The Kalinin K-7 was a giant flying fortress that might have redefined aerial combat in the 1930s. The hugely expensive and trouble-prone prototype was scrapped by Stalin and its designer was later executed. Here are some renderings of the planes that might have been, with spacious lounges, battleship-sized cannons, and the ability to defend us from UFOs.
posted by Joe in Australia on Nov 8, 2009 - 68 comments

The Dark Mod, a total conversion for Doom 3 in the spirit of Looking Glass Technology's Thief series, has finally been released after years (and more years) of development and is now available to download.
posted by dunkadunc on Oct 17, 2009 - 20 comments

The Readers of Boing Boing interview Michael Moorcock
posted by Artw on Jun 18, 2009 - 42 comments

The Brazen Android by William Douglas O'Connor, is a 19th century science fiction story based on the myth of the Brazen Head, a steam-powered head that told fortunes. It's available as an audio book from the Internet Archives. (Via)
posted by The Whelk on May 19, 2009 - 18 comments

Steam Powered iPod Charger What more is there to say?
posted by MuadDib on Apr 9, 2009 - 43 comments

Iron Sky: In 1945 the Nazis fled to the moon. In 2018 they are coming back. This movie is part of the newest fad, DieselPunk (the next evolution of SteamPunk).
posted by blue_beetle on Dec 14, 2008 - 86 comments

New Hampshire's Drawing Room at the Edge of the Universe. A Christmas carol for the coming depression. A ballad about accidental second chances. A canceled fireworks display leads to a midnight balloon ride and a mysterious quest. Welcome to Atoms, Motion, and the Void. You are the guest of septuagenarian Sherwin Sleeves, and these are his stories. [more inside]
posted by Pastabagel on Dec 10, 2008 - 9 comments

Thirty years ago 'probably the single most influential graphic novel to have come out of Britain to date' was published, The Adventures Of Luther Arkwright by Bryan Talbot. Interview - Part 1, Part 2.
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Nov 5, 2008 - 23 comments

Building a Steampunk Cane. Inspired by GirlGenius and involving breadboard electronics, molten acrylic, and a little light metalwork. Parts 2, 3 and 4 plus the whole Flickr photoset.
posted by jacquilynne on Oct 29, 2008 - 57 comments

Remember Thief? When Looking Glass Studios originally released Thief: The Dark Project in 1998, it broke new ground by combining a first-person shooter with stealth-oriented gameplay. [more inside]
posted by dunkadunc on Oct 15, 2008 - 125 comments

"I haven’t figured out whether cracking open your computer, attaching it to an Underwood typewriter, then inserting it into a combination Victorian mantel clock/desk and calling it “The Nagy Magical-Movable-Type Pixello-Dynamotronic Computational Engine” is some sort of daft wit or evidence of a pedantry bordering on the pathological. " - Steampunk'd, Or Humbug by Design, design writer Randy Nakamura takes a look at the Steampunk phenomenon.
posted by Artw on Jul 23, 2008 - 115 comments

Dirk Valentine and the Fortress of Steam ... The year is 1897. For five long years Europe has been ravaged by Baron Battenberg's Steam powered war machines. Led by Great Britain, a handful of defiant countries remain free of the Baron's tyrannical rule. But time is running out for them as his forces grow stronger every day. As dawn breaks high above the Atlantic, a tiny airship arrives at its secret destination. Onboard, Britain's greatest explorer, spy, and master of esoteric fighting arts readies to strike at the heart of the Baron's empire!
posted by Dave Faris on Jul 7, 2008 - 53 comments

Steampunk recumbent. That is all. I'm speechless but awed.
posted by fixedgear on Jun 16, 2008 - 92 comments

A transatlantic tunnel, hurrah!
posted by Phanx on May 16, 2008 - 43 comments

Nothing signals the death of a trend like an article in the NY Times Style section. Steampunk: "The subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world..." [more inside]
posted by dersins on May 8, 2008 - 212 comments

Sillof's Workshop features steampunk/gaslight versions of some pop culture's most-loved heroes, as well as dioramas based on Star Wars scenes.
posted by Eideteker on May 4, 2008 - 33 comments

There’s more than a few valve’s worth of pressurized love for steampunk on MeFi [previously 1 2 3]. Naturally, we’ve also had to replace many a sump filter due to the vitriol sluicing from the very same. Regardless how you may feel about it, Steampunk Magazine seeks to accompany the genre along its transmogrification from a form of fiction into fashion, music, and ‘misapplied technology’. [more inside]
posted by cosmonik on Apr 23, 2008 - 47 comments

High-Tech Noon. What makes a classic Western even more classic? Blasters and force-fields, that's what. (SLYT)
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Apr 21, 2008 - 25 comments

First there was the Dardenbahst now comes:Kriegerhund, Sentinel of the Deutsches Reich. Plenty more lego steampunk goodness at the Brothers Brick. Via
posted by Smedleyman on Mar 19, 2008 - 9 comments

The rules of the contest are simple: create the best Steampunk version of a Star Wars vehicle. Out of Legos.
posted by XQUZYPHYR on Jan 26, 2008 - 44 comments

