Steampunk Digest - April 4, 2025 | The Steampunk Explorer

Weekly news roundup

Apr 4, 2025

This week: WWWC virtual convention; April streaming guide; Abney Park streaming concert; Prof. Elemental tour dates; New music from Captain of the Lost Waves and Sunday Driver; April Fools’ mischief; Weekend events; New Kickstarters: Red Duke Games, Madeleine Holly-Rosing.

The Wild West West Steampunk Convention announced details for WWWC 13.5, a free virtual convention set for May 16-18. The organizers confirmed appearances by Madam Misfit and Marquis of Vaudeville, presumably for a concert. Madame Askew and The Grand Arbiter are also slated to appear.

The convention will be presented via Zoom. To register, visit the convention’s Facebook page. A March 29 post includes a link to the Google signup form.

The organizers announced the event after the in-person convention was abruptly shut down following what appeared to be norovirus outbreak. We’ve posted a lengthy report about the incident.

Photo courtesy of Disney/BBC Studios

The start of April means it’s time for a new streaming guide. This is a good month for fans of science fiction franchises, as streamers will premiere new seasons of Doctor Who, Star Wars: Andor, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Last of Us.

Meanwhile, Netflix is set to debut a new season of its anthology series Black Mirror. The season will consist of six episodes, including a sequel to “USS Callister,” a popular Star Trek homage from 2017.

Read the story: Streaming Guide − April 2025

Abney Park will present “Neon Requiem,” the latest in a series of streaming concerts, this time with a cyberpunk/dystopian theme.

It’s set for Saturday, April 5, 6 p.m. Pacific time. Tickets begin at $15 and are available via Kickstarter.

Professor Elemental announced new tour dates for 2025, including a series of performances in September and October with synthrock musician Laurie Black.

If you can’t wait that long, he’s appearing on Friday, April 11, at Portmericon, a convention for fans of The Prisoner. It’s held in Portmerion, Wales, where the TV series was filmed. Other upcoming shows include performances with Thomas B. Wild (April 18 - Shrewsbury) and Mr. B (May 2 - London).

You can find more upcoming dates on his website.

Captain of the Lost Waves released Rainy Day Confessions, his second album following his recovery from a 2022 automobile accident. He described it as “a stripped back primarily acoustic album made in the midst of late English winter evenings.” It’s a follow-up to last year’s Beautiful Ugly.

The album consists of nine tracks, including a cover of David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes.” Most were previously released as singles. He’s joined by Carl Stipetic on piano and synth.

It’s available for streaming or digital download on a “pay as you feel” basis.

Back in January, we told you about a crowdfunding campaign for Silk & Filth, the fourth album by U.K. band Sunday Driver. The album is out now in vinyl, CD, and digital formats. Vinyl editions are available in orange or blue, signed or unsigned.

Their music combines Eastern and Western influences, and they describe the story as the next chapter in a “Spaghetti Eastern” series that began with the 2021 album Sun God.

You can purchase the vinyl or CD versions from their inhouse label, Trapped Animal. A digital download is available via Bandcamp.

The Felonious Guide to Steampunking Your Taxes by Felonious T. Bilkworth

In case you missed it, we were up to our usual April Fools’ mischief this week, as we announced the release of The Felonious Guide to Steampunking Your Taxes, a new book by noted personal finance guru Felonious T. Bilkworth.

“You can’t just glue some gears to your tax returns and call it steampunk,” the author declared. “You have to be more creative. Try gluing them over your crypto profits, or that passive income you earned from your offshore Kraken farm.”

It’s the latest in a series of April Fools’ parodies we’ve released over the years. Here are the others: The Steampunk Enquirer (2019), COGSmopolitan (2020), T: The Tesla Magazine (2021), Steambook (2022), Craigpunk (2023), and Major League Tea Dueling (2024).

Some journalists frown on April Fools’ pranks in news publications, because it risks damaging the publication’s credibility. And there are notorious cases of jokes that horribly backfired. To avoid that possibility, we strive for pranks that will amuse our readers as opposed to fooling them. We also try to make it so ridiculous that you’ll quickly get the joke.

Read the story: New Book Offers Tax Tips for Steampunks

Events

13 Gears: An Eclectic Steampunk Event returns April 5 and 6 to the Twin Cities with a family-friendly program that includes vendors, tea dueling, and costume contests. Saturday’s schedule also features folk trio Twin Prop Jane and an all-gender beard and mustache contest. Sunday’s lineup includes the Terpsichory Courtly Dance Troupe and Gus the Bardic Troubadour.

