The Parasol Protectorate Series books are comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. If you have yet to pick up the first book in the set “Soulless“, now is the time to do so before you fall so far behind.

It also should be noted that Soulless can be nominated for a Hugo Award .

Queen Street Mill 500Hp tandem steam engine

Milton Rally – 2004

Found over at Smee’s Stuff

“What you get when you mix an 1875 Eastlake Victorian platform rocking chair with a Permobil C300 Power wheelchair and a few trips to an antique store. Toss in screaming digital amped sound system, an event triggered sound processor, oh and a portable smoke machine!”

Well Done, That Man!

“The Atlas Obscura is a collaborative project with the goal of cataloging all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist. If you’re looking for miniature cities, glass flowers, books bound in human skin, gigantic flaming holes in the ground, phallological museums, bone churches, balancing pagodas, or homes built entirely out of paper, the Atlas Obscura is where you’ll find them.”

“Join us March 20th, 2010 in celebrating wondrous and curious places all over the world. RSVP for expeditions and tours at obscuraday.com.”

Some events already scheduled: (see the website for details)

“In San Francisco we’re descending en masse to the Musee Mecanique and then going to visit the clock and orrerys at the Long Now Foundation.
At Stanford University they’re showing us around the pneumatic dispatch system.In Mountain View, CA they’re holding a demonstration of the Difference Engine for us.
In New York, there’s a private tour of the Radio guy’s collection of science and tech oddities.
In Serbia we’re going to the world’s only Tesla Museum .
In Colorado Springs, the Steampunk Cowboys are leading a tour of a Wild West museum.

These events are all filling up fast (and some are booked solid) – but there’s still room in some and there are more events coming online almost everyday.”

It can be downloaded in several formats from Project Gutenberg

“PWF is the first East Coast event to welcome Steampunks, Neo-Victorians, Retro-futurists, Gas Lamp Fantasists, and any and all others who consider themselves part of steampunk into a weekend long festival celebrating all things steamy!

An interactive and social event for people of all levels of steampunk know-how (yes, even you sitting in the corner of the internet, not sure you know what steampunk is or if you even like it) to communicate, dance, exchange, and explore. Here, you will find representation of the art, culture, fashion, technology, history, gaming, and music of this fascinating and scintillating subculture and genre.

Say you enjoy the post-enlightenment of the Industrial Revolution, or Victorian Era upper-class sensibilities, or the mutated past merged with modern mentalities and counter-culture ethos. Maybe you like the skewed science of “What if?” and the historical settings, or you simply like to look dapper in your top hat. There is something here at the Steampunk World’s Fair for you!”

Harold

“On Saturday March 27 in London, England, White Mischief is holding a massive multi-room steampunk party called The Great Exhibition. White Mischief will be celebrating three years of neo-Victorian entertainments with its biggest line-up yet.

Some of the UK’s best-known exponents of steampunk craft will be in attendance, including Prof. Maelstromme’s steam laboratory; a steamdrone and steam cannon from The Clockwork Quartet; steampunk art and installations; and Victorian costumes.

Music includes Thomas Truax, whose self-made instruments include the Hornicator and a mechanical drum machine; steam-powered piano from Tankus The Henge; pith-helmeted MC Elemental, whose “Cup of Brown Joy”was a YouTube hit; posh rapper Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer; and Oompah Brass, who play pop hits in an oompah style.

Stage performances will include visible bolts of lightning being conducted by Voltini in a demonstration of the experiments that Tesla made famous. Plus angle grinding, a flea circus, a man climbing into a six foot bubble, visitors from Oblivia and a chainsaw routine described by Simon Cowell as “one of the most stupid acts I’ve ever seen.”

The Great Exhibition