Welcome Back to the Show!
After a hiatus that lasted much too long Dr. Fantastique's Show of Wonders has returned! The mystical madness of time and space collects in this glorious side show of the wondrous for your reading pleasure! Every two months we will dazzle you with news and tidbits of fantastic fandoms. Although we are primarily interested in the world of Steampunk we will diverge regularly across the time streams to study all the wondrous worlds of geek culture! So sit back and enjoy the show!
From our Publisher
It is a great pleasure to reintroduce one of the great voices of Steampunk and general fandom; Dr. Fantastique's Show of Wonders. I had a great affection for the original Dr. Fantastique's as it was one of my favorite place on the net to check in on all things geeky, especially Steampunk. One of my favorite features of Dr. Fantastique's was that it was community driven. Writers were drawn from the rank and file of fandom, article topics were presented from the view point of the geek on the street, and it possessed a special brand of fantastic weirdness that only be achieved when a publication is in step with the Steampunk community. Above all Dr. Fantastique's shared it's reader's excitement and never spoke down to the audience.
These special aspects of the original are at the forefront of what we wish to accomplish with this reboot of Dr. Fantastique's Show of Wonders. A fun and informative internet based news outlet for the Steampunk community and beyond. We're going to bring a new batch of articles every two months with a mind to sharing the excitement of discovering the new and celebrated of Steampunk and more. We're going speak plainly on matters of consequence and joyfully about matters of excitement. Overall we will encourage the feeling of wonder, because that is what creativity and imagination is; a Wonder.
We hope you'll enjoy our offerings and we're honored you've made Dr. Fantastique's part of your fandom experience.
Jim Trent, Publisher
These special aspects of the original are at the forefront of what we wish to accomplish with this reboot of Dr. Fantastique's Show of Wonders. A fun and informative internet based news outlet for the Steampunk community and beyond. We're going to bring a new batch of articles every two months with a mind to sharing the excitement of discovering the new and celebrated of Steampunk and more. We're going speak plainly on matters of consequence and joyfully about matters of excitement. Overall we will encourage the feeling of wonder, because that is what creativity and imagination is; a Wonder.
We hope you'll enjoy our offerings and we're honored you've made Dr. Fantastique's part of your fandom experience.
Jim Trent, Publisher
From our Editor in Chief
Welcome to the Show of Wonders! After a too long hiatus, Doctor Fantastique returns with more tales and stories, pictures and reportings of this crazy world of ours where imagination and creativity rule all. And, once again, we strive to bring as much of it directly to you, Gentle Readers, as we can, whether with the polish and presentation fit for kings and queens, or the unvarnished no-nonsense reality of striking straight to the heart of the matter. We seek to inform and amaze, we wish to astound and entertain, we seek to delight and wonder, and we’re bringing all of you along for the ride.
In this life the one thing you can count on is change. The moment things stop changing, stop evolving, they begin to come to rest, to die. Just look at all of the changes in our fandoms and interests since their inception. Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, even My Little Pony; the list is almost endless of ideas, followings, franchises that over the course of their life (whether we liked the changes or not) as you look back at original ideas, have transformed completely from what they were then to what they are now, until we can barely see the connection anymore in some cases. This is especially true of Steampunk. Just look at how far we’ve come in just the last handful of years. Such is the case for the Show of Wonders. It is my hope that those things that made the original great will remain unchanged, its dedication to integrity, to accuracy, to inclusion, to the honest expression of art and opinion, even as the ways and means of conveying these ideals may change subtly in the manner in which they are expressed.
Along the way opinions will be expressed, critiques will be made, and I don’t expect everybody will agree with them. I don’t expect that I will always agree with them. I am, however, committed to the ideals of Free Speech and Free Press, and so, I commit to you right now, on day one, this endeavor will never be an echo chamber of my own point of view parroted back at me, no matter who we bring aboard to contribute, permanently or temporarily. I will always expect opinion to be backed up by fact, reasoning, or analysis, and to be honestly held as well as given. The Show of Wonders doesn’t exist to covertly advertise people or products, such things will be clearly and plainly labeled as such, should they ever appear.
I have been known by many names and I have been many things as I’ve made the repetitious journey round and round that star in our daytime sky, but most of you know me as Syfer Locke, the Captain of the Dread Airship Banish Misfortune. And now, I take on a new role, as the Editor in Chief of Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders. I’m deeply honored and in no small part unnerved to take up that mantle. The founder of the original Show of Wonders will forever be a close friend, someone I admire, respect, and whose good opinion holds a great deal of value to me. These are some really, really big shoes to fill. Our publisher, Jim Trent, likewise has earned that same level of respect, and it’s no small thing to be worried about letting either of them down.
An endeavor this large is rarely the fruit of one man’s labors, and we have gathered some great talent already, but there is always room for more, especially on a temporary or provisional basis. Have a great idea, story, photo, painting, costume, or prop? Something amazing you think your fellow fans would find interesting and exciting, both inside and outside of the Steampunk genre? Drop us a line and let us know about it! If we like it as much as you do, we can talk about including it in the next installment of the Show of Wonders.
And with that, Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, come right this way. Come one, come all! Don’t be shy! Step inside, step inside. Prepare to be amazed and delighted, fascinated and awestruck, because the Show of Wonders is about to begin!
