Terry N. Sofian, 48, extols riding in a zeppelin, the Victorian beauty of Compton Heights' water tower and his own science fiction gaming book, "Stars of Empire," at hivequeenandcountry.com. Believe it or not, it somehow comes together as the St. Peters resident chats by phone about Archon 35, St. Louis' sci-fi convention that runs Friday-Oct. 2 at the Doubletree Hotel, 1000 Eastport Plaza Drive, Collinsville (archonstl.org/35).

"Stars of Empire" (Black Pigeon Press; $24.99) is classified as 'steampunk," which sets a space-travel story in the Victorian era. Why set science fiction then? • One reason is that's where science fiction started (H.G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne). Another reason is that during the Victorian era, so many things were happening. And so many things almost happened — like the development of the computer.

How is the book also a game? • It's a role-playing game. The readers will do interactive theater. "Dungeons and Dragons" was the first of this type.

Is steampunk growing? • Definitely. It's now entered the Oxford English Dictionary. If you search etsy.com or eBay, you now get thousands of hits.