#victorian science fiction

[kekwcomics]

The Aldine Romance Of Invention, Travel, & Adventure Library, No. 8: "FRANK READE JR WITH HIS NEW STEAM HORSE AMONG THE COWBOYS" (Aldine Publishing, 1894)

British reprint, circa 1894. Originally published in America in 1892 as part of the Frank Reade Library series of dime novels.

[mayasynth]

My beautiful unhinged daughter, Mary Elizabeth Frankenstein <3 I know this was not at all how the scene actually went, but humour me

(Pssssst everyone please read Our Hideous Progeny, pleaseee 🙏)

[kekwcomics]

Warning! 1900 contains a fab new creator co-owned strip / character created by Yours Truly, KEK-W, with some jaw-droppingly great artwork. It ticks a lot of boxes for my love of Victorian Scientific Romances, Pulp, Mysteries, Pulp Occultism, Weird Fiction, Victorian Picture Books, etc, etc.

More details / info soon, when I'm allowed to talk about it :-)

Coming Soon: 1900, a Victoriana-inspired picture anthology

A new independent anthology, 1900, inspired by Victorian story papers is edging closer to launch, with some excellent creators on board for the ride

Coming soon from the people behind the 2000AD-inspired comic zine Sector 13 is 1900, a project described as “the picture-story paper of scientific romances” founded, 1877. The 1900 “threatens to corrupt our youth with tales of fantasy, crime and votes for woman. The very thought!” Art by David Hitchcock First announced earlier this year, full details are still a closely guarded secret, but…

[technicallyclassyperfection]

Via print:

[vanalex]

Artwork by: Iren Horrors

[moonlightshadow9]

I'm currently obsessing over science (mostly astronomy and physics) during the renaissance and Victorian times.

If there's anyone else, this is the book I'm currently reading:

"How the Victorians took is to the Moon, The Story of the Nineteenth-Century Innovators Who Forged the Future" written by Dr. Iwan Rhys Morus

[c-e-mcgill]

It's UK paperback day!

Hi all! Briefly breaking my self-imposed social media ban (it's Deadline City, over here :') ) to tell you that the paperback of Our Hideous Progeny is out!* 🥳

* If you're in the UK/Europe/commonwealth! Sorry, rest-of-the-world, you'll have to wait 'til May! 😅

Also, it's time for soooooome:

✨ Giveaways! ✨

(UK only) - My publisher is giving away copies of OHP, plus an ammonite-shaped lamp(?!!) (I want one too, now 😂) on Instagram - ends Feb 4th at midnight!

(UK only) - My lovely publicist Izzie also has 10 copies of OHP to give away - if you're a book reviewer or blogger, DM her about receiving a copy!

Open to everyone: I'll be doing a free online reading Feb 2nd at 12pm EST with six other authors as part of 'Strong Women, Strange Worlds,' a group which highlights the work of authors of marginalized genders in SFF. I'll be doing a giveaway at the end for one copy of OHP, plus a bookmark and sticker!

✨ ...and an eBook sale! ✨

If you're an eBook fan (and based in the UK - sorry again, rest-of-the-world 🥲) you can grab OHP this month on Kindle, Kobo, or Google Play for just £0.99! A steal, I say, a steal!!

That's all for now - happy February!

[arthurdrakoni]

Flatland is an underrated classic that imagines life in a 2-D world. This is my review.

You’ll get a lot of answers when you ask when speculative fiction was born. Some will tell you that it began with Hugo Gernsback and the pulps. Others will say that it goes as far back as mythology and folklore. Personally, I go with those who say that it began with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, though I don’t discount earlier works such as Gulliver’s Travels or The Tempest. I say all of this because I’m taking us back to the 19th Century for today’s review. We’re going to review the classic novel Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott.

Imagine, if you will, a sheet of paper that is infinitely large and stretching to all sides. Now imagine that on this sheet of paper there are a series of geometric shapes, but instead of staying in place these shapes move about and have complex social lives. Welcome to Flatland, a world of only two dimensions. There is width and length, but there is no height or depth.

