Texas Steampunk Connection

recorded September 30, 2026 This week we're looking at some 1800's newspaper ads just for fun. Imagine what they might look like, or what a steampunk world would want to sell you. Maybe we'll make a few ads ourselves. Also the usual jovial chaos!

recorded September 16, 2026 Talk like a pirate day is this Saturday, and the Galveston Pirate Festival is going on all week. The airship pirate feels like a stock character for steampunk stories, but they are not so common. Let's get into it! Air Pirates according to Wikipedia Reading list: Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook The Professor Wore Prussian Blue by Shelle...

recorded September 2, 2026 Summer is ending. Still hot and too strapped for vacation, we can dream of visiting some real steampunk art. Local murals, Industrial sculptures, who knows? What are the special SP spaces in your town we should visit? Austin Downtown Cruiser by Young Min Kang Foucault's pendulum (not fukoh. I'm sorry. It wasn't that funny.)  Benini Studio and Sculpture Ranch near Johnson...

recorded August 19, 2026 Get ready to take some notes tonight. We've been looking for the current up and coming luminaries and influencers in the steampunk world outside of our little corner of Texas. We're looking for actively posting, attending events, and making content, who we see as must-follows. Time to use your googler!

recorded August 5, 2026 This week: the Victorian technological marvels found in the... in the The WC? The little boys' and girls' rooms? The euphemism. Thax blames the Queen for the Big Stink of 1858. Jack discusses the strange history of the bathroom tissue. Stinky facts about he Great Stink

recorded July 22, 2026 We're at loose ends when Dr. BS has to step back with a migraine. Jack and Thax talk beers and whiskey, revisit the robotics from last episode since we didn't get to let him present, and Thax reviews and underappreciated nerf, the Zombie Strike Crossfire. Is it dumb or your next side iron?

recorded July 8, 2026 In a steampunk world where modern computers and cutting edge AI don't exist, how do robots work ? Is it magic? Or techno-gibberish involving cogs and springs? We'll try to break it down! from Thax's notes: The Sandman — a story of mistaken identity resulting from the love affair between the protagonist Nathanael and an automaton. Rossum's Robots from R.U.R. — although these a...

recorded June 24, 2026 The heat of summer is on and we have to take our hobbies indoors. Dr. BS explores a few Victorian hobbies, while Thax claims the west was full of wild west fanboys.  Jack tracks how the ceiling fan became a fixture in the new electrified century!

recorded June 10, 2026 We've returned from the steampunk event of the season, and are catching our breath. Trinkets were traded, and teapots were raced. Now that it's over, Con-drop must not stop our inspiration for new plans! Jack has been exploring the concept of time and how industrialization, and the pocketwatch, redefined how we understand time on a new planetary scale. Your mind may get twis...

recorded May 27, 2026 We always get a little anxious this close to a big event, so we're playing by ear tonight. Thax just learned about 'trinket trading' that occurs at renfaires, and even at steampunk events, but undercover. Have you interacted this way? Good or no? Also from refaire, Rat Pucking! Seems like an easy adaption to our sensabilities with a bit of bad cockney and olde slang phrases t...

recorded May 13, 2026 This year we've lost Wild Wild West Con, and Steampunk November is cancelled at least for 2026. Galveston Steampunk Festival is left as the only big SP event in Texas this year! Johnny Steverson finally talks about how just this spring smoking and vapes almost ended him and took half a lung.  But he pushes forward like a lunatic to give us Galveston Steampunk Festival IV this...

recorded April 29, 2026 Tonight we are venturing into the Victorian Kitchen... or so we thought. Thax discovers in Victorian London there are no kitchens, only starvation or bad bread. Bluestocking reports the pre-electricity "ice box" for the well off, and Jack discusses the value of the cast iron pan. Note, Galveston Steampunk Festival is a month away! Make plans now!

