Tales from the Deed Box of John H. Watson MD by Hugh Ashton
Those that have been reading The Gatehouse Gazette and this blog are no doubt already aware of Hugh Ashton’s works such as Beneath Grey Skies and Red Wheels Turning. I am glad to report that aside from producing excellent alternative history works and contemporary thrillers (At the Sharpe End), Mr Ashton has now written a truly fantastic Sherlock Holmes book.
This work contains three new tales, stories written up by Dr Watson, the chronicler of Mr Holmes. I shall be very brief about every short story, because I just do not want to spoil anything for those that have not read them yet.
In the first story Sherlock Holmes & the Odessa Business we learn a little more of Mr Holmes’ family and his family dynamics, and a member of the Holmes family we hadn’t previously encountered is introduced.
Sherlock Holmes in the Case of the Missing Matchbox takes us to the world of the London opera, and the artistic drama that comes with the egos part of that world with crime at the centre of it all of course.
And last but not least in Sherlock Holmes in the Case of the Cormorant our duo from Baker Street takes a little trip to investigate a matter that has bestowed upon Holmes by a very important person indeed. How a cormorant is involved? Well you’ll just have to read and find out for yourself now won’t you. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
El Investigador Publishes 11th Edition
El Investigador #11
The Spanish language steampunk magazine El Investigador released its eleventh edition this month. It’s pirate themed but with a retrofuturistic twist.
Says Araceli Rodríguez, editor, “We see the pirates as if they were heroes, villains having fun and brave adventurers, but that’s only the romantic side.”
A pirate certainly wasn’t worried about his appearance. During the voyage there was no way to take a bath, only with salt water from time to time. When they ran out of food, they ate each other, lost limbs, suffered from scurvy or fever in the best case. How many who call themselves “pirates” in the retrofuturist scene are aware of this?
It doesn’t matter whether you travel by sea or sky, the magazine says, although we’d like to pretend that airship travel is spectacularly comfortable. Not the pirate life, in any event, as El Investigador reminds us.
They have a review of Mireile Calmel’s Lady Pirate: Les valets du roi in their latest edition and one of the Victoriana role-playing game as well as an article about ghost ships such as The Flying Dutchman. Download for free and enjoy!
This week in fashion 16.1 – 22.1.2012
Boots from Forever 21
This week the finds seem to mostly be on the Asos shop. Which is really coming through for those in need of dieselpunk or goggles style sunglasses.
Or bags. Such as this leather old boy satchel, perfect for Steampunk, especially if you’re portraying some kind of messenger. And then there’s these two satchels in a sort of almost distressed type of browns, one a vintage style satchel, the other a vintage style school bag. Both affordable and pretty epic in my opinion. And ok sure, it’s no Cambridge Satchel Company or Zatchels, but at least it’s affordable and has the right look (something that can’t [always] be said about those two leading satchel companies). Mind you if you can afford to spend money on a real leather school bag style statchel, the Zatchels Junkyard collection and the Junkyard Barrel Bag collection may be something you want to look into. And of course there’s the saddle bags too.
Now I own a Cambridge Satchel and I’ve seen (and touched) the Zatchels in real life (as they sell some at the Antwerp Urban Outfitters) and from what I gather is that the CSC bags are made out of thicker and less flexible leather. Does that mean they are actually sturdier? I wouldn’t dare to go that far as my Fossil bag is made out of lighter and more flexible leather than the Zatchels bags and that’s still a hell of a sturdy bag. Frankly seeing both are in the same price range, I’d choose purely on the basis of the design and colours should you want to go with something from those two shops.
I found a lovely pair of brown boots at Forever 21 last Saturday. They were less than € 30, which is really cheap, they’re very comfy and they look nice. Whether they’ll last long or not I wouldn’t dare to say, but they do make for excellent convention footwear! I’m going to be wearing mine with my steampunk Whovian costumes for sure. They’ve also got some nice brogues and then these boots which are pretty good for more post apocalyptic and distopian outfits. Like I’ve said before, if you’re going to get footwear just to wear at conventions, you may as well get a comfy pair at a place such as e.g. F21 and not spend a lot of cash. If you’re going to wear them practically non stop, you’re better off investing in a pair of quality footwear. I hear a lot of good things about Fluevog, personally I couldn’t comment as my steampunk footwear is by Kickers and Schuh.
Photo by Bert Van den Wyngaert
Our own Hilde Heyvaert of the House of Secrets Incorporated was interviewed on Decimononic last week, a fine jewelry and accessories community where she talked a bit about The Gatehouse, steampunk fashion and jewelry.
Hilde write a fashion column for every single one of the Gatehouse Gazette‘s twenty-one issues between July 2008 and November of last year. Asked why she got involved, she told Decimononic “it would be really cool to have a column that helps people getting to know some of the substyles of steampunk and dieselpunk and help them with ideas for outfits and costumes. Especially if they’re on a budget.”
We often see spectacular steampunk outfits online but the average genre enthusiasts, who hasn’t got a fortune to spend on costumes, tends to be forgotten. Hilde never did in her articles for the Gatehouse Gazette.
You can download all of the magazine’s back issues on our website by the way. They’re free!
As an independent costume and fashion designer, Hilde’s familiar with the struggles of jewelry makers who read Decimononic. Her advice? “Make sure your work is visible in the community, be on Twitter, Tumblr, Etsy, LiveJournal. The more exposure, the more people will get interested in your work and buy it.” And, “Don’t be afraid to ask steampunk blogs and magazines whether you can get a feature on them.” The Gatehouse Gazette covered many designers during its run and we’re still interested in hearing from people here at the blog.
