Monday, November 05, 2012
Classic footage: British invasion of Laos
Recently found some footage of the British invasion of Laos. No sound, but it is apparently from 1953. Mostly preparations and footage of airplanes, but it's still an interesting take we rarely see.You can find it at: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/invasion-of-laos/query/countryside Additional items related to Laos can be found at the site by going to: http://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/laos
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Pulp! Airship Combat Kickstarter
One of the current kickstarters of the month is for the Pulp! Airship Combat game.
Pitched as "A science fantasy airship combat game. A fully 3D single player campaign, customize your ship with everything from cannons to ray guns!" While we have seen several steampunk games do a drive on Kickstarter, I liked the low barrier to entry. A modest contribution gets you some pretty good perks, which will hopefully be expanded if they are successfully overfunded.
But more than anything, I admit, I'm backing this one because of their values. They put it up front that this will be a game that's positive towards "Equal genders, colors, and LGBT friendly." That sells me right there. They also promise fun, accessible but deep gameplay will let players have fun within the game without micromanagement or a steep learning curve as we customize and balance our ships. Can they pull it off? I'm partial towards scrappy indie projects, so I'm willing to take chance and see. It'd be especially refreshing to play a single-player game that's developed well in a genre oversaturated with multiplayer games.
The storyline will follow Riva; a "formerly disgraced Commander of Dawns navy for voicing public opposition to her Commander The last hope in the conflict she lost everything to avoid, Riva returns to the sky to set things right, and to save Dawn from the promised annihilation by the invading Duskan forces."
I'm looking forward to seeing how this project gets fleshed out.
Pitched as "A science fantasy airship combat game. A fully 3D single player campaign, customize your ship with everything from cannons to ray guns!" While we have seen several steampunk games do a drive on Kickstarter, I liked the low barrier to entry. A modest contribution gets you some pretty good perks, which will hopefully be expanded if they are successfully overfunded.
But more than anything, I admit, I'm backing this one because of their values. They put it up front that this will be a game that's positive towards "Equal genders, colors, and LGBT friendly." That sells me right there. They also promise fun, accessible but deep gameplay will let players have fun within the game without micromanagement or a steep learning curve as we customize and balance our ships. Can they pull it off? I'm partial towards scrappy indie projects, so I'm willing to take chance and see. It'd be especially refreshing to play a single-player game that's developed well in a genre oversaturated with multiplayer games.
The storyline will follow Riva; a "formerly disgraced Commander of Dawns navy for voicing public opposition to her Commander The last hope in the conflict she lost everything to avoid, Riva returns to the sky to set things right, and to save Dawn from the promised annihilation by the invading Duskan forces."
I'm looking forward to seeing how this project gets fleshed out.
Friday, November 02, 2012
Lao Steampunk: Airship designs?
I recently became a backer of the "Pulp" Strategic Airship Combat game set in a steampunk environment. We'll be following their heroine, Riva; a "formerly disgraced Commander of Dawns navy for voicing public opposition to her Commander The last hope in the conflict she lost everything to avoid, Riva returns to the sky to set things right, and to save Dawn from the promised annihilation by the invading Duskan forces."
I'll be submitting in a flag design of the famed Lao Airship Corps, the Flying Naks, of course, but it also got me wondering what the ship designs would look like based on historical Lao boat designs. I know, it sounds strange talking about boats, considering that Laos is a landlocked nation.
A great overview can be found at Boats and Rice. They point out: "For the most part, you can think of the variety of Laotian boats as simply different sizes of otherwise very similar boats: flat bottomed, with shovel ends, flaring sides, and quite long for their width. The smallest are about fifteen feet long usually, paddled with canoe paddles and have no motors. There is a large class of motor powered canoes ranging in size from about 18 feet long to upwards of 25 feet long."
It's not inconceivable that they could be ideal frames for airships, but there would also have to be more to it than just strapping balloons onto them.
With Lao terrain over 70% mountain and jungle, how would Lao society develop reliable landing strips and aerodromes? Would we see the major airbases still established in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Pakse and Long Tieng? Would makeshift airfields such as the Lima landing strip models be used during the 20th century?
There aren't many references I've found that the Lao built elaborate boats such as the Thai royal barge the Anantanagaraj with its seven-head naga, or the Anekajatbhujonga. As a side note, the crew complement for the Anantanagaraj crew typically consistsed of 54 oarsmen, 2 steersmen, 2 officers, 1 standard bearer, 1signalman, 1 chanter and 7 royal insignia bearers. It's an impressive sight.
There are many questions we could ask about what role a parallel vessel would have in a Lao navy, let alone the Lao Air Corps.
Perhaps, in the retro-future, given the Lao relationship to the Nak, would they take a different approach to building vessels. The Nak traditionally are very protective of bodies of water, so, a story conceivably might suggest Lao who ply the rivers would do their best to reduce disrupting and upsetting the Nak through loud motors or pollutants.
