Steampunk Digest - April 11, 2025 | The Steampunk Explorer

Weekly news roundup

Apr 11, 2025

This week: Galveston Steampunk Festival preview; Limited edition of Lord Akeldama book; Hugo finalists; New SPG video; SPG to perform at Ontario steampunk fest; More weekend events; New Kickstarters.

Photo by Curt Knapp

Arc Attack and Frenchy and the Punk are among the musical guests slated for the Galveston Steampunk Festival, which takes place April 11-13 at multiple locations in Galveston, Texas. This will be the third year for the festival.

The main event is slated for Saturday, April 12, from noon to 9 p.m., at Moody Gardens. The festival program includes a car show, circus acts, comedy, a costume contest, teapot racing, and more.

On Sunday, the festival moves to the League Kempner Mansion with activities that include a mansion tour, airship racing, tea dueling, and Victorian lawn games.

Guests can also choose from a variety of separately priced add-ons, including a ghost tour, Victorian neighborhood walking tour, and driving tours in Model-T replicas.

Learn more on the festival website.

More event news below.

Subterranean Press is taking pre-orders for a limited hardcover edition of Dear Lord Akeldama & Parasolverse Ephemera, a compendium related to Gail Carriger’s Parasolverse stories. The author originally released it as an e-book in 2022.

“I put my steampunk vampire character Lord Akeldama up as an advice columnist on my blog,” she told us in a video Q&A back in 2023. “Fans are allowed to ask him questions, and he gives terrible vampiric advice. So I compiled all of those into a little e-book.”

The book also includes notes and other material about the character, as well as short essays about her work and deleted scenes from the Parasol Protectorate series and the stories that followed.

The new edition, slated for a summer release, is limited to 750 numbered copies signed by the author. It’s available for $50 from the publisher’s website.

An even more exclusive edition—signed, lettered, leatherbound, and packaged in a custom traycase—has already sold out.

The organizers of Seattle Worldcon 2025 announced the finalists for the 2025 Hugo Awards. No steampunk works made the cut, but Diana M. Pho was once again nominated for Best Editor, Long Form, a category she won in 2021.

Among steampunk fans, she’s best known for her Beyond Victoriana blog, but she’s also edited steampunk-related books by George Mann, Robyn Bennis, and P. Djèlí Clark.

Moniquill Blackgoose, author of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, is a finalist for Astounding Award for Best New Writer, which is presented alongside the Hugos. This is her second and final year of eligibility.

The awards will be presented Aug. 16 during a ceremony at Seattle Worldcon 2025. Winners are chosen by a vote of Worldcon members, including supporting members. See the Worldcon website for more info.

Steam Powered Giraffe released “Pink Pony Club,” a cover version of a song originally recorded by Chappell Roan. It features David Bennett (aka The Spine) on lead vocals and guest artist Lacey Johnson (aka Keytar Kween) on keytar.

The song is available as a single and music video. See the band’s online store for links.

The band also announced that they’ll be performing on Sept. 5 and 6 in Fergus, Ontario in conjunction with Cogs & Clockwork, The Fergus Steampunk Festival. Tickets are now available.

More Events

The Wimmera Steampunk Festival will return April 9-13 to Dimboola, a historic railway town in Victoria, Australia, about 334km northwest of Melbourne. This year’s theme is “The Carnival of Peculiarities.”

The main event happens on Saturday, April 12, with a daytime market followed by a costumed street party beginning at 5 p.m. The street party will feature multiple stages of entertainment along with a lantern procession, costume contest, art installations, and more.

Other activities throughout the week include a steam tractor display, art exhibitions, and performances of Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Learn more on the festival website.

Related: Steampunk parade unites (The Weekly Advertiser)

All-star musician headlines steampunk fest (Wimmera Mallee News)

Burlesque star ready for local debut (Wimmera Mallee News)

The National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield, U.K., will present Steamers and Scallywags on April 12 and 13, with performances by Captain of the Lost Waves and The Cogkneys on Saturday and Madam Misfit and Kitten Von Mew on Sunday. The event will also feature traders and tea dueling.

The venue is a museum that occupies a Victorian-era police, fire and ambulance station. See the website for more info.

