Steamcon was one of the largest

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era ...

conventions Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law * Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in ...

symposia ''Symposia'' is a genus of South American araneomorph spiders in the family Cybaeidae, and was first described by Eugène Simon in 1898. Species it contains six species in Venezuela and Colombia: *''Symposia bifurca'' Roth, 1967 – Venezuela ...

in the United States. Located in the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

area of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state, Steamcon held its first symposium in 2009. Steamcon grew out of the desire of its founders to host a

event in greater Seattle. The idea to start the event was hatched at the local science fiction convention

Norwescon Norwescon is one of the largest regional science fiction and fantasy conventions in the United States. Located in SeaTac in Washington state, Norwescon has been running continuously since 1978. "Norwescon" was also the name of the 8th World Sc ...

in 2008 when multiple people expressed an interest to hold an event devoted exclusively to steampunk. Although the idea for a Seattle area Steampunk convention referred to as SteamCon was first used as the basis for a panel at Anglicon 6 in Seattle in May 1993.

Past symposia

2009

The first Steamcon was held October 23–25, 2009 at the Seattle Airport

Marriott Marriott may refer to: People *Marriott (surname) Corporations * Marriott Corporation, founded as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in 1927; split into Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation in 1993 * Marriott International, international hotel ...

in Seatac, Washington. The convention in its first year had 1,350 people attend, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, steampunk devoted conventions in North America. Guests of Honor * Author Guest of Honor:

Tim Powers Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Powers has won the World Fantasy Award twice for his critically acclaimed novels ''Last Call'' and ''Declare''. His 1987 novel ''On Stranger Tides ...

* Artist Guest of Honor: Paul Guinan * Musical Guests of Honor:

Abney Park Abney Park is in Stoke Newington, London, England. It is a park dating from just before 1700, named after Lady Abney, the wife of Sir Thomas Abney, Lord Mayor of London in 1700 and one of the first directors of the Bank of England and associa ...

2010

The second annual Steamcon was held November 19–21, 2010. The host venues were the Hilton Seattle Airport Hotel and the Seattle Airport Marriott. The theme was "Weird Weird West." Approximately 1,950 guests were in attendance. Guests of Honor * Author Guest of Honor:

James Blaylock James Paul Blaylock (born September 20, 1950) is an American fantasy author. He is noted for a distinctive, humorous style, as well as being one of the pioneers of the steampunk genre of science fiction. Blaylock has cited Jules Verne, H. G. We ...

* Artist Guest of Honor: Jake Von Slatt * Games Guest of Honor:

Shane Hensley Shane Lacy Hensley is an author, game designer, and CEO of Pinnacle Entertainment Group and is a resident of Gilbert, Arizona. Career Shane Lacy Hensley was from Clintwood, Virginia, and began playing '' Dungeons & Dragons'' after he discovered ...

2011

The third annual Steamcon was held October 14–16, 2011. The host venue was the Bellevue Hyatt Regency Bellevue. The theme was "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". About 2,250 guests were in attendance. Guests of Honor * Author Guest of Honor:

K.W. Jeter Kevin Wayne Jeter (born March 26, 1950) is an American science fiction and horror author known for his literary writing style, dark themes, and paranoid, unsympathetic characters. He has written novels set in the ''Star Trek'' and ''Star Wars' ...

* Artist Guest of Honor:

Gary Gianni Gary Gianni (born 1954) is an American comics artist best known for his eight years illustrating the syndicated newspaper comic ''Prince Valiant''. After Gianni graduated from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1976, he worked for the ''Chic ...

* Musical Guests of Honor: Vagabond Opera

2012

The fourth annual Steamcon was held October 26–28, 2012. The host venue was the Bellevue Hyatt Regency. The theme was "Victorian Monsters". Guests of Honor * Author Guest of Honor:

Kim Newman Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's '' Dracula'' ...

(unable to attend) * Artist Guest of Honor:

Joe Benitez Joe Benitez (born May 21, 1971) is an American comic book artist. He is co-creator and penciller of '' Weapon Zero'', published by Top Cow Productions. Other titles he has worked on include ''The Darkness'', '' The Magdalena'', as well as work ...

* Musical Guests of Honor: Rasputina * Monster Hunters of Honor: The League of S.T.E.A.M.

2013

The fifth annual Steamcon was held from October 25–27, 2013. The theme was "Around the World". The venue was the Bellevue Hyatt Regency. Guests of Honor * Artist Guest of Honor:

Brian Kesinger Brian Kesinger (born June 20, 1975 in Los Angeles, California) is an American illustrator, author and animator who has worked at Walt Disney Studios for 20+ years. His works are steeped in Victorian steampunk art. Born into a family of musician ...

* Writer Guest of Honor:

S. M. Stirling Stephen Michael Stirling (born September 30, 1953) is a Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author who was born in France. Stirling is well known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and his later time travel/alternate his ...

* Musical Guest of Honor:

Professor Elemental Paul Alborough (born 1 June 1975), professionally known as Professor Elemental, is a steampunk and chap hop musical artist. Career Professor Elemental began his career as Emcee Elemental. The character of Professor Elemental arose from a plann ...

Cancelled symposium

2014

On March 9, 2014, a post on the Steamcon official Facebook page revealed that Steamcon VI would be cancelled due to a debt of at least $41,500 to Bellevue Hyatt Regency and other organizations. The 6th annual Steamcon was to be held on October 3–5, 2014. The theme was to be "Mechanical World". The venue would have been the Bellevue Hyatt Regency.

Notes

References

"Steam-Con Announcement(2009)"
(Conventions Fans)
"Gogglicious: A Steamcon Report(2009)"
(Tor.com)

(The WriteRunner)

(Steamcon Scholar)

(The Compass Points to M)

(9 Degrees of Yarn & Me)
"Seattle Steamcon(2009)"
(Shoe Blog)

(The Heliograph)
"A Gaming Point of View"
(Review of the Games Rooms at Steamcon II)

External links

Steamcon official website
* *
''Steamcon Pinterest''
{{Washington State Fandom Conventions Seattle Area conventions Recurring events established in 2009 Recurring events disestablished in 2014 Culture of Seattle Steampunk conventions Defunct science fiction conventions in the United States