“Duel at Dusk” is back! This is the third time we are offering this event. Drake & McTrowell, along with help from the steampunk community, is making it even better than ever.

See our Duel at Dusk event page here.

Not familiar with Duel at Dusk? It’s a steampunk parlor event with dueling. But this time there will be four types of dueling: steampunk nerf gun dueling, tea dueling, compliment dueling, and our traditional Olympic-style foil fencing! We will also have our usual dazzling array of steampunk vendors, and much, much more.

6 P.M. to 10 P.M. on Saturday the 14th of January, 2017

Location: Team Touché Fencing Center
11468 Sorrento Valley Rd. Suite A-1
San Diego, California 92121

On-line tickets are no longer on sale through the Drake & McTrowell General Store.
You may buy tickets at the door of the event. $15 for adults (age 17 and up) and $8 for children.
On-line tickets may be purchased for $10 for adults and $5 for children (only available on-line until 11 PM January 13, 2017 - that’s right, Friday the 13th! Ooh, scary!). Adults tickets are for ages 17 and up. Children are ages 4 through 16.

So acquire your tickets, stuff your photographic apparatus into your carpet bag, take in an early dinner, and come join us on the evening of January 14th to participate and/or watch the competitors!

Entry characterizations: Events, Authored by Drake

On Deck

But we weren’t the only pirates in attendance.

Steam Pirates, Ho!

Nor were we the only ones in blue. Doc Phineas was also rocking the cooler shades.

Doing Blue with Doc Phineas

Friends were everywhere!

Friends Galore!

Um, What’s Going on Here? The Usual Tossing of the Cephalopod!

We took a brief recess to grab a bit of lunch and we found this mural.

Separated at Birth? This is Drake’s Latest Acquisition, an Octopus Hand Puppet!

We met new folks and saw some amazing costumes.

So, there’s this thing that Sparky and Molly Edison do. They dance…and dance…and dance.

Dancing Machines! Ya Know, Machines with Steam and Gears that React to Music!

Who should be there entertaining the crowd but our favorite steampunk circus, Cirque des Bêtes?

They Fly Through the Air With the Greatest of Ease

And we even sold a few books with a little help from our friend, Colleen, at Wyng’d Lyon.

Commerce in Action

We strongly urge you, our steampunk friends in the southern California area, to put Oxnard Steampunk Fest on next year’s calendar!

Entry characterizations: Authored by Morse, Convention

“Apocrypha Now” Panel

Bill Plympton’s working on a new animated feature with Jim Lujan called “Revengeance.” Judging by the panel and the trailer, it’s going to be darkly hilarious…as we have come to expect from Bill.

“Revenge is a Dish Best Served Animated”

Bob Mogg and Catherine Fisher graced the Cosplay 101 panel along with Birda Hussey Nichols and Melissa Gene Meyer, after which Catherine showed off her patriotic princess cosplay trio.

Cosplay 101

Much to our surprise, we were able to get into Adam Savage’s panel on Cosplay as Storytelling. It also turned out to be a master class in how to moderate a panel while participating.

Cosplay as Storytelling

Our regular readers know that we’re fans and supporters of The League of S.T.E.A.M. So, we were delighted to be able to attend screenings and panels for two of their video efforts to which we contributed our “acting” skills: “The White Wolf” from season 3, and the “Kali 47” music video.

The White Wolf



Kali 47

We found time to visit some artists whose work we’ve enjoyed for years including Travis Hanson who whipped up this sketch of the Evil Cheesemonger from Drake & McTrowell’s Theatre of the Historically Improbable™. Amazingly, he looked up to talk to us several times as he continued sketching. That’s some mad skills!

Evil Cheesemonger

And Sparky got to the art show in time to nab this beauty by Dan Jones. His work was selling like hotcakes (as usual), and he sold out before the weekend was over.

Sir Franklin Java Bot, held by the artist, Dan Jones

And then there was that serendipitous moment when we borrowed a pen from a British gentleman at lunch who was dressed in a Star Trek uniform (original series). We asked what he was doing at Comic Con. He and his partner designed and built precise replicas of Star Trek communicators that pair with your cellphone. You know, the kind Kirk flipped open in the days before flip phones…actually, decades before the invention of the cellphone. Of course, as children of the 60s, we had to hot foot it over to the ThinkGeek booth and get ourselves a pair.

Beam Me Down, Scotty; I’ve Got Some Shopping to Do

Of course, no Comic Con bloop would be complete without coverage of the annual Starburner Galactic Courier Service Awards. Several good friends received well-deserved awards including Joyce McCarthy, Christopher Hoage, Dude Vader (Chris Canole), and Doc Phineas. Congrats all!

