Is “Sucker Punch” Steampunk?

Posted on March 14, 2011 10:49 AM 8 Comments

I love many things about Steampunk, including the way the genre has grown over the last year, but it can sometimes be difficult to determine exactly what falls inside and outside of the genre. While many things definitively are Steampunk, it seems like there are any number of people who are simply adding the term to a variety of objects simply in hopes that they’ll sell them to a hungry audience.

I’ve even heard the term used to describe the movie Sucker Punch, and I get the confusion. It’s definitely period, although that period seems to obviously be the 1950s/60s for the primary world. And none of the imaginary worlds appear to actaully be Victorian in intent or nature. That said, the movie seems to have struck a chord in the community. I think the obvious reason for that is that it is, like Steampunk itself, it seems to be drawing on elements of the past (including now retro ideas of the future) in order to create a pastiche of old and new. There’s no arguing that appropriation is at least part of what makes Steampunk work, and It’s likely that for many fans of the genre that love of things old and new will spill over into any period as long as it’s done well, and manages to feel thematically consistent. But it doesn’t make it Steampunk. Perhaps we need a new term…

Take a look at the trailer, and let me know what you think:

The Rose City Steampunk Film Festival

Posted on February 12, 2011 8:08 PM No Comments

For those of you who are local Portlanders, I’ll be appearing tomorrow at the Rose City Steampunk Film Festival, on The Portland Steampunk Authors Panel.

There’s lots of exciting films and special guests, and I’ll have stickers to give out, so I hope I’ll see you there!

What It Means To Have Written

Posted on January 14, 2011 2:26 AM 1 Comment

I think that one of the hardest parts about being a writer is realizing that, at the end of the day, it’s far more satisfying to have written than it is to write. That’s not to say that some writers don’t love to write. Personally I’m blessed by the fact that I usually find the process a pleasant one.

But what the average person thinks it means to “be a writer” is usually all about the things you can only get from having written, and very little about the process.

Everything that it takes to be successful: a publishing deal, your synopsis, blogging, log lines, etc. etc. are the result of the act, but the act is the writing itself, and in the moment you are doing it, you have nothing but the work.

(more…)

Andrew P. Mayer in 2011

Posted on January 01, 2011 4:01 PM No Comments

Happy New Year!

It’s already the second of January in New Zealand as I write this, so I’ve already managed to spend a solid day in 2011, and so far, so good.

I’m not much of one for resolutions, but I have promised myself that I’ll make this blog more lively in the coming year, especially as The Falling Machine will be out in just five short months.  (Never trust anyone who tells you that they’re going to blog more unless they actually do it…)

I’ve got plenty of fresh thoughts on media, genre, and culture in general. Doubly so now that I’ve spent a bit of time away from everything but the internet, and what little I can get piped down here in Middle Earth comes through a wi-fi connection broadcast onto a farm on a hill….

But, when I’m not hiking up mountains, or trying to drink the digital ocean in through a straw, I’m hard at work whacking the second book in the Society of Steam series into shape. The first draft is done, and now I’m revising and clearing up the clutter as I do my best to make sure that the world I’m building is at least somewhat internally consistent.

It’s the topic of a later blog post, but working on this manuscript makes me realize that I’m a very different writer than I was when I started the first book back in 2007. I definitely want to share some of the things I’ve learned, and see how others feel about that.

There will also be an update to the site design, but exactly when, I cannot yet say.

That’s it. Get on with your new year! And if you have any thoughts or questions, please leave them below….

The Falling Machine: The Cover Arrives

Posted on December 03, 2010 8:30 AM 3 Comments

At long last I can reveal the cover for my novel, The Falling Machine:

I’ve had it on my phone for a while now, and have been sharing it with friends, but I’m even more excited that I can finally show it to the world!

The Falling Machine: The Society of Steam-Book 1

(Click the image for full size)

The paper version will have foil and embossing, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
The artwork is by the ridiculously talented Justin Gerard, and you can see more of his amazing artwork here.

And finally, although the book itself won’t be coming out until May, if you want to make absolutely sure you don’t forget, you can pre-order it from Amazon right now.

Close to the Edit as a Metaphor for Design

Posted on October 04, 2010 6:07 PM No Comments

I’d almost forgotten about this until David Pescovitz posted it over at Boing Boing the other day.

