Announcing Duel at Dusk V!

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The news is out! Working with Great Steampunk Sojourn
™️, we are putting on Duel at Dusk again! It will be held on 12 November 2023 at the original Duel at Dusk location, Team Touché Fencing Center, we'll be featuring three types of interactive dueling: Nerf™️ Dueling, Tea Dueling, and Splendid Teapot Racing! Participate, or just cheer on the competitors. We will also have steampunk-related vendors and a raffle. Tickets can be purchased through this link: Duel at Dusk V.

Key City Steampunk Festival 2019

So we headed east to Key City Steampunk Festival to see how they do steampunk in Maryland. Lets see, let’s start with the magic hat, and no fewer than three pictures to explain it:

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First, the presentation. Second, turn the crank. Third, scary fuzzy Cthulhu pops out!


Now, how about some costumes?


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Yep, Loads of Amazing Costumes!


Unfortunately, we didn’t get many pictures of the phenomenon that shows the difference of our usual west coast from the east coast. Out west we have a lot of wild west outfits and pirate cross-over. On the east coast, they have a lot of fairy cross-over. We saw an incredible number of costumes with wings, many of them with real feathers. And really wide wings were the hot ticket, apparently.

Gloriously creative and hilarious gadgets? Check. By the way, Key City Steampunk Festival is heavily maker-oriented. It’s a good place to get makery ideas.


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Sure We Know What All of These Are


We even saw some familiar faces. It was wonderful to see Katie Radebaugh (and her dad, whom we met for the first time). We miss Katie’s warm presence out west. You east coast steampunks should count yourselves lucky to have her…for now. We’re going to be wanting her back.

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Drake, Katie’s Dad, Katie, and Sparky

Half of The Eternal Frontier, Professor Adam Smasher, was there. We’re hoping to see the two of them together again soon because their first-rate shenanigators, our kind of people.


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In Red is Professor Adam Smasher


Hutsell? Check. Wait, what? Yep, apparently you can’t hardly go to a steampunk convention without a Hutsell. This one is
Heather; she’s an author too.

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Heather Hutsell showing Off the Books She Authored


We also entertained and vended as usual and made a few new fans. Because we traveled, we didn’t have our full booth set up. But we had a really good spot right near registration and made good use of it. We even had someone come by and do a dramatic reading of the introduction to
London, Where It All Began. She was quite good.

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Drake Attempts Both Passive and Active Customer Engagement


We were too tired at the end of each day to go to the concerts, but there was busking in the halls and we bumped into Frenchy and the Punk.


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Okay, That’s Actually Drake Pretending


San Diego Comic Con 2019

For us, Comic Con this year was mostly about scouting artists for the illustrated versions of The Bavarian Airship Regatta and Her Majesty’s Eyes and Ears. But we still found some time for the usual sorts of fun. Sparky went early to help Colleen Rodriguez set up the Wyng’d Lyon shop in the League of S.T.E.A.M. booth.

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The Calm Before the Storm


Of course we went to the
Starburner Galactic Courier Service meetup and awards. In addition to old friends, someone there was enjoying his very first Comic Con.

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Steampunks in the Sun


We did a fun little “Steampunks at the Beach” cosplay where Drake tried to catch Sparky with a butterfly net because she was so scantily clad. Hey! It was hot and a good excuse for Drake to wear shorts and Sparky to wear her favorite Dia de los Muertos swimsuit.

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Knees? Shocking!


Old friends abounded.
Thomas Willeford was showing off his new bird-watching goggles.

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Apparently Thomas Willeford Doesn’t Care for Birds


And what would Comic Con be without costumes? The first pic is of our friend Colleen Rodriguez as Batwoman, a role she was born to cosplay (in a costume she made). The second pic is of Dude Vader, and this year he was on the front page of one of the Comic Con daily newsprint updates. Congrats, Dude!

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Oh, the Cosplay!


This one takes Sparky back because Princess Leia was her first cosplay.

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Pew! Pew! Pew!


One of the funnest panels we saw was the League of Extraordinary Scientists and Engineers. They answered questions about what they’d like to see in fiction and how real life for scientists and engineers is different than fiction.

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I Wear Gloves at Work


We’re already making plans for next year!

Iron Horse 2019

On the first weekend of June, we headed up to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris for the Iron Horse Steampunk Carnivale.

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On the Road Again


June can be tricky in Perris because it can be hot, but we were lucky to get beautiful weather for the ensuing shenanigans. Some of the usual suspects were there including Christopher and Bethany Hoage (talking about trains…imagine that),
Dyno Staats, Becky Albrecht (The Victorian Bat), Evie Betz (The Lemon Pirate) and Dr. Solar.

