The time has come for me to start working to get the word out. I’ve accumulated a fair body of work, and enough of it is steampunk for me to justifiably begin wheedling my way into the blogs and sites and media that are devoted in part of full to the steampunk sub-genre and movement. Over the next few months I plan on posting blogs on other sites and contributing to the growing body of steampunk commentary that is fast becoming a staple of mainstream media.
I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about the growing popularity of steampunk, as I’m sure many of the purists do. Steampunk has been somewhat of a counter-culture movement. Arguably, that’s been the purpose of having the word “punk” in there to begin with. When a sub-genre or a movement makes its way into the mainstream, it inherently loses its counter-culture status and becomes something else… to some a thing to be reviled. During this process, the bulk of its constituency changes, from counter-culture to fandom.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not placing any sort of value judgment on this process. I honestly didn’t get into it because it was counter-culture. I got involved with steampunk because the look and feel of it, as well as the storyline possibilities, all appealed to me at a fundamentally creative level. I must add that by my very nature I’m a counter-culture sort of person. I’m the one who takes the road less travelled and avoids most things “mainstream.” Although, the truth-be-told, I’ve sort of hitched my career-cart, at least in part, to the steam-powered horse that is steampunk. However, when something that appeals to you makes this transition, you give up something in order to get something.
I have high hopes that I’ll be able to earn a living through my steampunk writing, and in that process I will be contributing to the very transition that many will detest, which makes me both the perpetrator and victim of the same event. I’m just hoping that the movement, as it evolves, keeps at least a flare of counter-culture, because I’m not getting rid of my mohawk until my hairline migrates too far south for it to be more tuft than hawk.
Q.
