May 2010 Articles (57)

Miskatonic Mondays - Herbert West: Reanimator

Lights out, everybody.

Herbert West: Reanimator comic On Miskatonic Mondays, we celebrate the "weird" fiction of HP Lovecraft and the genre of otherworldly horror that it spawned.

This week, you're in for a treat. From the Dieselpunk vault of horrors we are releasing the necromatic science of Herbert West, better known in pop culture as "The Reanimator."

Written by Lovecraft between Halloween 1921 and June 1922, Herbert West: Reanimator is a six…

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Added by Tome Wilson on May 31, 2010 at 3:00pm — 1 Comment

Memorial Day on Dieselpunks

Let us all take a moment today to remember and honor those who have fought for our freedom, and for the freedom of others. When you pass a soldier on the street, say "thank you." It will mean more to them than you could… Continue

Added by Tome Wilson on May 31, 2010 at 10:19am — 4 Comments

Upton Sinclair

My recent Economic Democracy blog entry begins:

The year was 1934 and the world was in the grip of The Great Depression. America had recently elected FDR, a progressive Democrat, for President in the hopes that he could save the country. But one man offered something different. Something radical. His name was Upton Sinclair.

I thought some here might find it interesting being that it involves diesel era history. The article is titled, "A… Continue

Added by Larry on May 30, 2010 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Drunk on Diesel

After having the privilege to illustrate Larry's article about Dieselpunk culture on Wikipedia, I have been lucky enough to be asked by Hayen to design a cover illustration for his Dieselpunk novel "Drunk on Diesel" he is working about. Wow...

Hope the picture will make you feel the way I do : tingling with excitement to read Hayen's great novel…

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Added by Stefan on May 29, 2010 at 6:25pm — 6 Comments

Last call for entries!

This is the last call for entries for the Athena Exhibition!

The Athena Exhibition is a bi-monthly exhibition on Dieselpunks designed to spotlight original artwork created in the dieselpunk and steampunk styles.

The schedule is simple. At the beginning of the month, a theme will be announced such as airships, technology, electricity, war, romance, etc. From…

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Added by Tome Wilson on May 29, 2010 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Vintage Travel Posters

Inago from LiveJournal's dieselpunk community recently shared an outstanding collection of vintage travel posters. You can view the entire, high resolution collection in our Vintage Travel Posters gallery.…

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Added by Tome Wilson on May 29, 2010 at 4:57pm — 5 Comments

Mister X by Dean Motter

I know we've talked briefly about this series before, but fans of dieselpunk, Warren Ellis, and Transmetropolitan should definitely check out Mister X.

Mister X was a series of comic books created by album & book cover designer Dean Motter and first published in 1983–90 by Toronto-based Vortex Comics.

Set in Radiant City, a… Continue

Added by Tome Wilson on May 28, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Lord K's Garage - #39. Streamline. The Beginning

The first chapter of the Streamline Story, told here (intentionally) without any rules or formal order, belongs to Edmund Rumpler.

Actually, the first teardrop- or bullet-shaped cars were built before the Great War (Camille Jenatzy's land speed record electric vehicle, 1899; Neander-Opel, 1911; Count Ricotti's Alfa Romeo, 1914). But the first scientifically designed streamlined car appeared only in 1921, at… Continue

Added by lord_k on May 28, 2010 at 8:00am — 6 Comments

Delusion Inc.

I guess I may have been a little too ambitious about this very conceptual picture. Anyway, uneasy as it is to express visually, at least in just one frame, this concept of "reality that doesn't exist" is an all time very dear one to my own schizophrenic self. Non-existing reality... fabricated reality... not quite like in The Matrix which, in spite of his commercial…

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Added by Stefan on May 27, 2010 at 5:30pm — 1 Comment

The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson

Special thanks to Mr. Gibson for this wonderful short story about how someone would feel if the futurescapes of seventy years ago materialized today.

The Gernsback Continuum

By: William Gibson…

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Added by Tome Wilson on May 27, 2010 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment

Sounds of Silence: Suppressed Weapons

It still makes me shudder when I read a piece of fiction or watch a movie call the sound reducing device affixed to the muzzle of a weapon a silencer. Old habits die hard. But the suppressor, as its correctly known, is a weapon accessory that saw vital service during World War II.

