May 21, 2012: Three weeks ago we officially announced the plan to overhaul Scrapbook, LiveJournal’s exclusive photo-hosting feature for Plus, Paid and Perm accounts. Today we’re letting you know that the new Scrapbook will release this week; in anticipation, we want to give you a bit more information on some additional changes that have been made. The newest additions to the FAQ are under the cut; the original FAQ about the new Scrapbook is in the previous news post.

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Being an Essay based on Hearsay, Family Tradition, and Opinionated Preferences

Let us talk about tea, Gentle Reader. That great and fateful, that wonder of all wonders, that calmest and most civilized of drinks. I have been pleased to note, of late, it is making a comeback at steampunk events in particular. At Nova Albion the ConSuite consisted of nothing but tea and biscuits – as it should. In Seattle the steampunk convention greenroom boasted some of the best loose leaf I have ever had. Private stock, of course, but there it is.


Let us not discuss the travesty that is iced tea, the mockery that is Long Island iced tea, or that Thing that they do will all the sugar in the South (you can't see it, but I shudder at the very idea). Let us not delve in to the wondrous exoticism of those foreign notions, primordial and progenitive as they may be: white, green, oolong. Lets us not even think about decaf, for oh it really does taste every-so-slightly of fish. Oh no, let us discuss the truth in tea, the tea of my people, the dark, the honest, the black.

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GAIL'S DAILY DOSE

Your Moment of Parasol . . .


Your Infusion of Cute . . .


Your Tisane of Smart . . .


Your Writerly Tinctures . . .
4 Tricks for Writing great Romance


PROJECT ROUND UP
Deportment & Deceit ~ The Finishing School Book the Second: Working first draft.
Etiquette & Espionage ~ The Finishing School Book the First: Release date Feb 2013.
Manga ~ Soulless Vol. 2: (AKA Changeless) First chapter reviewed, drops on YenPlus April 12th. Print release tentatively Dec. 2012.
Timeless ~ Parasol Protectorate Book the Last. Out now!
Prudence ~ The Parasol Protectorate Abroad Book the First: Release date Fall 2013.

BIG FAT SPOILER ALERT on the Parasol Protectorate series! Really, DON'T READ THE BLURB ON AMAZON if you haven't read the other books first!

The Omnibus hardback editions are limited run through the SciFi Bookclub only.

The manga editions, Vol. available in print, Vol. 2 by subscription to YenPlus.

Most short stories available in ebook form world wide!

The first Finishing School book ~ Not yet Released

Book News:

• Changeless review.
• And another from Coffee, Cookies and Chili Peppers
• Changeless has a fan.
• And an audio book review

Quote of the Day:
All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast."
~ John Gunther

I now have a Tumblr blog. It's http://kassrh.tumblr.com/. It's called "Life Without an Alarm Clock". The subject should be obvious.

The first post will queue at 8am EDT this morning. Give it a look.

EDT: If you got a login screen, it's because I am a duffus. Try the revised link posted above now.

None of the AnomalyCon staff can draw. So it's time for our yearly art contest!

Also, we are once again bringing in our ART CONTEST! Design the AnomalyCon 2013 (Post Apocalypse) tshirt and win both a tshirt with your design on it and TWO badges to AnomalyCon 2013! Email your submissions to info@anomalycon.com by June 30, 2012 to enter. Winners will be announced by July 31st. Your submission becomes the property of AnomalyCon and Victorian Productions.

Art can be in either colour or black and white, but we may need to convert colour images to b/w for bags or other products.

AnomalyCon will be held at the Doubletree in Denver (CO), 29-31 March 2013!

Salt City Steam Fest - Fueled by Creativity

Coming soon, for the first time on this planet, the first annual Salt City Steam Fest to be held at the Red Lion Hotel, July 27-28, 2012. It's happening and we'd love to have you over for a cup of tea and a nice, long visit!


Join local Steampunkians as we gather to learn the basics of Steampunk, how to create your own goggles, an afternoon tea, and even how to waltz! Top it all off by an evening of excitement at the formal where captains and pirates, dames and darlings put aside their weapons to dance the night away!


To purchase your pass to the past, be involved as a panelist, or even a vendor, please visit http://www.saltcitysteamfest.com/


Here’s to you Salt Lake City and here’s to the amazing world of Steampunk!

Got Aether?


Calling all Artists - Mascot Contest!
The Challenge
The organizers of the Salt City Steam Fest have decided on a group of up to 6 mascots. We want to give you the opportunity to be the designer of one or more of these sensational personalities. We want to use your art for our swag bags and in other places around the convention.

We are looking for full or half body portraits of one or more of the six mascot characters. We want artists to submit their artwork by June 6 and we will choose one whose art will be used for our convention. Whether lineart or fully rendered portraits we want to see the best you have to offer.


Announcing Artist Alley!
The staff of SaltCity Steamfest is pleased to announce that we will be holding an artist alley this year! The tables are 6 feet in length and will grace the hallways of our beloved convention around the main events area, and even the vendors room!
If you are interested in becoming an artist alley dealer, don't hesitate! There are ONLY 15 tables available and registration DOES include your registration for the convention! Artist Alley will be open Friday afternoon (starting at 5:00pm) and ending at 9pm Saturday so PLENTY of selling time.
If you would like to register, please visit this link for more information: http://www.saltcitysteamfest.com/index.php/registration1/preregistration

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As previously discussed on this post, I'm making a Clockwork Angel costume.  I finished the wings within two days of designing them, which is an amazingly fast turn around for me, especially since I was working and baby sitting and a bunch of other things during that time.  Anyway, I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out, so I had to share!



It's a terrible picture and I can't figure out why LJ insists on turning all my pictures sideways, but it gives you the rough idea anyway.  I added some pendants and little gold wings and such to the chains around my arms after this picture was taken so it's a bit more ornate than shown, and the wings are longer and go further up my arm than the crappy cell phone camera could capture, but here they are!  They look MUCH better in person, and the big benefit is that they should be pretty easy to spot repair if anything happens to them at the con, which is more than could be said for my initial plan.

Let me know what you think please, I can always use more feedback!

I've been utterly remiss in posting some of my work up here of late. My apologies for that. Anyways, want to see some new steamy leather masks and a few other pieces? Just duck under the cut-tag with me....

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Though the article is on a different subject, I believe that the cane featured at the bottom of the article is most cool and should be looked at by many.

http://offbeatbride.com/2011/06/blind-women-get-married-too

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For auction on eBay here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/320909200184

Previous Gown for Custom Orders: