Blimps, robots, gadgets and gizmos
SteamPunk
Or Steampunk.
Sometimes called Victorian Futurism, it's an imagining what the world would be like if we had stopped at steam power, (no gas, diesel, nuclear) and we had all agreed to live in the genteel ways of Victorian times.
You can find stacks of images of costumes, gadgets, robots and especially blimps.
This section of the site showcases some of those delights.
Hats and Canes, and Manners
There was a time when the roles of men and women confused no one.
People walked a lot, talking, fidgetting with gloves and canes. Sometimes a gust of wind threatened a tophat, but not often. Men knew to pull it down tight. Wouldn't do to go running down the street chasing a hat.
The ladies often walked arm in arm, talking in quiet tones, usually about their husbands or the next dinner party, or the last one.
In the big cities, carriages, and a few motor cars edged past the crowds, the car's horns giving a polite beep, the carriages giving a "Yup" or "Hah" now and then, supposedly to their horse, but usually just as much to the annoying pedestrians.
Lamp lighters, sweepers and Bobbies hustled along, while pickpockets and swindlers scanned the crowd for their next mark.
City streets moved like hundred of tiny gears in a big clock. Tick, tick, tick.
The Next Train
Train stations played a big part in the Victorian world. Steam trains pulled passengers and cargo. Station masters and engineers fought all the loose bolts, jammed gears and impatient customers, all always complaining.
Massive steel mills, small industrious carpenter's shops, everyone trying to amplify their muscles with machines. But rust was relentless.
Imaginings
It Didn't Have to be Totally Real
Shirley, the hundred foot metal creature, liked towing the blimp around town, giving the passengers the thrill of city sights from high above the smokestacks. Shirley had a prescribed path, but she didn't mind. She could see beyond what the tiny humans could see.
If there were lots of kids in the blimp's cabin, Shirley would sometimes speed up her step a bit. Sometimes she'd pull up and down on the cables to make it seem like a rough sea voyage. But only a little. She couldn't endandger her passengers after all. She couldn't.
She'd thought about it - whether it was her programming or just the way she was. Maybe that was the same thing.
Didn't matter.
Today she heard the excited screams and laughter of a school class in the cabin. That made her happy. Batten the hatches, there's a storm acomin' !