The Drill Hall in Chepstow, South East Wales will host Return To The Wye, on Saturday, April 12 with daytime and evening activities. The daytime programme, running from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., includes a steampunk market, teapot racing, and music by Jessica Law and the Outlaws.

The evening soirée, beginning at 7 p.m., features entertainment by Major Blunder, Lady Violet Hugh, and headline act Rogora Khart.

Tickets cost £3 for daytime admission or £20 for the full day’s festivities. See the Facebook page for more info.

Fallout, a nightclub in Richmond, Virginia, will present the Time Travelers Gala, an immersive gathering for fans of steampunk and related interests such as Doctor Who, Stargate, and Star Trek. This is a 21+ event.

Activities include dancing to DJs and a costume contest. Hours are 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Admission costs $20, or $15 for Fallout members. Tickets are available via Ticket Fairy.

Ocean City Renaissance, a nautically themed fantasy and pirate convention, returns to Ocean City, Maryland, with a program that includes music, aerialists, workshops, a fashion show, and more. A Halo Called Fred will perform on Saturday. Proceeds benefit ocean conservation and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

It takes place April 11-13 at the Carousel Oceanfront Hotel. Learn more on the website.

221B Con, a fan convention “for all things Sherlock Holmes,” will take place April 11-13 at the Atlanta Airport Marriott in Atlanta. The program encompasses the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories plus adaptations in other media, as well as related interests.

The founders announced last year that this will be the final 221B convention, but in a recent fan podcast, volunteer Johanna Draper Carlson revealed that it may continue in some form. They will discuss the convention’s future during a panel on Friday evening.

Learn more on the website.

See our website for comprehensive event listings, including steampunk events and regional fandom events in Canada, the U.K., Australia/New Zealand, and the New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, South Central, Mountain, and Pacific regions of the U.S.

Crowdfunding

Randy Thompson, a lamp maker in Jacksonville, Florida, is on Kickstarter with a steampunk-style table lamp featuring two 60-watt tubular Edison bulbs. Made from iron pipes and fittings, it stands 15 inches tall and has a built-in full-range dimmer. It also features a twisted 8-foot vintage-style cord.

The lamp is the sole reward. The campaign includes an early-bird tier priced at US$99. When that’s gone, pledges will begin at $110. Backers can get two lamps by pledging $190.

Shipping is free, but Thompson will ship only to addresses in the U.S. He estimates delivery in July.

The campaign launched April 9 and seeks US$900 by May 11. See the Kickstarter page for more info.

Chris Behrsin of Manchester, U.K. is crowdfunding Books 4-6 of Dragoncat, an illustrated fantasy trilogy “involving a plucky Bengal cat and his trusty dragon sidekick.” The books introduce a new character, “a goofy but courageous Sussex spaniel called Max,” the author says.

Each trilogy has its own story arc and can be read as a standalone adventure, he says.

Behrsin cautions that the story doesn’t have steampunk elements. “It’s more a portal/dragon-riding fantasy written from the point of view of a cat,” he says. However, add-ons include paperback editions of his earlier steampunk fantasy series Secicao Blight, aka the Dragonseer novels.

Pledges for the new series begin at £45 (US$59) for the paperback editions, £60 (US$79) for hardcovers, and £85 (US$112) for deluxe hardcover editions with foil-stamped faux leather covers. The Secicao Blight add-on, consisting of five paperbacks, costs £45 (US$59), a discount from the standard retail price.

The campaign launched March 25 and has reached its £20,000 (US$25,693) funding goal. It runs through April 17. Learn more on the Kickstarter page.

Ongoing Campaigns

The NecroNomNomNom − A card game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The campaign quickly reached its US$2,750 funding goal. It runs through April 19.

Morgana Pendragon − A medieval fantasy comic book adventure from Madeleine Holly-Rosing, creator of Boston Metaphysical Society. The campaign quickly reached its US$6,500 funding goal. It runs through May 2.

Free5e − A set of free, open-source core books compatible with Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. The campaign has reached its US$14,000 funding goal. It runs through May 1.

Ned Kelly: The 5 Revolvers − A science fiction adventure featuring real-life outlaws from the days when New South Wales served as a penal colony. The campaign has reached its AU$5,050 (US$3,118) funding goal. It runs through April 17.