Wild West Steam Fest Report, Part 1: Deus Ex Vapore Machina and More

I’ll just put it out there. Wild West Steam Fest was amazing!

Wild West Steam Fest 2016 took place at Heritage Museum of Orange County in Santa Ana, California, and I have to say that Orange County is a great spot to live if you’re a steampunk. There’s the Edwardian Ball in Hollywood in February, just about an hour’s drive away, Wild West Steam Fest in April, Steam Day at Disneyland in May, and probably many events I haven’t heard about yet.

Heritage Museum of Orange County is an outdoor museum with several 19th century buildings, including a Victorian main house, smithy, and carriage house. It's a spacious setting ideal for Wild West fun. When entering, my son and I met some of our friends from the Star Wars Steampunk Universe. I’ve interviewed four of them so far for the blog, including Steamy Leia, Baron Von Maul, Nathan “Solo” Seekerman, and Dude Vader. Alas, Eiraina (Steamy Leia) wasn’t able to make it, but it was terrific meeting the others including some in the group whom I have yet to interview.

Inside, my son, Clark, got to meet DAGON, the festival's automaton, then had a look around the authentic 1800s Victorian house, which includes a family room, narrow winding staircase, bathroom with 19th century tub, and two children’s rooms.

Of course, no convention or festival would be complete without checking out the vendor booths. We walked along a dusty path through an orange grove, the sun rising high and casting few shadows, the breeze keeping us comfortable even in our full western steampunk clothing.

I liked that just about everything was outdoors, and the shaded booths were all fun to check out. They had everything from kids toys and masks painted into metallic steampunk styles, replica 19th century firearms, a large collection of old western themed Bicycle playing card decks, steampunk snail figurines, and much more.

I ended up buying a few things. From Deus Ex Vapore Machina, I bought their four-song EP, from The Brass Wardrobe, a new pair of goggles, from Tony Sanders, his western novel Long Gun: Day of Consequence. We also checked out the museum gift shop, a small room in one a building of its own, where I bought Clark a train whistle, a bubblegum stick candy, and got myself a book called The Stagecoach in Northern California by Cheryl Anne Stapp, which I plan to use as a reference for an upcoming Bodacious Creed prequel story.

Deus Ex Vapore Machina, or DEVM, is a steampunk string band that performs originals and covers, including this cover of Imagine Dragon’s Radioactive. In fact, this video is from this year’s Wild West Steam Fest! They played three sets, one at 1:00, one at 3:00, and one at 5:00.

I really like Tony Sanders. His booth was set up over by the picnic tables, where he was selling his books and giving free music and science lessons for anyone interested. He showed Clark and me how salt crystals can form a powerful barrier against pressure, then certified that we’d learned it with a stamp in the lesson plan, and gave us a copy of sheet music for Back in the Saddle Again. We had fun talking writing, and his book, about a boy in the 1876 who accidentally kills a man and his life growing up in the Wild West.

I made some new friends as well, including Tony, members of DEVM, and others. Such a great bunch of steampunks!

Other News

I'm officially moving the probable release date for Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western, to November, but that's in time for Christmas! It's important to me to make sure the book is polished, not rushed. I'm getting through the second draft, though! I have mixed feelings about having used Dragon NaturallySpeaking for the last half of the book. It did an pretty good job of transcribing, but not a fantastic job, so it's going to take quite a bit of editing just to smooth all that out. I've been reading sections to refresh the story in my mind before I edit them, and that's been helping.

Yesterday, May 1, it was Dapper Day at the Disneyland Resort, so Clark and I went in our western steampunk best. I figured that it was a great time to get a caricature done, so here it is, illustrated by Brenda Mak.

To get blog news, free stories, and more (including a prequel story to my upcoming novel, Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western), subscribe to The Mostly Steampunk Newsletter! As always, feel free to comment below.

In the next entry, Wild West Steam Fest Report, Part 2: more about the Star Wars Steampunk Universe, and Steam Powered Giraffe!