Windycon Aftermath: More Girl Genius Lore, a Questionable Book, and a Steampunk Guest Lecturer

[beamjockey]

My "Seeds of Girl Genius" talk went satisfyingly well. Phil and Kaja Foglio attended. As a surprise, Rolf Wilson presented them with a fabulous 1958 book on automata, signed by dozens of Girl Genius readers.

Then I launched into my (hopefully-)learned discourse. I covered the origins of Frankenstein in 18th century science, tried to establish it as an ancestral work to GG, and moved on to clanks. There were some fabulous performing automata built in the 1700s that clearly influenced some of the machines portrayed in the comic, as kajafoglio afterward confirmed to me.

Then I moved on to the final topic, my role as eyewitness to the birth of the Heterodyne clan. (Must write this down soon.)

The crowd was amused by Steven Savage's Seventh Sanctum Heterodyne Story Generator. Cries of "URL!" I met with a quote from Teresa Nielsen Hayden, "What is this, National Forget How To Google Month?"

But to silence any remaining grumblers, here is the link.

I touched on the fictionalized nonfiction book The Heterodyne Boys' Big Book of Fun, as portrayed in Stanley and His Monster #1 in 1993. Few readers realized that it's based on a real book, which Phil found on another shopping expedition to the Bicentennial Bookshop in Kalamazoo a few years after the birth of the Boys.

Kaja mentioned that the book of horribly dangerous amusement for boys is The Boy Mechanic: 700 Things for Boys to Do, whose full text may be found in Google Books. Enjoy it.

Here's an ad for the book from the June 1915 issue of Cartoons magazine (itself well worth examining).
Click for a larger version.

Here's a review from Education magazine.

The ideas contained in "The Boy Mechanic" would more than keep a boy occupied until he grows up and also be an incentive to original thinking and achievement.

Presuming he is not killed first.

Unlike so many other books of a somewhat similar nature, it is not confined to only one or a few subjects but describes 700 different things boys can make and do in the fields of mechanics, electricity, sports, arts and crafts work, magic, etc. An unusually generous book; size 7 by 10 in. and 1.5 in. thick; printed from large, clear type on high grade book paper and durably bound in cloth. Attractive four-color cover design. Many hours of enjoyment are in store for the boy who becomes possessor of this book. Price, $1.50, prepaid to any address.

Google's robot has its own inchoate, yet somehow stirring, way of reviewing this book, by extracting "common terms and phrases" from its text:

acid amperes armature attached babbitt metal base battery bell bend binding posts binding-post blade block bolt bored bottle bottom brass brush camera carbon paper circuit clamp cloth coat coil color connected constructed copper cord cork cover crosspieces diameter drilled dry cells edge electric fastened fingers frame glass glue groove gunwales hand handle heat hold hole Home-Made Ice Boat induction coil inside iron kite knife lamp lathe leather length light magnet metal motor nail needle notches ordinary paper paraffin photograph piece of wood pipe plate pulley removed Rheostat ring rivet round rubber sal ammoniac screws Secure shaft shape sheet shellac shown in Fig side sketch slide soldered solution square steel stick string strip surface switch tacks thick thread tion tube turned wheel wide wire zinc

Meanwhile, out West, serge_lj was giving his lecture on "Steampunk and Hollywood," which he has posted in not just one, but two parts. This is fun, if not as much fun as hearing Serge deliver it in person would be.

Comments

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

For folks who would be interested in similar books, I highly recommend the Lindsay Book Catalog. Dozens of books on the cutting edge technology of the previous century. You can order a catalog at: http://www.lindsaybks.com
-- Dagonell

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Yes. I once met Mr. Lindsay, when he was taking a tour of Fermilab.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the kind comments, Bill. I posted the darn thing in two parts because the original was way too long for LiveJournal. That's me. Pushing the envelope out the door thru the mailbox thru the backwall of the Post Office.

That being said... I wish I could have attended your talk. Isn't it the one that you mentionned to me after the Hugos were over?

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Isn't it the one that you mentionned to me after the Hugos were over?

Yes. It was a fresh idea just then, and I had begun to do some reading for it.

[daddy-guido.livejournal.com]

78 E. Madison st.? Well, hell, that's two blocks from my office! I'll run down and get a copy today.... doh.

[quadibloc.livejournal.com]

I follow your link to Google Books, and find the book to be in Snippet View.

Apparently they feel its copyright has only expired within the United States.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Google Books is excessively conservative about such things. I am frustrated that the text of Congressional hearings is merely snippeted, as these would be useful documents for my research. I once asked Google to change this, and they refused.

(Possibly they are worried about Congressmen reading copyrighted news clippings into the record.)

I have had some success in Dead Sea Googling such things.

Anyway, there are multiple editions of The Boy Mechanic in Google Books, and the text of the 1913 edition is also available from Gutenberg and the Internet Archive. Perhaps these institutions will be more generous to you.

Here's a version on Scribd.

[forestweather.livejournal.com]

Try these, Bill.
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/chearings/index.html

[hyperactivator.livejournal.com]

I'm planning on makeing gifts for my family this year(already knitted more than 3/4ths of a blanket for my brother)And I just might find something in this book.

[brian-s.livejournal.com]

The Lisle Library Sci-Fi book club met tonight, and one of the guys gave a Windycon report. He specifically mentioned your panel as being a highlight, and mentioned that he always looks forward to your panels. Sounds like it was a fun con - just wish I'd realized it was last weekend before I made plans to be out of town.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Wow, egoboo! Thanks for passing that along!

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I would also note that your projection and vocal technique were excellent. Due to Fussy Baby, I had to spend the first third of the panel just outside the doors to the ballroom, and I heard every word you said. Credit wasn't solely due the mcrophone, because even slipping back inside and straining, I heard not a word from the guy who gave the book.

Not being able to hear the panelists was a characteristic problem all weekend.