Haruo Suekichi invents extraordinary steampunk watches for men and women, each one unique, sometimes with a story attached, a work of art, given a name like Rabbit or Fly Me to the Moon. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Jan 3, 2008 - 19 comments

Introducing rPhone - Industry insiders at PiratePalooza have the specs on the first iPhone killer.
posted by Burhanistan on Jun 26, 2007 - 43 comments

Dr. Grordborts Infallible Aether Oscillators is "a line of immensely dangerous yet simple to operate wave oscillation weapons" - rayguns - that includes the Manmelter 3600ZX, the Goliathon 83, and the F.M.O.M. Industries Wave Disrupter Gun. Designed by Greg Broadmore to evoke the old-school Flash Gordon serials, they bring a fun steampunk aesthetic to Weta's Collectibles' traditional movie tie-in fare.
posted by gemmy on May 28, 2007 - 12 comments

Chop it down and steam it up! (work in progress)
posted by ...possums on May 25, 2007 - 2 comments

Stephane Halleux is a French sculpture artist whose work feels like Jules Verne as realized by Tim Burton; the sculptures all share cartoonish steampunk vibe that's really appealing. Sadly, the site is 100% Flash, so no linking to specific favorites, but at the very least the navigation remains fairly straightforward.
posted by jonson on May 5, 2007 - 14 comments

Steampunk Star Wars. An ongoing series of drawings by Eric Poulton of Star Wars characters redone in the style of Jules Verne era sci-fi. Sadly only three have been done, so far, but hopefully more to come. Via
posted by jonson on Mar 1, 2007 - 47 comments

Antique Keyboard is the newest work from SteamPunk Labs.
posted by fandango_matt on Feb 22, 2007 - 36 comments

The steampunky lighting designs of Frank Buchwald. Courtesy of the ever-delightful Tinkergirl at Brass Goggles (alerted by Mr Pfeifer, Mr Lemieux and Mr Hildebrandt), prepared to be awed by Frank Buchwald's skill and imagination. Release your inner mad scientist. See how he makes them from steel and brass and glass. My favourite may well be this one. (It's all in German, but that's no problem, right? Just look at the pictures like I did.)
posted by No Mutant Enemy on Feb 9, 2007 - 18 comments

The Mysterious Geographical Explorations of Jasper Morello is a series of four gorgeous steampunk victorian silhouette animated shorts from Australia. The first link goes to a trailer for the films, all four full animations are available on a DVD via the official site (which is loads of fun to explore play around on), and the (Academy Award Nominated) first of the four shorts has been released on YouTube.
posted by jonson on Feb 1, 2007 - 7 comments

Clockwork steampunk rideable tiger. (via YouTube.) Flickr photos here. Artist's site here.
posted by loquacious on Oct 21, 2006 - 23 comments

Kirk Rademaker makes sand sculptures that look like whimsical, steampunkesque machines (among other things).
posted by jonson on Sep 3, 2006 - 8 comments

Live steam creations. We've seen steampunk robots in artwork, and read about them in fiction, but now someone has gone and built real, radio-controlled, steam-powered creatures that roll and creep and swim.
posted by Gamblor on Feb 10, 2006 - 13 comments

Composite images. The unsettling world of Viktor Koen.
posted by acrobat on Jul 23, 2004 - 4 comments

Steamboy is a steam punk anime adventure by Katsuhiro Otomo (of Akira fame). Here's the synopsis. Here's the trailer. Looks hella-impressive. Kinda makes my pants shrink. Anybody else know more info on this?
posted by freakystyley on Apr 24, 2004 - 15 comments

Not in fact about telegraphy. Those fine young people at b3ta have been exercising their imaginations in depictions of the Victorian Internet. (via boingboing).
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen on Nov 22, 2003 - 15 comments

Steam Trek - an enterprising individual has masterfully melded two classic SF genres, Star Trek and Steampunk. The result is a wonderful universe with a rich history where Her Majesty's Aether Ships explore the solar system and protect the United Kingdom of Planets. Long live Queen Victoria, and may her glorious reign continue as it has for the past 165 years! (preserved by Lunar Selenite technology captured from the evil Moon-dwellers).
posted by adrianhon on Sep 6, 2003 - 12 comments

The steam-powered drum machine - an astonishing extract from the journal of Charles Franklin, the founder of the London Museum of Techno. Written in 1894, Franklin describes a steam-powered drum machine and what may have been the world's first rave. "Driven by the thunderous rhythms of Hoovenaars tremendous "drum machine" the crowd - academics and dockers, architects and cobblers - were whipped into a frenzy, dancing and screaming like savages until sunrise, when the Machine finally ground to a halt with a suffering hiss."
posted by adrianhon on May 20, 2003 - 33 comments

Steampunk (alternate) is surging. With the recent works of China Mieville (and his creation of New Crobuzon) and Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials) and Alan Moore, inspired by the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, there is a new growing fascination with this genre typified by Victorian Anachronism, an alternate history in which technology is overwrought and fantastic. Think Leonardo's machines (though not Victorian), Victorian Robots (prev. mefi thread), The Babbage Engine. 19th Century Science.
posted by vacapinta on Aug 6, 2002 - 30 comments