It takes place at Squirrel Haus Arts, 3450 Snelling Ave. in Minneapolis. Admission is free. See the website and Facebook page for more info.

The city of Mulberry, Florida will host PrehistoriCon 3, described as “a festival of fossils, gems, and steampunk.” The program includes live music, a scavenger hunt, an Indiana Jones impersonator, an inflatable dinosaur race, and a screening of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

It’s set for Saturday, April 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The city is in Polk County, about 30 miles east of Tampa. See the Facebook page for more info.

The Menagerie Oddities Market will present A Peculiar Spring PopUp, described as a “wild showcase of strange art and collectibles.” The program includes Tarot readings and sideshow performances by Rosa Robada. Countess Blanca will be there with her vampire and werewolf babies.

It takes place Saturday, April 5, noon to 6 p.m., at the Shady Oak Barrel House, 420 1st Street in downtown Santa Rosa, California. Admission is free but guests are advised to register via Eventbrite so the organizers can estimate attendance. Learn more on The Menagerie 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

Card Game

Red Duke Games launched a Kickstarter campaign for The NecroNomNomNom, a card game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The game is a follow-up to the publisher’s Lovecraft-inspired cookbooks. It challenges players to assemble recipes to feed a Lovecraftian monster.

The game consists of four subdecks: Eldritch Horrors (the Ancient Ones who must be fed); Rituals (recipes) to “satisfy the unearthly appetites of the Ancient Ones”; Offerings (ingredients) to assemble; and The Stars, a set of tasks to perform.

The object: “Be the first cultist to complete a ritual that quells the hunger of your Eldritch Horror—before you become the main course.”

Pledges begin at US$20. The publisher estimates delivery in August.

The campaign launched March 20 and has already reached its US$2,750 funding goal. It runs through April 19. See the Kickstarter page for more info.

Morgana Pendragon artwork

Madeleine Holly-Rosing is best known to steampunk fans for her graphic novel series Boston Metaphysical Society. But now she’s reaching back to the legend of King Arthur for a new medieval fantasy series entitled Morgana Pendragon.

Here’s a synopsis: “Having lost her magic when she fled England twenty years ago, Morgana leads a mercenary team wherever the best paycheck is. All that changes when she receives a message to return—her brother, King Arthur, is dying. Now, she must not only face Mordred, the child she left behind, but a new threat which may forever change her and the future of her country.”

The campaign will fund the first 32-page issue of a four-issue mini-series.

Pledges begin at US$6 for a digital edition and US$12 for a print copy. The latter is an early bird tier. Holly-Rosing estimates delivery in July.

The campaign launched April 2 and has already reached two-thirds of its US$6,500 funding goal. It runs through May 2. Learn more on the Kickstarter page.

TraXX, LLC of Denver, Colorado is crowdfunding Issue No. 4 of Mainline, an annual publication that combines railroad-themed board games with articles about railroad history. This year’s theme is “The Railroads of Europe.”

Pledges begin at US$25 for a digital edition and $50 for a print copy. The publisher estimates delivery in June.

The campaign launched March 25 and reached its US$3,000 funding goal the same day. As of Wednesday, it had raised more than $21,000. See the Kickstarter page for more info.

Dale Critchley of Leadville, Colorado is crowdfunding Free5e, a set of free, open-source core books compatible with Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. The goal, he said, is to make the RPG—including steampunk campaigns—accessible to more people.

The series consists of three books: Player’s Guide, GM’s Handbook, and Free-Range Monsters. Pre-publication digital versions can be downloaded for free from DriveThruRPG.

The campaign will fund editing, layout, and artwork creation. The books, including artwork, will be available under Creative Commons licenses.

Pledges begin at $1 for access to the Free5e Discord server, beginning in May 2026. Higher-priced tiers include cards, tokens, stickers, game tools, and wall art.

The campaign launched March 25 and is close to its US$14,000 funding goal. It runs through May 1. See the Kickstarter page for more info.

Ongoing Campaigns

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$3,304) funding goal. It runs through April 17.

Terror in Wonderland − The third and final volume in a YA steampunk fairy tale trilogy by Tabitha Corvin. The campaign quickly reached its US$5,000 funding goal. It runs through April 8.

The Enchanted Circus of Wonder – A three-part steampunk comic book series about a clash between circus performers and pirates. The campaign has reached its US$4,000 funding goal. It runs through April 10.

Hudson Mudworth Thinks of Something – An illustrated all-ages steampunk mystery adventure novel. The campaign is about 62 percent toward its US$9,000 funding goal. It runs through April 10.