Suppressors essentially are a series of baffles inside a metal tube. The baffles, sometimes with wire mesh or disposable,… Continue

Added by Jake Holman Jr. on May 26, 2010 at 2:00pm — 4 Comments

Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Deadly Prophecy

Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Deadly Prophecy

Originally broadcast on March 14, 1955

The adventures of master detective Sherlock Holmes as he and his assistant, Dr. Watson, (and somewhat reluctantly, the bumbling Inspector Lestrade) battle criminals in London.

In this episode: Holmes and Watson are called to a school in Belgium because a student is writing the names on the steps of a… Continue

Added by Tome Wilson on May 26, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

Two Fisted Tuesdays with Philip Marlowe - Green Flame

Welcome to Two Fisted Tuesdays, Dieselpunks' weekly beat on the mean streets.

Starring Gerald Mohr and starting with the famous lines, "Get this and get it straight! Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave." The Adventures of Philip Marlowe runs about 25 minutes without commercials. You can listen to this blast from the past in MP3 format for free at the link below.…

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Added by Tome Wilson on May 25, 2010 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment

Plywood Monster

The LK-1 a.k.a. Fanera-2 (Plywood no.2) or NIAI-1 was a four-seat cabin aircraft designed and built in the USSR from 1933.

AI Lisichkin and VF Rentel of the NIAI (Aviation Scientific Research Institute, Leningrad) designed the LK-1 in an attempt to build a very efficient small…

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Added by lord_k on May 25, 2010 at 7:30am — 3 Comments

ArcAttack! on the Tesla Stage at Maker Faire

Athena and anyone who loves Tesla coils, check out this video from the 2010 Maker Faire.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petalum/4631613000/

It's the ArcAttack! performance on the “Tesla Stage” and it involved high voltage and a man dancing in chain mail. What could go wrong?

Thanks to CoilHouse for the link!

Added by Tome Wilson on May 24, 2010 at 7:44pm — 3 Comments

Diesel Forces

I'm happy and proud to say that I've had the privilege to be asked by Larry to make a picture to illustrate the article he is currently writing about the Diesepunk genre and culture as an entry on Wikipedia. Here is what I came up with.

A few words to explain what I've tried to do :

Larry's requirement was that "the picture should scream Dieselpunk". Well, unless you are deaf and blind... !

War machines are not…

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Added by Stefan on May 24, 2010 at 7:25pm — 5 Comments

Miskatonic Mondays - Who or What is Cthulhu?

Lights out, everybody.

On Miskatonic Mondays, we celebrate the "weird" fiction of HP Lovecraft and the genre of otherworldly horror that it spawned.

So far, we've discussed the man, but what about the monster? When it comes to Lovecraft, there's none more famous than the dreaded Cthulhu.

Cthulhu (pronounced K'thoo-loo) is the iconic pop culture symbol of HP Lovecraft's weird fiction. In… Continue

Added by Tome Wilson on May 24, 2010 at 12:00am — 1 Comment

Nikola Tesla's death mask

A little macabre these days, but still common practice at the turn of the century.

We'll miss you Tesla, master of lightning, born July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia and died January 7, 1943 in New York of heart failure.…

Nikola Tesla

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Added by Tome Wilson on May 23, 2010 at 9:00pm — 3 Comments

Magic Motorways

Previously, Tome posted a several great articles on Futurama at the 1939 World's Fair. After the Fair Norman Bel Geddes published a book titled Magic Motorway, which included photos from the Fair and laid out his philosophy.

You can read the entire book at Archive.Org. It's available in multiple formats including scans of the actual book. Very interesting book and a very neat site.…

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Added by Larry on May 21, 2010 at 10:39pm — 3 Comments

Lord K's Garage - #38. Burney's Streamliner

Another half-forgotten chapter in the Streamline Story is a luxury car developed by Dennis (Sir Charles Dennistoun) Burney.

Burney, the son of former Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cecil Burney Bt., is mostly known as the managing director of a private venture that built the R100 airship, where he was…