Steampunk Reading: Etiquette & Espionage & The Steampunk's guide to Sex!

Evening Dazzlers & Dazzler-ettes!

So I managed to sit down and engorge myself on some light reading material. Both books were not huge, but one was Fiction and the other was Non-Fiction, one was for adults, and the other is one you can obsess over with your child.

I'm going to start with the Fiction one, it's a Young Adult novel, but don't be fooled by that. Etiquette & Espionage is By Gail Carriger, who also wrote my favourite novel series "The Parasol Protectorate" which is a very adult series compared to this. The wonderful thing about this series is that it is all set in the same universe as her first series, and if you haven't read The Parasol Protectorate series, you should after this just so you can have a giggle at how those characters show up in this series.

The series is set in the 1850's and Sophronia Temminnick is a 14 year old girl with no interest in being refined, girly or anything lady-like, and her curtsy is atrocious. With her mother desperate for her to be a lady at her older sister's coming out ball, she allows a strange visitor to the home take her to "Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality". What no one realizes is that this is a different type of "Finishing" school, where they are taught to infiltrate society and become the best spies for the greater good of England.

As someone who did go to boarding school, I sorely wished this could have been my boarding school somedays! Gail has brought an amazing group of sidekick characters that compliment the main action and Sophronia's espionage into why the "Picklemen" are coming after the school. Again, the plot works in canon with Gail's first series, and I had some very big "Penny drop" moments after reading this as to some things mentioned in that. I particularly love her best friend Dimity, and her brother who is sent to the boys school, an Evil Genius Prep school.

The world is fleshed out beautifully, and I am really looking forward to the next book coming out in November this year (I have already pre-ordered!) called "Curtsies & Conspiracies". This book is like a small sweet treat, satisfying, indulgent and doesn't feel like a guilty pleasure. It is for children aged 12 and onwards, so if you have younger family members inclined towards science fiction, this is perfect. 

Now! Onto more Adult pursuits in the non-fiction variety: The Steampunk's guide to Sex!

This was produced as part of a kickstarter, and I bought into (I am a big fan of the kickstarter/crowdfunding idea) so I could download a copy of it to read. I was definitely given an amazing education on Victorian smut peddling and smuggling which was definitely eye-opening in such a good way. There was a good mix of modern Steampunk discussion about sex including a guide on how to make your own Steampunk and Steampowered sex toys and an essay by a Steampunk porn star Lady Clankington which I really liked.     

The only things I will say kinda disappointed me was that the vignettes of information could have been longer, I could have read 1000 more pages on each of the subjects readily. I will also echo what another reviewer said and that the essay on Polygamy may have been misplaced in the book and was already information I had been educated on about the topic before and was not necessarily fitting into the main line of the book, but I can see why it was put into the book at the same time.

With that, its time for me to wind down the bunsen burner, and leave you to explore these books. Both of these books are available on Amazon.

DDxxx 

Miss Burlesque WA fortnight: So much Frisky-ness!

Evening Dazzlers and Dazzler-ettes! So the one thing that has been taking up nearly an entire year for me is over! And it has been the most amazing roller coaster ride most definitely!

My test for me was that I had to get through a heat of 7 amazing women performing two of my routines in order to get through to the finals. I had to do my Classic, but I got to choose to do either my neo or my unique. That was a no-brainer, I did my Steampunk showgirl. But first, we all got to look fab in the gown parade!

  

l-r: Vivian Marlowe, Rose Noir, Scarlet O'Harlot, Lulu Liquer, Lottie Last Chance, Me! and Petra Dish.

The three of us on the right, we literally started together in our first beginners Burlesque dance class at Sugar Blue Burlesque together, we're all so grown up and sexy now! *nostalgia hit*

 

And of course, me strutting my stuff:

   

Johnny Domino got to do a farewell act as this years King of Boylesque for WA and then it was on like Donkey Kong in the classics!

Everyone was super sexy during their routines, lots of gowns being flung and lots of fringing being shimmyed! And that was just the first act!

I was really happy with how my classic act went, and it went down a treat with the crowd, which is always good! Here's just one pic before the final reveal:

Brief intermission and in we go to the next round! It really felt like the night flew by backstage!

I finally got to introduce The Steampunk Showgirl in all her glory! The routine went off really well, the tassels twirled perfectly, my costume didn't badly malfunction, but I did have problems with it unfortunately.

Here's a shot of the costume and me dancing it all away!

So unfortunately, as many would be aware now, I didn't get through to the final, but I am so grateful for everything that happened and I would do it all again in a heartbeat! I got so much support from the crowd and people who came up and said "you were awesome!" that really meant more to me than you'd think.

That being said, I won't compete next year, so I can keep on working on ideas, teachers and my dancing and be ready for the following year!

So Scarlet O'Harlot, Lulu Liquer, Petra Dish and Vivien Marlowe got through to the finals! Hooray!

Now onto the review of the finals!

There's no pics yet except of the winners, so I'll put that up at the end!

Everyone's classics I found amazing, so many of them were just glamourous on another level that was beautiful to watch!

Favourites were Ruby Slippers looking in the mirror routine, Lola Cherry Cola's and Agatha Frisky's glamourous striptease,  and Vivian Marlowe's Pearl dance.

Neo took it to a whole 'nother level with everyone having a really strong Neo routine and I enjoyed every single one in some way (but I just love Neo routines so I'm biased!) 

Favourites for me: Petra Dish's Evolution of the burlesque babe, Sugar DuJore's Dishwasher routine (and my act of the night for sure!), Vivian Marlowe's Tiki girl routine and Vivien Veil's Sexy Dinosaur!

Everyone was so good that they had 7 unique routines instead of five! I gotta say, all of them had such a difference from each other and I could have easily watched a show of all of those together again and again and again....you get the idea!

Favourites for me were: Petra Dish's Weird Science (Always been a fave since I first watched it!), Agatha Frisky's Blindfolded Fan dance (seriously, she takes fan dancing to a different place in such a good way), and Sugar DuJores Sexy Walrus!

In the end though, there was only a top three remaining, the best for the year and they were:

3rd: Vivian Marlowe

2nd: Petra Dish

and 1st: Agatha Frisky!!!

Left: Agatha Frisky, our winner this year of Miss Burlesque WA and right, Miss Burlesque Perth, Petra Dish!

Congratulations to all who competed in the  competition this year, I think we all did amazingly, and the West really knows how to show 'em how it's done! And thank you especially to Mel Bruyer for making this happen. She's going to be producing the Miss Burlesque UK competition too, so if you're reading this in the UK and looking at competing in the comp in the UK, or even going to go watch it over there, you are going to be WELL looked after!

Coming up soon: Work on my routine for May, I've read a few Steampunk books recently that I'm going to give you a review for, and I'm going to delve more into my research of Victorian and Edwardian Era dancing.

Keep on Dazzling!

DD xxx