"Cabinet" and "Steampunk" (and The Magician King!) are getting some good press! Are you excited yet?

But before I get on with that, a brief announcement: in the hour preceding the 7 pm Cabinet of Curiosities Literary Extravaganza event on Saturday July 30 at Durham's Fullsteam Brewery (whew!) the brewery will play host to the Davenport Sisters, hosts of the weekly Steampunk radio show The Clockwork Cabaret. So, if you're around, and want to come hang out early, chat, get an early start on whatever the Fullsteam R&D is cooking up, etc. the music starts at 6. (Note: they come in pints, of course, but did you know that Fullsteam offers half-pints, too? You don't even have to put the little umbrella in the beer or anything like that.)

OK! On to the parade of awesome which has been the reaction to The Steampunk Bible, which is currently resting after making an appearance at the NC Maker Faire. Well, no, that's just my copy. The other copies (including copies in bookstores near you, people) are ready to roll.

As a reminder, how pretty:

The Asbury Park Press says: "But this book. It's beyond cool."

Jeff VanderMeer tells the LA Times that "I think [Steampunk] is just getting started because steampunk people get down to the business of actually making things."

The Australian says: "If this guide to the genre is any indication it is richer, with many more facets, than the more mass-market zombie and vampire cultures. Steampunk certainly has more depth than the supernatural nonsense that appears on pay-TV, and it is obviously a genuine movement not a media-manufactured one."

Last but not least, The Steampunk Bible got a little shot-out as a USA Today "Cool Book Alert" and made Wired's list of 10 books that will fry your mind this summer.

One more? How about an article about using The Steampunk Bible as a textbook for a hands-on Steampunk class?

Not to be left out, The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities is starting to get a little attention a few weeks ahead of publication, with a glowing review in the Barnes & Noble Book Club blog and last month made the LA Times Summer Reading Guide as a "Page Turner"!

Not to be forgotten, though... that same LA Times list (the same section no less) includes Lev Grossman's The Magician King. And The Magician King now has its own website. Where's the Cabinet's website? 'Nuff said.

So in conclusion, mark these on your calendars, please:

Saturday, July 30, Fullsteam Brewery, 7 pm: Pick up The Steampunk Bible and The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, and get them signed and such by the van load of contributors who will be there. Then bring your copy of the Cabinet with you to...

Tuesday, August 30, Flyleaf Books, 7 pm: Pick up The Magician King and have Lev Grossman sign both it and your Cabinet -- he's a contributor to it, too.

Whew! See you there? And there?

Update: The first trade review for The Magician King is out, a starred review from Kirkus Review.

The Triangle's Summer of Steampunk

The Triangle's "Summer of Steampunk" kicks off today with the Beaver Queen "Streampunk" pageant in Durham (http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2011/05/29/206956/wholl-be-beaver-queen.html). More stuff?

New! Saturday, June 11th, The Decemberists are playing a concert at the Raleigh Amphitheatre (http://decemberists.com/show_notes/the-decemberists-in-raleigh-nc-on-june-11-2011/). Yeah, not technically Steampunk but birds of a feather in many ways.

Maker Faire on June 18 (http://makerfairenc.com/): "Makers, Crafters, Inventors, Evil Geniuses, Scientists and Artists will come together for a day of family-friendly fun and inspiration."

The Raleigh NC Browncoats's "Can't Stop the Serenity" charity screening of the Firefly movie on June 26 (http://www.ncbrowncoats.com/2011/02/csts-2011.html) Yeah, OK, Firefly isn't technically Steampunk, either. But there's a pretty sizable cross-section of support.

And of course the VanderMeer-Chambers Steampunk Bible event (with musical guests Clockwork Cabaret!) on July 30 at Fullsteam Brewery (http://bullspec.blogspot.com/2011/05/cabinet-of-curiosities-literary.html)! It doesn't get more Steampunk than The Steampunk Bible in Durham's DIY district!

New! Saturday, August 27th, launch party for Hillsborough author John Claude Bemis's closing book in his Clockwork Dark trilogy, The White City: http://johnclaudebemis.com/2011/04/launch-party-for-the-white-city/

(note: hope to be back to further format and add pictures later...)