Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Welcome to the second annual Steampunk Empire Symposium; thank you for being a part of this totally inaccurate historical event. Within these pages you will find descriptions of many of the fantastic events and shenanigans to be found at this years Symposium, but please be warned! Due to such a large gathering of such finely dressed anachronaughts a temporal rift in time and space has occured . you may witness strange Hoopy Froods from the other side wandering around like lost souls in a state of confusion . they can be identified by their odd dress (or near lack thereof ), their insistence on carrying their towels, and their bemused or bewildered gaze. They are “mostly” harmless and can safely be ignored, or engaged with gently. We are looking forward to a fabulous weekend of mirth and manners, and wish you a fantastic time. To thank you for joining us and making this such a brilliant weekend, the Symposium would like to extend an exclusive offer to all this year’s attendees . buy your 2014 Steampunk Symposium badge by “May the 4th” using the discount code 13SES14 and you will save 40% off the advance ticket price. Visit www.SteampunkSymposium. com or www.ThePandoraSociety.com to buy your badge before the end of the week. October 11-13, 2013 pandoracon.com For the comfort and safety of all attending the Symposium, please abide by these common sense rules: 1. You must wear your membership badge at all times to be admitted to any convention function. 2. Possession of alcoholic beverages by anyone under 21 years of age is grounds for expulsion from the convention without refund. 3. Please keep all behavior that polite attendees would find publicly offensive in your hotel rooms. 4. Steampunk Empire Symposium and Pandora Promotions LLC are not responsible for lost, stolen or damaged property, or for injuries sustained during the course of the convention. 5. Announced events and guests are subject to change and/or cancellation without notice. Every effort will be made to announce any changes via the Internet and pre- convention publications but sometimes last-minute changes will occur. 6. We reserve the right to ask you to leave the convention and refuse to refund your membership money if you are behaving in an uncivilized manner. 7. Please abide by our weapons policy: All weapons must be non-working and peace bonded. Bladed weapons (including sword canes) must be cased or sheathed at all times. Any firearms or antique firearms used in costuming must have the firing mechanisms disabled, bolt, flint, match or firing pin removed or have the trigger restrained by a member of our security staff. Live ammunition is prohibited. 8. No horseplay in the common areas. Any weapon used in an offensive manner will be confiscated and rule #6 enforced. 9. Please do not abuse our hotels facilities or hotel staff. Room Parties and other announcements may be dropped off at our Information Desk. 10. Wear appropriate clothing in the common areas; nudity needs to remain in the hotel guest rooms. Page 1 SYMPOSIUM GUESTS OF HONOUR Whom Shall One Telegraph? THE APPARITION ABOLISHERS! The Apparition Abolishers are a group of steampunk costumers, artists, prop-makers, and performers based in Nashville, TN. The group won Best in Show at the Dragon*Con 2009 Masquerade Costume Contest with their 1st set of group costumes and again in 2012 with a set of mechanical wings. The Clocktease Burlesque and Dr. Torque’s Traveling Exposition of Curious Contraptions and Fantastical Oddities were launched in 2011 at Geek Media Expo. Their artistic endeavors include unique costumes, a web comic, a short film, music video collaboration, and various oddities and contraptions. Journalist and writer EMILIE P. BUSH has written two Steampunk novels. Her first, Chenda and the Airship Brofman, was a “ripping good yarn!” and the tale was a 2010 Semi-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA). New this year, The Gospel According to Verdu picks up the epic tale where Chenda left off – high in the skies. In the Spring of 2012, Emilie P. Bush teamed up with illustrator William Kevin Petty for the first ever children’s Steampunk picture book : Her Majesty’s Explorer: a Steampunk bedtime story. This charming tale topped the BESTSELLER list at Amazon. The follow-up Steamduck Learns to FLY! released October 10, 2012, and also made several bestseller lists at Amazon. STEAMPUNK BOBA FETT ( John F. Strangeway) is one of the most recognized figures in both the Steampunk and Star Wars fan communities. The idea originated in John’s lifelong love ofStar Wars and in particular the cult figure of bounty hunter Boba Fett. He had the idea for a Steampunk variation for quite some time but lacked the resources to build the suit to match his vision. That changed at