Kent Gooch, Editor in Chief
In this life the one thing you can count on is change. The moment things stop changing, stop evolving, they begin to come to rest, to die. Just look at all of the changes in our fandoms and interests since their inception. Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, even My Little Pony; the list is almost endless of ideas, followings, franchises that over the course of their life (whether we liked the changes or not) as you look back at original ideas, have transformed completely from what they were then to what they are now, until we can barely see the connection anymore in some cases. This is especially true of Steampunk. Just look at how far we’ve come in just the last handful of years. Such is the case for the Show of Wonders. It is my hope that those things that made the original great will remain unchanged, its dedication to integrity, to accuracy, to inclusion, to the honest expression of art and opinion, even as the ways and means of conveying these ideals may change subtly in the manner in which they are expressed.
Along the way opinions will be expressed, critiques will be made, and I don’t expect everybody will agree with them. I don’t expect that I will always agree with them. I am, however, committed to the ideals of Free Speech and Free Press, and so, I commit to you right now, on day one, this endeavor will never be an echo chamber of my own point of view parroted back at me, no matter who we bring aboard to contribute, permanently or temporarily. I will always expect opinion to be backed up by fact, reasoning, or analysis, and to be honestly held as well as given. The Show of Wonders doesn’t exist to covertly advertise people or products, such things will be clearly and plainly labeled as such, should they ever appear.
I have been known by many names and I have been many things as I’ve made the repetitious journey round and round that star in our daytime sky, but most of you know me as Syfer Locke, the Captain of the Dread Airship Banish Misfortune. And now, I take on a new role, as the Editor in Chief of Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders. I’m deeply honored and in no small part unnerved to take up that mantle. The founder of the original Show of Wonders will forever be a close friend, someone I admire, respect, and whose good opinion holds a great deal of value to me. These are some really, really big shoes to fill. Our publisher, Jim Trent, likewise has earned that same level of respect, and it’s no small thing to be worried about letting either of them down.
An endeavor this large is rarely the fruit of one man’s labors, and we have gathered some great talent already, but there is always room for more, especially on a temporary or provisional basis. Have a great idea, story, photo, painting, costume, or prop? Something amazing you think your fellow fans would find interesting and exciting, both inside and outside of the Steampunk genre? Drop us a line and let us know about it! If we like it as much as you do, we can talk about including it in the next installment of the Show of Wonders.
And with that, Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, come right this way. Come one, come all! Don’t be shy! Step inside, step inside. Prepare to be amazed and delighted, fascinated and awestruck, because the Show of Wonders is about to begin!
Kent Gooch, Editor in Chief
The Next
Generation of Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders …
In 2013, I closed the doors of Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders, a little internet magazine that had—somehow—grown a substantial following in the steampunk community and turned me into a minor person of interest in same. (I refuse to call myself either a celebrity or an expert, since there’s people who are much more deserving of both those designations.)
I more or less removed myself from the Steampunk community around the same time because of a lack of time, and considered the Show of Wonders an experiment that would live in my past until I decided to try doing something with it again. So you can imagine my surprise when several months ago, Syfer Locke reach out to me and said that he was working with Jim Trent of Mad Raven Productions on a plan to relaunch Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders.
To be clear, I always loved the work we did at DF’s as it came to be known to the crack team of writers … but it became a bag of mixed value in its waning months. Jim sent me a very nice email, however, explaining that lots of people still think of the magazine with fondness and want to see it alive and kicking again. So after that discussion with Jim—and Syfer knowing where to tug on my heartstrings when it comes to the Show of Wonders—it’s with great pleasure that I give my blessing to Mad Raven Productions to “carry the torch” as it were.
This may be the only thing you see from me in this new incarnation of the Show of Wonders, but know that I’m ecstatic the magazine can come to life again. Jim and the rest of the Mad Raven team are deeply immersed in the steampunk community (Jim’s wife was a DF’s writer once upon a time, in fact), probably more than I ever was, and Syfer is one of the best-acquainted people with the Show of Wonders ethos that’s currently still involved in the lifestyle. I’ll be eager to see the articles that the new team develops, and I’m sure you are to.
I am, as always, yours in Steampunk …
Matt Delman, Dr. Fantastique's Creator
I more or less removed myself from the Steampunk community around the same time because of a lack of time, and considered the Show of Wonders an experiment that would live in my past until I decided to try doing something with it again. So you can imagine my surprise when several months ago, Syfer Locke reach out to me and said that he was working with Jim Trent of Mad Raven Productions on a plan to relaunch Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonders.
To be clear, I always loved the work we did at DF’s as it came to be known to the crack team of writers … but it became a bag of mixed value in its waning months. Jim sent me a very nice email, however, explaining that lots of people still think of the magazine with fondness and want to see it alive and kicking again. So after that discussion with Jim—and Syfer knowing where to tug on my heartstrings when it comes to the Show of Wonders—it’s with great pleasure that I give my blessing to Mad Raven Productions to “carry the torch” as it were.
This may be the only thing you see from me in this new incarnation of the Show of Wonders, but know that I’m ecstatic the magazine can come to life again. Jim and the rest of the Mad Raven team are deeply immersed in the steampunk community (Jim’s wife was a DF’s writer once upon a time, in fact), probably more than I ever was, and Syfer is one of the best-acquainted people with the Show of Wonders ethos that’s currently still involved in the lifestyle. I’ll be eager to see the articles that the new team develops, and I’m sure you are to.
I am, as always, yours in Steampunk …
Matt Delman, Dr. Fantastique's Creator
Dr. Fantastique's Show of Wonders is a publication of Mad Raven Productions