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The Usual Suspects


Okay, not to be those nerds, but Dyno gave us a new story we loving call “1 in 9.” He did a trick for each of us individually at the end of which he asked “what’s the chance of that?” Right, so we’re both mathematicians and computer scientists. First he asked Sparky who did the math in her head (using combinatorics) without pause. She arrived at 1 in 9 and suggested he ask Drake to check her math. He’d already done the trick for Drake, but he dashed off to ask the same question. Drake did the calculation more intuitively and arrived at the same answer, the speed of which impressed Dyno. Yeah, that kind of nerds.

We did a little straight reading.

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Drake Tells it Like it is



Of course, it was mostly about hanging with friends.

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Friends Rock


Thanks to Colleen Kelly Burks for the sweet pic with her husband, Randy.

No bloop would be complete without a smattering of random sightings.

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#randomactsofsteampunk


Of course we sold our books out of the
Wyng’d Lyon booth. Just across the sidewalk was a small caboose we used for Theatre of the Historically Improbable™. Thanks to Carol Silver for these inventive pics.

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Have Caboose Will Shenanigate


Sadly, we hear that this will be the last time for Iron Horse. We’re sorry to see it go.

Gaslight Gathering 2019

Gaslight Gathering, the classic San Diego Steampunk convention, had a bunch of interesting new things to offer this year. The first one we noticed was Airship Morningstar for your photographic pleasure.

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So Many Things to Do


Although the fellow in the last picture may have had a few too many shenanigans. And speaking of shenanigans, one can always count on
Murray Willett to take them to a new level. This is him dancing to “An Octopus’ Garden” during the Saturday night concert, the Orpheus Ball. The band knocking out the tune is The Eternal Frontier.

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It’s Murray; What Can We Say?


It’s always fun to see
Dyno Staats, and his incredible magic…er, science tricks.

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Something Might Go Horribly Wrong


We had the pleasure of
Cynthia Diamond and Kelly Varner returning for our Hot Potato School of Writing™ game show where a steampunk story is created in real time. These two “ladies” are notorious Hot Potato repeat offenders. It made for a lively and “colorful” competition.

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Something Might Go Horribly Wrong Here as Well


We also had a particularly off-the-hook session of Theatre of Historically Improbable™.

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The Company is Running Amok


We know we do this every bloop, but it wouldn’t be a con without the costumes. Ohhh, the costumes!

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So Many Lovely Costumes (and Maybe a Couple of Creepy Ones Too)


The fellow in the gold shirt bought a couple of sticks of (fake) dynamite from us to complete his ensemble; look closely.

But the highlight, as always, was the installation by the
Starburner Galactic Courier Service - the Cornu-Chi, a steampunk reimagining of an X-wing. Just when we think their installations can’t get more detailed and visionary, they outdo themselves again.


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Cornu-Chi


We made some new friends.
The Eternal Frontier, one of the musical guests, came by our booth and serenaded us on the last day. These guys are a lot of fun!

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The Eternal Frontier


No, really, breaking down is not this scary. Maybe Sparky’s just distressed that Gaslight Gathering is over for another year. Not to worry, even if
Wyng’d Lyon makes your Victorian swimsuit, you’re not obliged to help her tear down.

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Breaking Down is Hard to Do


We had a great time!

Wild Wild West Steampunk Con 2019

It was a dark and stormy morning when our adventurers set out for the wilds of the Arizona-Sonora desert.

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Dark & Stormy Morning

Fortunately, they were safe in their climate-controlled wheeled conveyance pod. But further dangers awaited them, including…

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Crimes Against Tea!

But enough about the scary stuff! There are several features of Wild Wild West Con that we really love. First, there’s the art show. Aaaah, look at the lovely contraptions!

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Art Show

Second, there’s the display of whimsically amazing conveyances. Sparky even got to ride one!


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Amazing Conveyances!

Because we vend in the barn, sharing a space with David Lee Summers, …

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Happily in our Usual Vending Spot


…eventually, all the amazing costumes walk by. So, we snapped some snaps!

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Where Do All These Ideas Come From?


But the best part of Wild Wild West Con is the enthusiasm with which the attendees participate, particularly in Theatre of the Historically Improbable™ and Hot Potato School of Writing™. Thanks to Carol Silver for all the pics of our sock puppet shenanigans.

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What is Tim Silver About to Do to Sparky’s Ear?


As we careen off into the sunset after another successful Wild Wild West Con, we ask…


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The Wildest Ride in the West


...will you meet us there next year?

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