AnachroCon 2009, where he met Matt Silva of Penny Dreadful Productions. A few months later the two began work on the suit, which debuted at Dragon*Con Page 2 2009 to overwhelming acclaim. John and Matt are featured prominently in the PBS documentary “Four Days at Dragon*Con.” Author, actress and playwright LEANNA RENEE HIEBER grew up in rural Ohio inventing ghost stories. She graduated with a BFA in Theatre from Miami University, and a focus in the Victorian Era. She adapted works of 19th Century literature for the stage and her one-act plays have been produced around the country. Her debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, first in her Strangely Beautiful saga, landed on Barnes & Noble’s bestseller lists, won two 2010 Prism Awards (Best Fantasy Romance, Best First Book), and is currently in development as a musical theatre production and will be reissued in revised new editions via Tor / Macmillan. DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul, first in the Magic Most Foul trilogy was named on the INDIE NEXT LIST as a recommended title by the American Booksellers Association. She is currently serializing the finale of this series in the manner of the Victorians at http://leannareneebooks.blogspot.com. Her books have been chosen for national book club editions and have been translated into several languages. THE ETERNA FILES, her new Gaslamp Fantasy saga from Tor / Macmillan will release in 2014 alongside the Strangely Beautiful re-releases. AY-LEEN THE PEACEMAKER (Diana M. Pho) is a fandom scholar, activist, blogger, and general rabble-rouser. She has traveled the country as a professional convention speaker about social justice issues. Her academic published work can be found inSteampunk Magazine: Issues 1 – 7(Combustion Books, 2011), Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power of Style (SUNY Press, 2012), and Steaming into a Victorian Future (Scarecrow Press, 2012). Ay-leen has been interviewed about steampunk and its evolving subculture for many media outlets, including BBC America, the Travel Channel, HGTV, and the Science Channel; the websites Airship Ambassador, Racialicious, and NerdCaliber; and the books The Steampunk Bible (Abrams Image, May 2011), Steampunk: Reloaded(Tachyon Publications, 2010), and The WisCon Chronicles Vol 5 (Aqueduct Press, 2010). Ay-leen currently lives and works in New York City for Tor Books & blogs for Tor.com. You can follow her academic work on Academia.edu. Page 3 JOHN WHITE has worked as a courtroom artist, served with the United States Air Force, lived in three countries, climbed to the top of Mt. Vesuvius, was privileged to be the Art Director for the Honor Flight Northwest Ohio. John turned his hand to the world of Steampunk in 2010 with The Airship Neverland Trilogy. His first Book Tales of the Airship Neverland: a steampunk fairy tale was released in 2012,and was nominated for the 2012 Steamcon IV Airship Award in the written category. The second book in the series Captain Hook and The Pirates of Mars is slated for a May 2013 release. BETHALYNNE BAJEMA is a Michigan native with 15 years of experience as a professional artist. Her artwork has been featured in magazines such as Dark Beauty, Dark Realms, Real Detroit, Cthulhu Sex, and Weird Tales, along with contributions to the books Vampire Art Now, Gothic Art Now and John Santerineross’ two coffee table books, Dream and Fruit of the Secret God. She currently spends much of her time juggling too many projects, attempting to be a writer who doesn’t include squirrel references too often and working along side her fiancee –artist Myke Amend. Lurking out from the shadows, THE VAGABONDS are a crew of nomadic, crime solving, ninja bandits who have an absurd love for terrorizing Boston, Michigan, and Ohio areas. They’d go farther, but because of their fearless leader’s love for messing with machinery he really shouldn’t be touching, that’s about as far as they’ve been able to get. But stay tuned! A few miles of rope, and this may get fixed. From terrorizing “The Man” to assembling like minded individuals into coherent masses for posing and picture taking, they do it all. Being conventionally recognized doesn’t really suit their style at times, but being the good hearted individuals they are, they’ll easily be prepared to give creative instruction on any manner of topics. Page 4 SYMPOSIUM ENTERTAINMENT PICKLED BROTHERS CIRCUS with their Fire-Eating, Mental Floss, Sword Swallowing, Glass Walking, Bed of Nails, Juggling and other amazing feats of skill will MC the fantastic line up of entertainment that the Symposium has prepared. Cincinnati-based AUTOMATON is the premiere power metal troupe. As a concept group, the band weaves their steampunk epic through stage costume, larger-than-life glory-seeking lyrics, and a heavy sound.