The book follows A. Square who is���well, he’s literally a two-dimensional square. He acts as our guide to the realm of Flatland and relates to use the ways of his countrymen and their doings. There are two main events that serve to completely change A. Square’s world view. The first is his contact with Lineland, a world of only one dimension, and the second is meeting a figure known as Lord Sphere. Lord Sphere claims to come from a strange world of three dimensions called Spaceland.

The book goes into great detail about how life works in a world with only two dimensions. For example, it is customary to meet someone by feeling them in order to determine their shape. It’s also considered polite to give directions to the way north when meeting a traveler on the road. Societal rank and job are determined by the number of sides that one has, with circles being at the top of things. Each successive generation gains an additional side, except for the low ranking isosceles triangles, though there are exceptions. Women, being incredibly sharp and pointy lines, have restrictions placed on them so that they can avoid constantly killing people by accident. We also learn much of the history of Flatland, such as why colors have been banned by the upper classes. There is some pretty great world building in this novel.

That having been said the fact the citizens of Flatland are all living geometric shapes does limit the amount of exploration that can go into their biology and physics. A. Square does hint at future explanations, but he decides that it will take up too much time and bore the reader. Or to put it another way, if you wonder how they eat and breathe and other science facts…well, I’m sure you all know the words to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme song. You’ll also notice that Flatland society bares more than a passing resemblance to the society of Victorian Britain. This is intentional, as Abbott intended for Flatland to be just as much a satire as a compelling story. For example, the class system of Flatland is rather absurd when given further scrutiny, but Abbott was making about about how the British class system was absurd and ultimately rather arbitrary.

Since it was written in 1884 Flatland has long since fallen into the Public Domain. As such, many other writer have tried their hand at tackling the subject matter Flatland is built upon. Usually they will focus on one particular aspect while ignoring the others. Admittedly I haven’t read any of these books, but of the ones I’ve heard of thanks to TV Tropes I’d say Planiverse sounds the most promising. It attempts to look at how biology, chemistry, physics and culture would function in a realistic 2-D world.

Have you read Flatland? If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2017/02/book-review-flatland-by-edwin-abbot.html?m=1

[tumberkin]

Hello there! This is the same Draculaura kin who requested something awhile ago, I can't remember what. May I please request a moodboard with Draculaura and Frankie, with themes of the Victorian era, science and hearts? Both are kins of mine and this is also a ship board if that's okay ^^' thank you.

Draculaura & Frankie Ship Board W/ Victorian Era, Science & Hearts!

I hope you enjoy :3

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Okay, Van Helsing’s Victorian Agent Mulder speech is very ridiculous, but this:

“Let me tell you, my friend, that there are things done to-day in electrical science which would have been deemed unholy by the very men who discovered electricity - who would themsemselves not so long before have been burned as wizards.”

Move over Arthur C. Clarke, Bram Stoker said “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” way before you.

[thelanguageofbirdsrp]

[thebeautifulbook]

THE MYSTERIOUS CITY OF OO, ADVENTURES IN ORBELLO LAND by Charles Lotin Hildreth (New York: Belford, 1889) Illustrated

An early utopian science fiction novel.

[baelion-alucrest]

FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER

[hairtusk]

the new yorgos lanthimos film looks soooooo <333333 and yet ... i've been nothing but disappointed by YL films so far .........

[steampunk-metaverse]

Medusa

[c-e-mcgill]

On this day, May the Fourth:

Jonathan Harker accepts a crucifix from an ominous villager

Fans celebrate Star Wars Day

My book comes out, holy CRAP

If you haven't heard my yelling over the past few months, I have a book now!! It's called Our Hideous Progeny, and it's an adult historical SFF about Victor Frankenstein's great niece, a paleontologist in 1850s London, who rediscovers Victor's old notes and decides to invent a hot new kind of paleontological crime against God.

If you:

think Victor Frankenstein should have been a better dad :/

support 👏 feral 👏 women's 👏 rights

think there should be more opportunities for WOMEN in mad science #feminism

appreciate the exquisite homoerotic tension of two Victorian ladies just barely brushing hands

Then OHP might be for you!!

Available now wherever books are sold, or at your local library if you yell at them to buy it for you! 🖤🧡🖤