The Nak have traditionally been in conflict with the Garuda, and I would see that still playing out in a world of airships. Lao might be more inclined to embrace the flying Vanon war monkeys or the Kinnaly in imagery on their air vessels in this alternate retro-future, as well as the classic Xang, although images of flying elephants brings to mind a certain Disney character.
These are just a few of the things to consider as one addresses transit in an alternate retro-future.
I'll be submitting in a flag design of the famed Lao Airship Corps, the Flying Naks, of course, but it also got me wondering what the ship designs would look like based on historical Lao boat designs. I know, it sounds strange talking about boats, considering that Laos is a landlocked nation.
A great overview can be found at Boats and Rice. They point out: "For the most part, you can think of the variety of Laotian boats as simply different sizes of otherwise very similar boats: flat bottomed, with shovel ends, flaring sides, and quite long for their width. The smallest are about fifteen feet long usually, paddled with canoe paddles and have no motors. There is a large class of motor powered canoes ranging in size from about 18 feet long to upwards of 25 feet long."
It's not inconceivable that they could be ideal frames for airships, but there would also have to be more to it than just strapping balloons onto them.
With Lao terrain over 70% mountain and jungle, how would Lao society develop reliable landing strips and aerodromes? Would we see the major airbases still established in Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Pakse and Long Tieng? Would makeshift airfields such as the Lima landing strip models be used during the 20th century?
There aren't many references I've found that the Lao built elaborate boats such as the Thai royal barge the Anantanagaraj with its seven-head naga, or the Anekajatbhujonga. As a side note, the crew complement for the Anantanagaraj crew typically consistsed of 54 oarsmen, 2 steersmen, 2 officers, 1 standard bearer, 1signalman, 1 chanter and 7 royal insignia bearers. It's an impressive sight.
There are many questions we could ask about what role a parallel vessel would have in a Lao navy, let alone the Lao Air Corps.
Perhaps, in the retro-future, given the Lao relationship to the Nak, would they take a different approach to building vessels. The Nak traditionally are very protective of bodies of water, so, a story conceivably might suggest Lao who ply the rivers would do their best to reduce disrupting and upsetting the Nak through loud motors or pollutants.
The Nak have traditionally been in conflict with the Garuda, and I would see that still playing out in a world of airships. Lao might be more inclined to embrace the flying Vanon war monkeys or the Kinnaly in imagery on their air vessels in this alternate retro-future, as well as the classic Xang, although images of flying elephants brings to mind a certain Disney character.
These are just a few of the things to consider as one addresses transit in an alternate retro-future.
StoneThread Publishing Speculative Fiction Contest II
For their contests, speculative fiction is defined as any story in any genre that responds to the question "What if?" in a way that depends on science or on any fantastic elements. The genres might include science fiction (hard or sociological), fantasy, magic realism, psychological horror or suspense (no slash and gash please), ghost stories, urban fantasy, paranormal romance (no erotica please), etc. They may be based in the past, present or future.
Contest Rules
There is no reading fee or entry fee for this contest.
Entry deadline, 30 November 2012 (may be extended if we do not receive enough entries).
Previously unpublished speculative fiction only please. 1,000 to 10,000 words.
Email submission as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf attachment to contest @ stonethreadpublishing.com
Enter as many stories as you like, one story per email. Name and email address must appear in upper left corner of the first page of the story.
Past tense is the natural voice of narrative; please, no present tense.
They will announce the winners by email to all entrants approximately one month after the contest closes.
Prizes All winning entries and all honorable mentions will be included in an anthology to be published as an ebook by StoneThread Publishing.
They reserve the right to publish the anthology in paperback as well. First Place: $50 plus a copy of the anthology Second through Sixth: $20 plus a copy of the anthology Honorable Mentions: $5 plus a copy of the anthology
To get on their mailing list for releases and other contests, please visit http://stonethreadpublishing.com/contests and sign up.
Contest Rules
There is no reading fee or entry fee for this contest.
Entry deadline, 30 November 2012 (may be extended if we do not receive enough entries).
Previously unpublished speculative fiction only please. 1,000 to 10,000 words.
Email submission as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf attachment to contest @ stonethreadpublishing.com
Enter as many stories as you like, one story per email. Name and email address must appear in upper left corner of the first page of the story.
Past tense is the natural voice of narrative; please, no present tense.
They will announce the winners by email to all entrants approximately one month after the contest closes.
Prizes All winning entries and all honorable mentions will be included in an anthology to be published as an ebook by StoneThread Publishing.
They reserve the right to publish the anthology in paperback as well. First Place: $50 plus a copy of the anthology Second through Sixth: $20 plus a copy of the anthology Honorable Mentions: $5 plus a copy of the anthology
To get on their mailing list for releases and other contests, please visit http://stonethreadpublishing.com/contests and sign up.
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