POP
Picking up steam
Steampunk group publishes anthology of original stories By Angie Sykeny
asykeny@hippopress.com
In 2010, a small group of friends and steampunk enthusiasts in New Hampshire started imagining Antiford, a fictional nation of innovative desert survivors. Through an online forum, they invited others to write collaborative fiction, with Antiford as the backdrop. The forum evolved into a community of more than 100 steampunk fans from around New England who call themselves the Citizens of Antiford, and what started as a single fictional country became a fictional world, consisting of 18 countries with their own races, histories, cultures, politics, religions, industries, landmarks and more. “This isn’t just an alternate history,” Justin Thibault, one of the group leaders, said. “We borrow a few things from history, but the world is entirely homegrown and made up, all under the umbrella of steampunk.” On Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Book Cellar in Nashua, the Citizens of Antiford will read from their new self-published, Kickstarter-funded book Adventure: A Collection of Steampunk Short Stories, Volume 1. As the title suggests, the book features six short stories written by members, set within the steampunk world of Orr. “None of the stories are related; they’re all individual stories,” Thibault said. “But sometimes they make reference to other [writers’] characters and stories because they all exist within the same world.” Members create content within their shared world through a variety of media, including cosplay, prop-making and video, but writing remains their primary medium. Their extensive website features a library with nearly 200 stories written by members, as well member-created videos and games, and an atlas and encyclopedia outlining everything there is to know about Orr and its countries. The first story in the book, written by Thibault, follows a naturalist who leaves his home country for the first time to embark on a big game hunt, hunting one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. While the Citizens’ brand of steampunk is based on science rather than fantasy elements, it does include some fictional species developed from an alternate evolutionary line. “There are other species of humanoids that exist on the planet that share a common ancestor with humans but split off into something else, like a subterranean chimpanzee-type creature,” Thibault said.
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“So we morph some things, but there’s generally some kind of scientific backing to it.” The final story, written by longtime member Nathan Powell, is about a game in which participants are challenged to race across the deserts of Antiford to a remote city, where they must rob a train. “This story was created … as a way to help show off the country of Antiford to new readers, as well as give insight into the world with the international cast of characters featured in it,” Powell said. “It focuses in on our titular desert nation and hopefully makes it just as much a character as the ones pulling off the train robbery.” Though the book focuses on adventure stories, Citizens write stories in a variety of genres. “The Citizens of Antiford allows me to write different types of stories and … [provides] a platform to experiment,” Powell said. “I started writing a sort of noir mystery … and people loved it. I have also used our flash fiction challenges to explore other genres, like horror, that I would have never tried otherwise.” Powell said the book is just “a beautiful tip of the iceberg” of what the Citizens, and local authors, in general, are capable of. The group is currently working on a second book featuring four short stories, all by different authors but following one continuous narrative surrounding a single event. Citizens of Antiford reading Where: Book Cellar, 34 Northwest Blvd., Nashua When: Saturday, Dec. 15, 2 to 3 p.m. Visit: citizensofantiford.com
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Enjoy an Event of Holiday Spirit December 19TH | 5-7pm Horse Sleigh Rides • Petting Zoo • Santa’s Elf Hanover St., Manchester EastSidePlazaNH.com All activities are free, all children must be accompanied by an adult. No rain or snow date in the event we have to cancel.
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HIPPO | DECEMBER 13 - 19, 2018 | PAGE 47