Napoleon III’s aetherships dueling the British Empire over Venus. Germans colonizing Mars. The moons of Jupiter, unclaimed and up for grabs. That’s not a geopolitical fever dream — that’s the premise of Castle in the Stars: The Universe in 1875, the gloriously over-the-top artbook from illustrator Alex Alice and French publisher Caurette. The Kickstarter hit its €8,000 goal in eight minutes. EIGHT. MINUTES. It eventually blew past €200,000 and unlocked enough stretch goals to fill an aethership cargo hold, including an official “Invitation to the Interplanetary Exposition.” The Doctor approves of this level of ambition.

The book itself is an in-world artifact: a lavishly illustrated guidebook designed as if it were printed for actual travelers in the Castle in the Stars universe, complete with over 200 watercolor illustrations, travel tips, maps, and enough Jules Verne energy to power a steam-driven orbital cannon. Alex Alice also dropped a companion sketchbook called Prototypes that cracks open his design process from first sketch to finished world. It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes material that makes you want to quit your job and move to 1875 Paris and build a rocket. The full Kickstarter run is a 2022 artifact, but copies are still findable through Caurette’s store (last items in stock, so move your gears). High-5, Monsieur Alice. High-5.

Via: Caurette Editions

Today is Nikola Tesla’s birthday, which means the Punk calendar is already winning. But if you’re anywhere near Jacksonville, Florida tonight, you’ve got exactly zero excuses not to be at Nemo’s Steampunk Gala. Hall of Heroes is throwing the first-ever Jules Verne-themed blowout at Goozlepipe & Guttyworks (yes, that is the actual name of the venue, and yes, it was already perfect before any steampunks got their hands on it), running 9pm to 2am. The upstairs is the Nautilus Engine Room: DJs, live performances, full food and drink menu. The downstairs is called The Abyss, described as a journey “20,000 leagues under King Street” into the Kraken’s Lounge. If that sentence doesn’t make you want to put on a frock coat and a diving helmet, the Omega7Red Formulae cannot help you.

There’s also a Steampunk Market with independent creators on the floor, so you can spend money on things you absolutely do not need but will treasure forever. The Doctor approves of any event where the aesthetic is “Victorian submarine nightmare” and the cover charge is cheaper than therapy. Get your tickets before they’re gone, or spend tomorrow reading about it on the internet like a surface-dweller. Nothing can beat old age and betrayal.

Via: Hall of Heroes Events

Google is paying tribute to Jules Verne’s 183rd birthday by creating an interactive Google Doodle based on
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.

If you missed it, you can check it out in Google’s Doodle History.  If you have an iOS device such as an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, you can move your device to change the angle of the viewpoint in the Doodle.  Traditional browser users can use the joystick to change the view.

UPDATE:  Project completed.  Giant drill penetrates man’s driveway.  Community shocked amused.  Halloween saved.  Dentists everywhere rejoice!  Good job Peter, we’re looking forward to next year.

11/1/2010 – We did it. It was probably the hardest project I’ve done yet, but with the help of a lot of very talented people, we pulled off an amazingly huge prop for Halloween last night. Here’s a shot from this morning to show what we built:  Amazingly, we built a bigger prop than the concept art showed. It’s massive. The drillbit alone is 11 1/2 feet long. From the tip of the drill to the base of the cylinder is about 25 feet. The tip reached very near the top of my two story house. There will be more photos and video over the next few weeks, but I just wanted to put this up to let everyone know we got the project done.

Most Halloweens are spent supervising young children as they muck about in their $5 plastic Darth Vader / Hannah Montana costumes collecting chocolate-coated razor blades balls of caffeinated sugar.  But not Peter Montgomery; oh Hell no.  The man has a serious Halloween hobby that makes your paltry 2-million Christmas light display dim by comparison.  This year’s theme is a Jules Verne-inspired Steampunk drill bursting out of his driveway.

“I’m calling the display “Journey from the Center of the Earth.”  It’s a giant, 18 foot tall, steampunk inspired earth drilling machine.”

If you watch the video below, you’ll see the man is a Halloween god.  And like any god, he needs money.  Pete needs to raise a mere $2,200.  At the time of this writing, he’s got $1,684 from 67 backers and 14-days to go (Oct. 14 deadline).  He’s using KickStarter (which uses Amazon payments) to fund his project.

I’ll be following up to see the real deal after Halloween.  While the animatronics Peter will no doubt provide is really cool, I fully expect a ride down the Well to Hell so that I can relish in the screams of all those Soviet Union souls condemned to burn in the lake of fire.

Oh, man.  Super nice models of the Nautilus (Disney version) from the Nautilus Drydocks (go there for more pictures).  I’m looking at the 66-inch model, and there’s exceptional attention to detail.  You could almost shoot with this as the hero model.  Even the wheelhouse is fully detailed.

They even have additional options to convert it to a Radio Controlled sub that can go into the water.  But you’ll never catch me putting such a toy into the drink.  Knowing my luck, somebody with a model HMS Warrior would come along and sink my sub.