I recommend watching it in full-screen mode.




Great work by the Media Design School of New Zealand.

Peter

Something interesting just popped up on YouTube.

The Sky High City of SteamPuff - Episode 1

Welcome to the SKY HIGH CITY OF STEAMPUFF, a floating clockwork continent lost amidst the clouds, where anything and everything is driven by the power of steam. But when brilliant steam-smith Hephaestus Von Toot is kidnapped by an unseen foe, it's up to his son Victor (and his squadron of steam-powered friends) to not only track him down, but defeat the powerful forces that would threaten to drop his city from the sky.

I recommend watching this in full-screen mode.




Looks like some nifty animation, enough steampunk to satisfy the small boy in any of us, and prospects for an interesting series. It may be worth keeping an eye open for the next episode.

Peter

Yesterday I put up some photographs of steampunk wasps. Reader Tim D., in a comment to that post, pointed me to this video clip on YouTube. I enjoyed it so much I had to share it with the rest of my readers.





Thanks, Tim!



Peter

I spent an enjoyable few minutes flipping through a picture gallery of steampunk wasps over at Environmental Graffiti. Here are a few of their images.








There are many more at the link. Recommended viewing.

Hmm . . . I wonder if I could get my blogbuddy and best-selling author Larry Correia to include some of these things in the next volume of his steampunk-magic-Prohibition-era-gangster Grimnoir Chronicles series?





Peter