What Kinds of Dieselpunk Novels Actually Exist Now?

The idea of Dieselpunk very much interests me.  But in point of fact, I have not yet read any dieselpunk novels.  I have instead been doing a little net surfing to see if any might catch my fancy, and so far I am not optimistic.

I know better than to pass judgement on books I have not read.  But since life is short and books are long as the saying goes (and writing my own work takes considerable time because I am not a fast writer) I like to scout things out sometimes just to see if they are likely reads for me.

So far (enlighten me please, if you know better) what I have found discussed on the net in terms of dieselpunk fiction seems to belong to one of the following categories:

-- The What if Hitler had won WWII category
-- The SS/Hitler/Wehrmacht etc. meets Dracula (or some kind of occult force) category
-- The young adult fiction about kids in planes category

Again, I don't want to disparage any of these books.  But the above topics just don't interest me.  Does Dieselpunk go in any other directions?

PRAGMATISM

Pragmatic is
the cynic's word
for practical

Not: how to get from
A to B, but
how to tell yourself
B is impossible

Not:
short term pain
for long term gain
but
short term pain
again and again

Cynic -- you
are bored and tired
You
are boring and tiring

Get
the flying hell
out of our way

SOCIALISM WITH A HUMAN FACE

"Socialism with a human face"?  Of course socialism, if it is genuine, will have a human face.  And its humanity will be much more than skin deep.  But what does this phrase imply?  I think it implies that we can take for granted that capitalism already has a human face.  But capitalism has, in fact, only a human mask.  Capitalism has probably been the most successful of all ideologies in making human masks.

HOWARD ZINN

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.  It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

"What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives.  If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.  If we remember those times and places -- and there are so many -- where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

"And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.  The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

HOWARD ZINN

THE BULLY

screams bloody murder when you take his club from him.  But that is less because he fears you will turn it against him, as because simply to LOSE his club is to be beaten by it, as far as he is concerned.  In his imagination his club is himself, so he thinks you have taken his very soul.  Perhaps this sort of delusion helps to explain why "the worst are filled with passionate insensity," as Yeats put it.

YES, I KNOW

I have not posted much here lately.  Right now, I am a bit too busy loafing, trying to accumulate the creative energy and impulses needed for the final push on ANGELS OF THE REVOLUTION.   I have even reduced my twittering a lot in the past few days.  I love Twitter, but experience a lot of rage from the news I get there.  Some writers are inspired by rage.  But I think that I, for one, am hampered by it.  At least, there is a certain kind of disempowering rage that cripples all activity.  On the other hand, there is a more "prophetic" type of rage, one where you feel connected to a divine power that shall ultimately prevail, though you do not know how.

A.J. MUSTE ON VIOLENCE

"Nor can anyone really with good conscience advocate abstention from violence to the masses of labor in revolt, unless he is himself identified in spirit with labor and helping it with all his might to achieve its rights and to realize its ideals.  In a world built on violence, one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist; in such a world a non-revolutionary pacifist is a contradiction in terms, a monstrosity." A.J. Muste ("Pacifism and Class War" 1928)

CAPITALIST INSANITY

"If a man has an apartment stacked to the ceiling with newspapers we call him crazy. If a woman has a trailer house full of cats we call her nuts. But when people pathologically hoard so much cash that they impoverish the entire nation, we put them on the cover of Fortune magazine and pretend that they are role models." - B. Lester

SHOES AND FEET

It is sometimes said that the man who has no shoes feels sorry for himself until he meets the man with no feet.

True enough.

But I have noticed that those most fond of this saying usually have a whole closet full of shoes and would love nothing more than to silence the shoeless.

FEAR AND JUDGEMENT

There are people for whom danger is simply danger and provokes fear.  But there are those for whom beneath the fear of danger is fear of the authority of judgement.  And these people live in fear and joyless paralysis.

TOP 10 REASONS WHY SPIDERMAN IS MY FAVOURITE SUPERHERO

1.     Unlike Batman (a.k.a. millionaire Bruce Wayne) Peter Parker is not a member of the 1%.  Seriously: somebody from the 1% is going to save us all?  I don't think so.

2.     Spiderman has at least one shameful secret: his irresponsible behaviour allowed the death of his gentle Uncle Ben and the tragic widowing of Aunt May.  Spiderman fucked up, just like the rest of us.

3.     Spiderman acquired his superpowers by being bitten by a radioactive spider.  Hell, that could happen to anyone -- leaving hope for the rest of us . . .

4.     Spiderman's mask has no mouth.  Just two huge eyes.  How cool is that?

5.     Look:  Superman is from Krypton.  Not that I have anything against immigrants, but they do tend to come here and take the best jobs . . .

6.     Peter Parker is even more neurotic than I am.  How can I not be sympathetic? 

7.     Think about Batman again:  a Bat cave, a Bat computer, a Batmobile, a Bat nuclear reactor, an oh-so-jejune sidekick and an old-style English butler.  A bit much, don't you think?  These things cost money, and a lot of it is very hard on the environment.  Spiderman goes it ALONE in a bargain basement lab where he CLEANS UP AFTER HIMSELF.

8.     Spiders.  How cool is that?  But Green Lantern?  What is that supposed to connote?  Environmentally sound lighting systems?  Very nice.  The bad guys are shaking.

9.     Swinging from a thread takes grace and style.  Flying is just a creative cop-out.  Really.  I mean, after that there's nowhere to go but to "invincible" status like Captain Scarlet.

10.    Considerate Spiderman lives with his aunt and keeps a protective eye on the old lady, even though she is a perpetual guilt trip and drama-queen pain in the ass.  On the other hand, Superman spends his spare time in his lah-di-dah "Fortress of Solitude," brooding on his tiresome existential angst, no doubt.

IN CASE YOU ARE CURIOUS ABOUT MY TWITTER ICON

It's a painting called "The Pillars of Society," by George Grosz, a major artist of Germany's Weimar Republic

AND SPEAKING OF WHAT SOCIALISM REALLY IS

Here is a link to a brief Youtube of Noam Chomsky explaining how the word "socialism" has been screwed up, and what it actually means.

I really can't stress how important it is to get the word out.  In the West, particularly North America, we are born and raised in a climate which tells us that if we abandon capitalism we can only go to what the bourgeoisie call "socialism," and that this "socialism" has something to do with the old Soviet Union.

One of capitalism's major lines of defense is to bugger up even the words that would help us to think of an alternative.

YES, I KNOW, THERE'S NOT MUCH HERE YET . . .

but this blog is new.  I'm just getting it up to speed and trying to figure out how to use Twitter.  Stay tuned . . .