I was thinking about good metaphors that could be used to explainwhat it is that game designers actually do, as opposed to what it is that most people think it is that they do. I chuckled when it dawned on me that the old “Close to the Edit” video is a pretty damn good visual metaphor for the day to day job of a game designer, and so I present it here, with that context in mind:

It may seem fairly abstract, but pointing at creative objects and yelling “Hey!” (Ico style) in order to unleash a team of power-tool wielding musicians to attack them in semi-musical fashion is, at the very least, an amusing way to think about the process of game production.

Agree, disagree, have other videos you think work better? Post them in the comments.

Fans for the Medium

Posted on October 03, 2010 11:12 AM No Comments

Some movie companies have decided that the people who rent movies (from places like Netflix and/or Redbox) shouldn’t have access to the same bonus content that’s on the disc for people who buy it. The goal is obviously to try and make purchasing the “full” version more attractive, and while I suppose that makes sense on a surface level, I’m wondering if the movie industry isn’t (once again) missing the forest for the trees.

For the upcoming generation of customers, movies and TV are far from being the only medium competing for their money. The book publishing industry is only beginning to wake up to the fact that to have a healthy culture of readers you can’t just expect them to be out there, you have to develop and nurture your audience. Video games had to fight tooth and nail to create and nurture a generation of passionate gamers.

The bonus content on DVDs isn’t just entertainment, it’s a way to engage viewers in the idea that films are something worth being passionate about. That’s an important message about a passive medium as we enter into an age that’s more and more interactive and social every day.

Sticker Shock – Falling Machine freebies from me at Dragon*Con

Posted on September 01, 2010 6:05 PM No Comments

If you come find me at Dragon*Con I will be giving away some awesome limited edition stickers featuring characters from my upcoming novel:
The Falling Machine: The Society of Steam-Book 1

They’ll also be available at the Pyr booth: 1601 in the Imperial Ballroom at the Marriott Marquis.

Here’s a preview of what to expect:

The Falling Machine: The Society of Steam-Book 1

(Click on the image to make it larger)

The character art was created by Steven Sanders, artist behind Marvel’s recent S.W.O.R.D., series, with layout and coloring by Laurenn McCubbin who drew this month’s issue of Zantanna for Vertigo. Both of them are talented and lovely people, as is obvious by how gorgeous these images are.

Andrew Mayer is at Dragon*Con 2010

Posted on August 29, 2010 4:46 PM No Comments

dragoncon-banner4[1]Did you know I’m going to be at Dragon*Con over the memorial day weekend?

It’s true! And I’ll be handing out awesome stickers for my book, The Falling Machine (The Society of Steam-Book 1).

So, if you want some free stickers (and they are fantastic!) I’ll be hanging out at the Pyr booth. I’ll also be appearing in a few other places, listed below:

FRIDAY

4 pm: Steampunk Superheroes
Location: The Westin Peachtree Ballroom
Description: A discussion of superheroes in the steampunk genre, featuring both fictional characters and costuming.

7 pm: Pyr Books, a New Voice in Publishing
Description: Join editor Lou Anders as he presents Pyr. Presenting new authors and well established ones, Pyr has something for everyone in their catalogue.
Location: Fairlie – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

FRIDAY, SUNDAY, & MONDAY: STROLL WITH THE STARS

9 am

The “Stroll with the Stars” is a chance for fans and authors to mingle and have a light walk to start the day!

That meets on the sidewalk in front of the main entrance of the Hyatt Regency on Peachtree Street

I’ll also be joining some other panels, but those aren’t confirmed yet, so I’ll be posting updates as I find out where I’m going to be.

Sculpture Punk

Posted on August 22, 2010 10:28 PM No Comments

I’ve probably mentioned this before (and I certainly will again), but the whole point of adding the epithet “punk” to a word to create a movement, really depends on having  methods or ideas that were once so expensive that they could only be accessed by the elite becoming cheap and ubiquitous, allowing them to fall directly into the hands of the masses. That’s why you so often see the word paired with some kind of technology. And as we enter an age where mass-production and manufacturing techniques are becoming increasingly lower-cost, while increasing customization,  it now takes only a small team to do what was once the work of an entire factory.

Case in point: Sculpture, where large-scale installation projects that were once few and far between are now becoming more and more commonplace.

This rocket installation on the Embarcadero in San Francisco is a great example of the kind of crazy new projects that we’ve seen spring up in the last decade or so, and I hope we see more of them.

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