Clockwork Alchemy 2016
How about we start this convention bloop with costumes for a change? The first pic is of Professor Pepper and his Musicalodium. It actually makes music! The next picture of the convocation of bobbies reminded Drake that he should always take his Mall Copper costume to Clockwork Alchemy so he can join in.
So Much Costume Fun!
We’ve always wondered what one does with funky, old, out-of-fashion neckties… and here it is. So.Much.Silk. Next: There’s a new marshal in town and he’s making Sparky think twice about robbing the bank (you know…on purpose). That’s Drake wearin’ his new custom cowboy hat from O’Farrell’s in Santa Fe (the same nice folks who made the Sparky del Pecos hat). If the style looks familiar, it might be because this is the same style O’Farrell’s designed for Sheriff Longmire. Of course, no Clockwork Alchemy costume bloop would be complete without at least one picture of Thena MacArthur in something magnificent. This regal purple ensemble was designed for the fashion show. After the show, she wore it around to make everyone in the Author’s Alley jealous.
The really big news is that the Treehouse Writers released a joint anthology again this year, Thirty Days Later! Twelve Hours Later was such a success last year, we decided to do it again this year, but with stories separated by 30 days instead of just 12 hours. If you enjoyed Twelve Hours Later last year, catch us at a con in the coming year and get a copy of Thirty Days Later.
Thirty Days Later
A wise man once said that you have to celebrate the victories because that’s how you differentiate them from the defeats. (Okay, Drake said that.) And the release of Thirty Days Later was definitely a victory. The authors had a spectacular release party at Spencer’s.
Thirty Days Later Release Party
We first learned about splendid teapot racing while researching our 2015 Comic Con panel, “Steampunk as a Global Phenomenon.” Clockwork Alchemy was the second convention in the US where we saw it included. We’re super excited to see this sport take off.
Splendid Teapot Racer
Random diversion: a friend recently asked me if there are steampunk tattoos. He said he’d searched the web and hadn’t found any good ones.
Yes, Chris, There are Epic Steampunk Tattoos
Our regular readers will know that Clockwork Alchemy always coincides (more or less) with Sparky’s birthday. It’s become a delightful excuse for weekend-long celebrations with friends which are Sparky’s favorite birthday present always. The Messenger-Sikes Cabal organized a small soiree in their room complete with birthday wine (we swear that’s a "thing"). Dover Whitecliff exercised her artistic skills to render this scene from “The Hawaiian Triple-Cross” on a birthday card. Vive la France!
Birthday Fun
Dover’s author table was one of the stops on the scavenger hunt. At some point in the weekend she switched from requiring the scavengers to read from the back of a book in Author’s Alley to making them sing a birthday song to Sparky. This resulted in some truly interesting birthday tunes. Who knew there was an apocalyptic birthday ditty?
Okay, it really was a real convention, where we did presentations, and some performing and everything.
Our Busy Schedule
First up: Character Creation Laboratory with the Messenger-Sikes Cabal. A few of the teams wound up producing stories that integrated all their characters. Sparky thinks her team should actually write up their story and get it published.
Character Creation Laboratory
What? You were thinking there was no Hot Potato School of Writing™? Oh, you read the schedule, so you know we weren’t going to leave you hanging. The Messenger-Sikes Cabal is getting to be old hands at this, so we threw them a curve with new plot points. “We told you not to flush that cephalopod; they will just breed in the sewers.”
Hot Potato School of Writing™
And last, but not least, we sat on Anthony Francis’ panel on writing Victorian science fiction. Although we’ve known these fellow authors for several years and written two anthologies with them, it’s still interesting to hear how our perspectives on our chosen genre vary.
Writing Victorian Science Fiction
You might have noticed that most of our pics were taken in Author’s Alley. We spent most of our time going between our table and the Author’s Salon for panels. So while we didn’t get to see a lot of our friends perform, like the Aether Brigade…
O Aether Brigade, Where Art Thou?
…our efforts did result in this.
Sold Out!
By now we know that we don’t have to say this, but - see y’all next year!