recorded April 15, 2026 Tax day and only a weeks until Goggles, Gears, and Springs, Steampunk Festival; a FREE Steampunk event!! Tonight we welcome Danny Watson and Kelly Bombino who started this event in beautiful Eureka Springs, AR. This is the second year of the Steampunk festival with a full list of events to attend. find out more at https://www.steampunkinnprojects.com/ Goggles Gears and Spri...

recorded April 1, 2026 Tonight we sit down with M.L. Eaden, a new writer and indie-publisher of queer urban-fantasy and monster romance. She only began building her series of books as Covid locked us down. Now she's on her sixth book as well as a novella and short stories. mleaden.com ML Eaden on bookshop.org

recorded March 18, 2026 Between St. Patrick's Day yesterday, Spring Break this week, and SXSW in Austin, it's been a fine weekend. we barely have a topic, but things are happening! Wild Wild West Steampunk Festival ends it's 14th year and it's last. Big River Festival is given the side-eye by the city of Hannibal. Our own Johnny Steverson survives a rushed to ER with a life threatening condition! ...

recorded March 4, 2026 This week we explore steampunk inventing and some favorite inventions. Could be real, but probably imagined.  Dr. Bluestocking discovers Professor BJ Sears, a prominent film editor who was compelled to create a collection of steampunk-inspired sculptures. Jack shares inspirational prose on the steampunk outlook on inventing.   Professor BJ Sears' Technological Rarities  

recorded February 18, 2026 Last show we planned to talk about some fun patents, but we had such a good time we didn't get to it. So we're going to try again! Dr. BS is back with us, and we've found patents for things we use every day, and others that I doubt anyone ever used! Let's go! Google Patents A random source on the internet!

recorded February 4, 2026 This week we bring you Johnny Steverson, the one-man event maker who produces the Galveston Steampunk, Pirate, and Ghost Coast Festivals. He's got big news to bring us that will really set off the summer! Also we planned to discuss Victorian patents, but never really get there. We'll return to it next show with double the patents! https://galvestonsteampunk.com/ https://w...

recorded January 21, 2026 This week we delve back into history to look at the Pinkertons. Were they detectives, or paid thugs for supervillains? I was surprised by the answers. Pinkerton's own presentation of history another (better) podcast on the Pinkertons

recorded January 7, 2026 It's a new year! Time to make new plans, and build excitement for the next build, next adventure! We're going to make some resolutions, and have the best darn 2026 whether we like it or not!

recorded December 24, 2025   It's the night before Christmas, and we're streaming our end of year wrap-up! We want to hug all our supporters and start plans for next year. Jack and the fam are back to celebrate and we look forward to a new year.

recorded December 10, 2025 Did you ever wonder about that line about “scary ghost stories” in the Christmas carol “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”? Well, we’re gonna tell y’all all about that glorious Victorian Christmas tradition! Besides Dickens' Christmas Carol, what other stories have you heard of? Lets see if we can find any.  Christmas Ghosts: A Victorian Tradition Christopher Lee...

recorded November 26, 2025 Before Steampunk November, organizers were approached by Big Media asking about the "Steampunk Lifestyle." What does that mean, to Big Media or to us? How does steampunk play a part in your life on a regular or daily basis? 

recorded November 12, 2025 Steampunk November is the longest running steampunk event in Texas. And it's in three days!! Sheriff Natalie McTavish joins us for a pre-fest hang out. What changes will there be this year? What are you looking forward to? How will we tea duel? Frankenstein  The Thief and the Cobbler   Powers of Darkness (Dracula)  

recorded October 29, 2025 It's the last show before Halloween! Let's finish off a season of cults and strange societies with Madame Blavatsky and her occult/religious movement, Theosophy. We discuss the questionable origin story, and how Theosophy has influenced modern culture. Theosophical Society on Wikipedia Madame Blavatsky: a seeker of truth — and a fraud Henry Steel Olcott: Timeline of an Oc...