Raygun #1

Name: ?

Date: Purchased in 2009, don't know when it was made

Country: Probably made in China, but the only markings I can find on it say "1010 LAN WEI," and I've mislaid the packaging

Where Purchased: Dollar store in Scotia Square (which now seems to be gone), Halifax, NS

Cost: $1 + tax

Notes: Made of dark coloured plastic with an oil-slick iridescent finish. There's an LED inside, but it doesn't light up (probably dead battery or broken connection--I'm going to open it up and see if I can figure it out). The shape reminds me a bit of a Star Wars blaster.

A Definition and a Mission Statement

Raygun Gothic, Defined

Googie/Populuxe/Streamline Moderne/Art Deco architecture (and, in general, style) in retro-futuristic science fiction. "A tomorrow that never was," says Lance Olsen. This is the style of the Atomic Age (atompunk, if you must) and the term was coined by the fantastic William Gibson (through one of his characters) in his story "The Gernsback Continuum." Another character in the same story used the term "American Streamlined Modern."

Raygun Gothic, Mission Statement

I first thought of starting this blog as a way to catalogue my raygun collection, in the hopes that other people might find it useful, or at least think the pictures are cool. And I will do that here. But I also want to showcase some of the very cool raygun art people are making and selling (much of which I, sadly, can't afford to add to my collection). And I'll review the odd book.

But in addition, partly spurred by a blog post by writer Philip Reeve (go read his Hungry City/Mortal Engines books, and find him on Twitter as philipreevebks), I want to write about the whole Raygun Gothic style (do I need to keep capitalizing that, I wonder? It could get tiresome), not just as it appears in science fiction, but also as it manifested in real life. The architecture, the crazy 1930s stunt aircraft, the streamlined locomotives of the 30s, 40s and 50s, and so on, and so on.

What Reeve said was (in small part):

The idea for all this first occurred to me some years ago: I was still writing the Larklight books then, and I spent a pleasant afternoon plotting out a sort of Larklight:The Next Generation, which would swap all the Victorian motifs for Dan Dare ones. Having done so, however, I didn't want to spend six months actually writing the thing, so I'm passing the notion on to anyone who's interested. Strap on your jet-pack and rocket boots and set a course for the Lunar Academy: you could become the JK Rowling of the Jet Age!

I'm not quite ready to tackle another novel yet (I still have a couple to finish before I start something new), but I think I can do this blog.

If you make art that fits the style--especially if you make rayguns--send me an email (or if you can't find my address, leave a comment). I'd love to feature you.