Subgenre Saturday: Gaslamp Fantasy

So, we were talking about steampunk last week, and I mentioned gaslamp fantasy in passing, but that's all. I figured now is as good a time as any to go ahead and cover it. So here we are. Steampunk and gaslamp fantasy are intensely tied together, and could almost be considered the same genre. Lord knows that they play into each other an awful lot. But where steampunk is a divergence of Victorian era technology, gaslamp fantasy is a divergence of the basic laws of nature. Just one. There's magic of some sort. Pretty obvious, yeah, but that's the main thing. There are more subtle differences, of course. Gaslamp fantasy doesn't rely as much on the subversive 'punk' nature of the main character(s), although it can be included. You're less likely to touch on how the tech works, for that matter.

Compared to other breeds of fantasy, gaslamp tends to be a lot heavier on the setting. It creates more of an ambience than a lot of its kinfolk. Take Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, considered by many to be the prime example of gaslamp fantasy in literature (it's also a bit of a slog to get through, if you're wanting to read it. Fair warning.). There are pages of time spent just setting the scene and the history of the gaslamp fantasy world being created.

You see the same thing in His Dark Materials, which does jump in on the 'punk' part of things. A lot of time being put into setting the scene (though admittedly not as much as in Strange and Norrell). I guess you could say the same thing about contemporary (urban) fantasy, as well. The world is normally shown in a very descriptive vivid manner. In a way, gaslamp fantasy is the intersection between steampunk and contemporary fantasy.

I'd say that's the most obvious in the work that named the genre, Girl Genius. You have steampunk technology that can be used to create magic, but also unexplained things (a magic river, a strangely living castle, etc) that aren't specifically called magic. But they're magic in all but name. I'm not far in the comic, but I highly recommend it.

If you don't have time for that (it's not just Strange and Norrell: most gaslamp fantasy works tend to have some good heft to them, more than you would usually see in either steampunk or contemporary fantasy), but you're still interested, then look to Van Helsing. Much less technology-based than some gaslamp fantasy, it's very much Victorian era mixed with magic. Vampires and demons and holy power and werewolves. It straddles the line a bit, leaning heavily toward gothic horror, but it'll do for gaslamp fantasy in a pinch.

What other subgenres do you want to see? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe if you want to get the latest updates.

Voss

Webcomic Roundup: Top 3

I've been very productive this week. Wrote up a short story for Swords v. Cthulhu, did a couple or three rounds of edits on Silverfall for The Other Me (18+, please!), and got more stuff ready for Radcon 6C.

I also, you know, couldn't walk for a couple days, but that's not part of me being productive.

Now, along with my productivity came... well, let's call it a shock. Shock seems good. See, I've written a lot of words... but I've also actively slacked off for quite some time, too. And I have one person to thank/blame for it.

Frances.

Pauli.

See, she got me into Homestuck.

Now, I tried to read Homestuck about, oh, a year ago. My nieces were (still are) slightly obsessed, and I figured what the hell? Problem was, it made my eyes bleed. It was so slow and boring and had absolutely nothing to do with trolls, which was part of why I gave it a shot. I had that issue with Harry Potter, too. I was promised phoenixes and shit, and instead I got some old cat lady.

But, just like with Harry Potter, I've become a fan. Although I'm still a much bigger Potterhead than I probably ever will be a Homestucker. But Homestuck got me thinking, too. And not about trolls. About webcomics. I read anywhere from 5-10 pages/panels of a webcomic in an average week, and lately it's been more as I try to catch up with Homestuck. I really do love them. So I thought I'd gather up my top 4 webcomics to share, in the hopes that you, too, will grow to love them.

Note that this list includes those webcomics with long-running stories. So sorry, no XCKD, Cyanide and Happiness, or The Unspeakable Vault of Doom.

3: Homestuck
See all that stuff I talked about above.

Now, why do I love it? The story is incredibly complex and far-reaching. Above anything else, that's the real reason I'm sticking with it, even through the parts that drive me nuts, like Andrew Hussie's meaningless self-insertions.

2: Earthsong Saga

Earthsong is an interesting one. I got turned onto it by SJ Tucker, who is far and away my favorite singer. I know, it's weird to take a suggestion for a webcomic from a singer. Listen to her music and it might make a little more sense.

Anyway, I started in. And it was actually quite fascinating. I've been with it for more than a year, now. It's brilliant worldbuilding, and Crystal Yates does a pretty good job on the art, too. The story is also fairly solid.

Where Earthsong falls down? The dialogue can be a little questionable, at times, but that's forgivable enough. But the schedule is brain-rakingly slow. Once a week. Some comics can do that. But Earthsong is often so reliant on what happened on the last page, or God forbid, two pages ago, I find myself having to go backwards and recap.

But even that's not a big deal. It's well-worth the read and, if you find that you jut can't stand the schedule, we're in the last chapter now. So wait and read it all in one go.

1: Gunnerkrigg Court
For once, the order of my list actually mattered! Woo! Gunnerkrigg Court is, in my opinion, the best webcomic out there.

(Sorry. I had to go with a Coyote picture for this one.)

A combination of fantasy and science-fiction, with just the slightest dash of 'what the actual fuck' mixed in for good measure. Like with the old 90's kid's show, Gargoyles, everything is up for grabs in Gunnerkrigg. Reynard the Fox and Isegrim. Old Man Coyote (obviously). World War II. Robots. Reality-warping mind powers. Alchemy. I could go on for paragraphs, here, but there's so much more to talk about.

The art has definitely evolved over the past 10 years, although it took me an embarrassingly long time to notice. However, I would never say that the art was bad at any point in the run of the comic. And today? Breathtaking.

Now, it's not complete, and I don't know when or even if Tom Siddell plans to end it. And, at almost 1500 pages to date, it's a bit of work to get caught up. But if ever reading something long and intense has been worth it, it's Gunnerkrigg Court. I can't sing the praises highly enough.

So seriously, go start it. You'll thank me.

What are your favorite web comics? Let me know so I can procrastinate even harder next week.

Voss