Storypunks Podcast

Shelley Adina is an award-winning author and instructor of popular steampunk, contemporary, and Amish fiction.

In this interview, we discuss her wonderful steampunk series Magnificent Devices, which is a longer story at 12 books (and counting!). Shelley shares tips for authors and writers creating longer works, and we also get into a bit of clockpunk, prettypunk, and decopunk.

We also chat about the intersection and possibilities of these genres, including Shelley's Amish vampire series (so awesome!) and some details about working within the Christian market.

Also check out her Mysterious Devices series!

This is a crossover episode with podcaster Elizabeth Headrick aka Bluestocking of the Steampunk Dollhouse Podcast! We share podcasting lessons learned, including some bumper samples.

I love Bluestocking's literary analysis of steampunk fiction, which she studies academically as an MLIS grad student. Plus, she gets delightfully sassy and political–it's tons of fun and I always learn a lot.

And her Scholarly Steampunk Collection and recommended reading list for 2018 are not to be missed!

Storypunks.world SPDHPod.com

"Big Daddy Cool" John Pyka is a showman who hosts and produces The Dieselpunk Podcast. He's an entertainer with tons of experience and he's turned his show into a book titled Tales From the Flip Side.

John shares his definition of Dieselpunk, and how it can intersect with Decopunk, Atompunk, and other genres, as well as terms like Dark Dieselpunk and Piecraftian versus Ottisian Dieselpunk. We also touch on lessons learned from community dynamics as well as John's take on being an introvert performer.

Think art made from human hair sounds weird? You might think again after this fascinating interview with historical and contemporary hairwork artist Courtney Lane, who creates and restores mourning jewelry, momentos, and more.

We chat about how this unique storytelling medium intersects with death positivity, lachrymatory bottles, post-mortem photography, and other historical topics relating to genres like alternate history and steampunk.

Video version on YouTube or Storypunks.World.

Austin Dragon writes several sci fi series, including his cyberpunk detective series Liquid Cool. He describes this story as Blade Runner meets The Maltese Falcon.

When it comes to his favorite works in the cyberpunk genre, Austin Dragon prefers the term "cyber noir", so in this episode we talk through that. Austin also shares why he's played homage to popular cyberpunk books you will recognize when naming books in this series, and much more.

Join us for a fun interview!

More detailed show notes at Storypunks.World.

Author Jon Messenger is inspiring not only for his Magic and Machinery series, which he describes as a steampunk "Sherlock Holmes in a world of magic", but also because he balances writing with a full-time military career.

In this episode, we talk about how his service has informed this steampunk series, including how PTSD and other aspects of military life affect how he writes about relationships, themes, character development, worldbuilding, and other storytelling topics.

Join us!

Full show notes can be found at Storypunks.World.

Paul Shapera is a musician whose New Albion and Tales of Lost Hollow albums span atompunk, dieselpunk, cyberpunk, steampunk, and more!

So no matter what you fancy, this episode probably has something for you!

We get into fascinating territory, including Paul's relatively uncommon four-act storytelling structure rather than the more traditional three-act or five-act storyline, and how this relates to the idea of "Escher's Loops" (yes, as in, the illustrator).

Paul also describes the sound of each punk era, including instruments and thematic inspirations.

And since the concept of "rock opera" can be elusive, he also shares his preferred term for his kind of storytelling: pulp opera.

Yup, Paul's pretty much the coolest.

Find more detailed show notes and links to the video version at www.Storypunks.World.

Paul's site, where you can listen to and purchase his albums: www.mochalab.bandcamp.com.

Malka Older's Centenal Cycle Series begins with Infomocracy followed by Null States and State Tectonics, and takes readers through a world of micro-democracies.

I love how she's using the series to create small laboratories in which to investigate social technologies and structures as well as the diverse characters moving among them.

Basically, you will feel smarter after this conversation with Malka, and especially if you dive into this series . . . I know I did!

Mentioned in this episode (with additional show notes at Storypunks.World):

Malka Older's Website

Detroit's Digital Access Divide (New York Times)

Brave New World Conference

Neil Harbisson - Cyborg

Moon Ribas - Cyborg

Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion

Mary Robinette Kowal wrote The Glamourist Histories series, among many other works. In this episode we focus on how this series is mannerpunk, what the genre entails, and how Mary approaches writing.

A highlight for me was our discussion about Mary's vintage typewriters, so be sure to check the video version on YouTube for a glimpse at those!

Mary's work could also be described as fantasy of manners, alternate history, ghostpunk, spacepunk (or mercurypunk, or atompunk!), and maybe even ecopunk.

(So many punks, not enough time!)

Andrew P. Mayer's NYC-based Society of Steam series features superheroes like automatons and "gentleman adventurers" in a coming-of-age adventure.

We joke about "RPG disease" and the possibility of funkpunk?! Thus far, the term has been used for music but not so much for fiction (that I know of!). Chime in on social media if you have thoughts about it.

Plus, Andrew shares an intriguing definition of sci fi versus fantasy. It's all about checking out different perspectives in this community.

So, yeah. This one covers some interesting ground. Don't miss it!