WNW: 'Cause Blimps are Pretty Pimp

Some of you have been asking me, "Palette, whatever became of Heliumpunk?"

The answer is, real life got in the way. But don't worry, it's not forgotten. In fact, earlier this week I happened upon what can only be called the Heliumpunk Theme Song.

FACT: Hydrogen is kept far away from Helium so as to prevent Helium from kicking Hydrogen's ass.

I Will Punk If I Goddamn Want to

Oh dear. It would seem that some people have taken issue with my use of the "-punk' suffix, following Warren Ellis's link to He@ in his blog. This complaining seems to come in two flavors:

1. Why must everything be "x-punk" these days? It's a tired old term.
   
2. Oi oi oi! I'm a punk! I object to you using that term when there isn't any punk attitude or sensibility!

To which I say: Quit yer whinging, ye wee sodding wankers.

Actually, I don't really care if they complain or not (though it did give me a chance to use my "Belfast voice", which is always fun), because any publicity is good publicity. Call me what you like, I don't really give a shit, just so long as you link back to me. But since this is a literary blog, and I'm feeling pedantic, I might as well address these "concerns".

It's a tired old term.

Well, it's old, I'll grant you that. The term cyberpunk was created by Bruce Bethke back in 1980 for his short story of the same name... as a marketing term, so that his story would have more appeal to readers. Tired? Considering that we're using the term 27 years later, I'd say it's pretty damn effective.

Why must everything be "x-punk" these days?

For the same goddamn reason that everything Apple puts out these days is "iWhatever": it's an instantly recognizable shorthand with built-in audience appeal. Besides, which is easier to say: "A work set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date" or "Steampunk"?

If you want to be mad at someone, blame K.W. Jeter for starting it with a 1987 letter to Locus magazine where he said:

Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like "steampunks," perhaps ...

You may not like the nomenclature, but it's here to stay. Get over it.

I'm a punk and I object to you using that term...

Ah, the delicious taste of hypocrisy!

Punk ideology is concerned with the individual's intrinsic right to freedom, and a less restricted lifestyle. Punk ethics espouse the role of personal choice in the development of, and pursuit of, greater freedom.

In other words, by trying to censor me, you are oppressing my right to express myself, and thus you are just as bad as the Establishment. And by staying true to myself and refusing to conform to what you want, I prove myself more punk than thou. So go fuck yourself.

...when there isn't any punk attitude or sensibility!

Which punk sensibility?

• Anarchy?
• Socialism?
• Straight Edge?
• Conservative? (Believe it or not...)
  
• Nihilism?
• Neo-Nazism?
• Apolitical?
• Situational?
  
• Liberal?

Considering that there are mutually exclusive schools of thought there, this is not a coherent argument. In fact, the only unifying theme for punk that I can find is once again "Individual freedom at any cost". By that logic, Firefly is punk.

So chwee ni duh, you ai chr jze se duh fohn diang gho. I'll call it Heliumpunk if I fucking well want to, and you can't stop me.

Just in case it's necessary...

Heliumpunk is copyright 2007 by Erin Palette.

Go here to read about copyright and the Internet.

That said, let me explain what I mean. I'm not for one instant claiming that no one can write a story using the basic conceit of He@, which is "A future or near-future setting where anachronistic and obsolete technology is given a new lease on life, not just because it is cool, but for plausible reasons within the setting." That would be greedy, and if my work inspires others, I'm flattered.

What I am saying is that when I discuss He@ on this site, I am specifically talking about my novel-in-progress unless I say otherwise. Thus, anything in regards to the book -- be it characters, setting, plot or plot elements -- is copyrighted inasmuch as these things can be.

This entry has been written for the express purpose of covering my rear end legally. Decent folks have nothing to fear from it.

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood"

I find myself at a rather curious juncture, and need help reaching a decision.

Heliumpunk is rapidly becoming an obsession, expanding like a gas to fill the available volume -- which in this case is the time I normally allocate for devising and writing these blog entries that so many of you love. My time being a finite quality, there will be days when I have to choose between blogging and heliumpunking. The easy solution, of course, is to turn the literary progress into a blog entry, and thus kill two birds with one stone.

Pros:

• I can keep my commitment to this blog while still honoring the creative impulse (which is why I started this blog in the first place)
• I can work out some of the rougher details in real time
• If I make an egregious error of science or logic I'm sure it will be rapidly caught and just as rapidly corrected
• I can get instant feedback from my readers
• By posting tidbits of the world, I can generate publicity and a readerbase befoire the thing ever gets published

Cons:

• Some readers will get sick of the constant heliumpunk entries. Perversely, some will get annoyed that I don't post more of them.
  
• Am I risking my intellectual property by doing this? I'd hate to render my stuff "unpublishable" because I put it up on the web. (IP and copyright lawyers, please contact me.)
• I can get instant feedback from my readers. Yes, this can be a negative -- if you've ever taken a "creative writing" class you know exactly what I mean.
  
• There are risks that it may become a novel by committee (see above point)
  
• My work might be stolen, or co-opted, or a particularly obsessive reader might claim literary credit or monetary compensation for ideas/characters/etc that end up in the book

Also, I need to see if Plok is cool with all this. If not, then this entire post is rendered moot.

So basically... if you know anything about IP or copyright law, or have firsthand experience in this matter, please let me know your thoughts on this.

Oh yes, one more thing: I've decided to abbreviate heliumpunk as He@. For an explanation as to why the Circle-A is a symbol for punk, go here.

Heliumpunk

Plok and I have created a new science-fiction subgenre. I am astounded.

Indeed, as the Bard put it: "My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention." That's from Resplendent Buttock-Cradles, one of his lesser-known works. No, really, it's in the same collection as Titus Andronicus and Troilus and Cressida. Would I lie to you?

Since I "invented" Heliumpunk, I feel authoritative enough to define it: "A future or near-future setting where anachronistic and obsolete technology is given a new lease on life, not just because it is cool, but for plausible reasons within the setting."

It's called Heliumpunk because Plok has posited an intriguing view of the future involving Zeppelins and circumpolar freight routes, made feasible by the excess helium created as a byproduct of the fusion process. I was immediately fascinated by the thought of obsolete technology suddenly re-emerging as once again viable, and thus was born a new subgenre.

It's not meant to be tongue-in-cheek the way Steampunk is, though it can be wryly amusing at times. Firefly did similar things with its "Wild West Space Travel" idea; I'm thinking specifically of the holographic saloon window that people could be thrown out of without damage to the bar fixtures.

Off the top of my head: The resurgence of the polearm as a melee weapon. The polearm, as you may or may not know, was originally a farm implement that the peasants put on a long stick when they decided to revolt. It was only after several of these revolts that it became clear that a polearm was really, really good at unhorsing knights, and from there it became a standard infantry weapon until finally being replaced by the rifle.

Fast-forward to the setting of Heliumpunk. Unless robotics and automation has increased remarkably, you're still going to have humans loading and unloading cargo. I can see many, MANY uses for a long stick (now perhaps made out of carbon fiber reinforced composite) with a curved hook, a cutting blade, and a sharp point: hooking cargo, cutting tow lines, etc. And I would further expect that both longshoremen and Zeppelin pilots would find a way to turn these into weapons again.

Again, all of this is very rough, but it's been consuming my thoughts all day. Plok and I are already sharing our ideas over email. Eris willing, maybe we can turn this into a novel.

A novel with polearm-wielding Zeppelin pilots flying over the Arctic whilst being pursued by multinational Helium conglomerates.