Starburner Galactic Courier Service Awards

Costumes, gotta do costumes. Judging by the pics we got, the ladies knocked this one out of the park.

Costumes Galore

We once again had the very last time slot on Sunday afternoon for our panel. This year’s offering was “Steampunk as a Maturing Visual Aesthetic” with Andrew Fogel (The League of S.T.E.A.M.), Bob Mogg (The Iron Tailor), and Rocky Olivares (Heroes and Bandits). You may recognize Rocky’s style because she was one of the illustrators for our first book, London, Where It All Began.

Steampunk as a Maturing Visual Aesthetic

Thanks to Kelly Varner and JoAnn Onishi-Mogg for the pictures of the panel because we were too busy presenting to get some ourselves.

We proved once more that we can shut down Comic Con in style. Despite the lateness of the panel, we still had plenty of people in the room and got several very insightful questions. Exhausted, but content that this year was once again a success, we departed for a celebratory dinner with our friends, Kelly and Murray. Thanks to Kelly for the departure pics.

Until Next Year, Comic Con

Time to start making plans for next year’s panel.

Entry characterizations: Convention, Authored by Morse

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!

Entry characterizations: Convention, Authored by Morse

View from the Porch of the Kellogg House

It was picnic perfect.

Pickanick Basket Anyone?

Lots of friends were there, enjoying the programming and the shady elegance.

Pausing for a Brief Respite on the Kellogg House Porch

The Wild West Steam Fest added regularly scheduled gun fights (wonderfully played by the Guns and Garters Old West Reenactment group) that were sprinkled throughout the day.

Look What You Done!

What’s that you say? Were there shenanigans? Really, do you even need to ask?

Which One is the Sidekick?

Masks by the Brass Wardrobe. Thanks to Bob Mogg for these comic pics of our masked heroes and for the cool panoramic view of the Kellogg House porch above. And speaking of Bob, also known as the Iron Tailor, he gave an incredibly educational bandolier workshop. It was really clear and informative. Even Sparky got to feeling like she might be able to tackle one of these projects.

The Iron Tailor Explains Bandoliers

The Star Wars Steampunk Universe was out in Force….ahaha. And Sparky won a patch by answering one of Dude Vader’s trivia questions. It will straight onto her steampunk denim jacket.

Star Wars Steampunk Universe

Deus Ex Vapore Machina was there playing sets in the gazebo throughout the day, so we stopped by several times in between shopping and panels to hear several songs.

Deus Ex Vapore Machina

And you know we can’t resist a few pics of cool costumes we spotted.

New Costume Creativity

Because it was a one-day event, we had a short presentation schedule; we just did Drake & McTrowell’s Theatre of the Historically Improbable™. Thanks to Debra Brunner for being such a good sport and participating in both the skit and the sock-puppet reading.

“Green Grass, Brown Well” and “The Evil Cheesemonger”

Like many steampunk conventions, this one had a costume contest. What was special about this one was the number of girls in amazing adventure costumes. Seriously, doesn’t the one on the left look like a young Sparky McTrowell? But they all looked incredible and steampunky.

You’re Never Too Young to be a Steampunk Adventuress

Here’s hoping that the Heritage Museum saw the benefit of the event and lets Noelle do it again next year.

Entry characterizations: Authored by Morse, Convention

Who’s Ready for Some Foolishness?

Festival of Fools Poster

We started the festivities by appearing on San Diego Living on the local CW station. We steampunked the hosts, Lynda Martin and Clint August.

San Diego Living

Drake pitched in by creating the brochure and map.

Festival of Fools Brochure

We thought we were in 2016, but it’s possible we were in 1885.

Back to the Future

Because it was outdoors with lots of open space, we took the opportunity for some sporting and busking shenanigans. We broke out the croquet set.

Extreme Croquet



Let the Wookie Win




Even Doc Phineas Paid our Pitch a Visit

We did lots of juggling; Drake even taught a few lessons. We spent so much time busking and performing that we didn’t have a lot of time to take pictures. We’re grateful to Bethany Jackson, Hybrid Realities Cosplay, Michael Watson, and Debbie Boyd for many of the following pictures.

Juggling Fools

And another in our continuing series, “Separated at Birth…”

Separated at Birth?

We ran not one, but two, full sessions of Drake & McTrowell’s Hot Potato School of Writing™. The first one was on the main stage. Judging by the pics, it had more than even our usual level of shenanigans.

Hot Potato School of Writing™ on the Main Stage

The second session was in the more casual setting of the Dreadful Lounge.

Open Air Hot Potato School of Writing™

Of course, no convention would be complete without a little music and dancing, compliments of Frenchy & the Punk.

Frenchy & the Punk



Plus Dancing



Um, What’s Going on Here?

We hope to see you all there next year!

Until Next Year

Entry characterizations: Authored by Morse, Convention

Our Names in Lights…Sorta

We were traveling light, so we only did a couple of things. First, we participated in Joyce McCarthy’s “Over 30 Cosplay” panel. A lot of our favorite “usual suspects” were there and we had a lively discussion.

Over 30 Cosplay Panel

We did another round of Drake & McTrowell’s Theatre of the Historically Improbable™. Even with a completely different company, it was completely wacky.

Don’t Try This at Home, Kiddies; We’re Rank Amateurs
(Carol Silver, thanks for taking these pictures!)

Okay, we did squeeze in a couple of other shenanigans. We hung with the Atlantean Foundation for quite a bit of the afternoon, complete with singing on the train because…Atlantean Foundation. It’s what they do. The other thing they do is set up an awesomely detailed encampment and bestow superbly gracious hospitality on their friends.

Attending Iron Horse, Atlantean-Style

And it seems like it’s been forever since we managed to catch one of Poplock Holmes’ shows. Sparky danced to her heart’s content, but skipped the "signing directly on the fans" fun at the end.

#thesteampunkfestival

And it wouldn’t be one of our convention bloops without some nods to the costumes that really tickled our fancies.

It Wouldn’t Be Steampunk Without the Costumes

Entry characterizations: Authored by Morse, Convention

The Boys Take Old Tucson

We shared an author’s table with David Lee Summers again inside the vendor’s barn. We had a great spot right in-between the refreshment stand and the table for the band “The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing.” David S. was selling his hot-off-the-press book “Brazen Shark,” which is the third in his steampunk series. You should definitely check it out if you missed picking one up at WWWC. Special thanks to his wife, Kumie, and his daughter, Verity, for keeping the commerce in action while we scampered back and forth to panels.

Vending Shenanigans

It’s always fun to see our friends exercising their steampunk chops.

Cirque des Bêtes in the Sun

League of S.T.E.A.M. with Their Rock Monster



David Lee Summers Does Victorian Astronomy

Lord Towers Rides Tall

Thomas Willeford is Hot, Literally




Don’t Ask!
(Crackitus from League of S.T.E.A.M. lovingly wipes his nose on Erasmus’ leathers)



Ice Cold Tea Duel Stare Down Cooling Off the Desert

We made some new friends including John Sprocket from The Cog is Dead.

John Sprocket entertained with lively songs and panache

John did us the honor of captaining Team Red for Hot Potato School of Writing™.

Quick — have the story include “The look of love evaporated from his face when he saw his own reflection in the dead woman’s glass eye”

Trip Hope and Justin Andrew Hoke helped us reprise our presentation of “Steampunk as a Global Influence.”

Did Someone Say, “Стимпанк?”
( Russian for “Steampunk” )

There was some creative new costuming including the return of color, particularly in the ladies’ costumes.

Lots of Crossovers

We got to see Splendid Teapot Racing live for the first time thanks to Madame Askew, The Grand Arbiter, and Stephen Chapman. The Texas Terror made a exceptionally fine showing, particularly over the teeter-totter of terror, no surprise there.

Splendid Teapot Racing

Of course, we had a session of Drake & McTrowell’s Theatre of the Historically Improbable™. We continue to be amazed by the willingness of steampunks to jump in with both feet and exercise their campy acting skills.

Chief Inspector / Director Erasmus Drake Shows the Company How It’s Done

Thespis Got Nothin’ on Steampunks

We saved the best for last. First, the League of S.T.E.A.M. screened the final episode of season 3, “The Invitation to Armageddon,” the musical! We’re incredibly honored to be credited as associate producers on this episode for our contribution to the season 3 Kickstarter. You’ll have to settle for a picture of the audience for now because the episode isn’t online yet. “Why,” you ask? Because it’s having its theatrical “work premiere” at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on April 4th!

The Audience for “Invitation to Armageddon”

And then there was this! Oz Coppherchops proposed to Lady Ember Brennen Sparks with a little clandestine help from his friends. We love how verklempt she is in the first pic.

She Said, “Yes”

Our regular readers will know that the two of us have a post-con “thing”; we go out for Mexican food. Apparently, we both crave chile after a busy weekend of vending, entertaining, costuming, and hauling. At other cons, it’s usually just the two of us, but for the second year in a row at WWWC we and a bunch of steampunk friends took over the basement of El Charro. We drank a toast to Diana Given for putting on such an amazing con. Someone get that woman a foot massage and a libation; she’s earned them!

El Charro Chowdown

There were only about 20 of us; the wait staff says the basement will hold 70. Challenge accepted! See y’all next year on Sunday night after WWWC6 wraps!

Entry characterizations: Authored by Morse, Convention