Artist Kevin Weir takes photographs from the collection of the Library of Congress online archive and converts them to animated GIFs. The result is somewhat steampunky, and very eerie. Some of them remind me of Terry Gilliam’s animations from Monty Python’s Flying Circus (which is not necessarily a bad thing…).
The results are thought provoking and definitely worth the time to scroll through them.
I am happy to announce that my debut novel To Rule the Skies is now available.
Set in a Victorian world in which events happened slightly differently, To Rule the Skies is a story of airships and scientists, robber barons and airpirates. I plan this book to be only the first in the Airship Flamel Adventures series.
Professor Nicodemus Boffin, late of the University of Edinburgh and protégé of the great Michael Faraday, serves as the Scientist General of a semi-secret British institute to further scientific knowledge and technological advancement for Queen, Country, and Empire. Boffin and his crew travel the world aboard their advanced airship Flamel on a voyage of discovery. In desperate times, however, Flamel is called upon to perform “extraordinary duties”. Boffin is tasked to search for the cause of the sinking of HMS Bellerophon, the Royal Navy’s flagship which was secretly carrying a huge gold shipment from the Canadian gold fields to London. He must uncover who or what is behind the disaster before tensions between long-time transatlantic enemies, Britain and the United States, bring the two nations over the brink to all-out war.
To Rule the Skies is available at Amazon for the Kindle, iTunes for iBook, and Smashwords in many ebook formats.
Paperback version coming soon!
In anticipation of my upcoming novel To Rule the Skies, I present its Anteprologue, a little teaser which takes place immediately prior to the beginning of the novel, and introduces a few important characters and a bit of the world in which the novel takes place. Enjoy!
Professor Boffin turned from his conversation as Lord Clarendon entered the room. He had expected Clarendon to attend the retirement dinner for the Captain, but he had not expected the person who followed him.
“Elizabeth!” he exclaimed, ignoring his benefactor and father-in-law altogether as he rushed to his wife. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you before you flew off. Father says that Flamel is to depart in the next couple of days.”
Boffin looked quizzically at Clarendon. “Is this true, sir? I’ve heard nothing of new orders.”
“I apologize, Nicodemus. I heard of it just before leaving Newton Hall this afternoon. I’m afraid all the details have not coalesced as yet. I am still waiting to receive the details from the Admiralty. Anyway, when I mentioned it to Elizabeth, she insisted upon accompanying me here to Croydon.”
Although Professor Nicodemus Boffin was the Expedition Commander of Her Majesty’s Research Airship Flamel, it seemed to him sometimes that he was the last to hear when Flamel was ordered on what was termed “extraordinary assignments” for the Government. And Boffin did not like the feeling of his position being ignored and disrespected. His wife saw the irritated look on his face and took him aside.
“Nicodemus, do not worry about what orders you may be receiving.”
“Why? Why am I the last to know? Do they not respect me at all?”
“Let tonight be an enjoyable time. For the captain.”
Boffin’s troubled visage softened. He could not resist his wife’s combination of logic and honest sentiment. He looked at her face, turned up to his with one eyebrow raised hopefully.
“Yes, of course, dear. Tonight is in celebration of the captain. I shall not let what may come tomorrow interfere with the festivities. But I do have some matters that I must discuss with your father before dinner.” Continue reading
Steampunk culture is very closely aligned to the Maker and DIY Movements. Because let’s face it: we’re recreating a past that never existed. We have to make our own artifacts. More importantly, steampunks love to talk about their creations and I’ve found them almost universally very generous in giving advise and help to newcomers trying to make their own steampunk gear.
In that spirit, let me share two of my early steampunk creations which happen to both be eyewear–a tricked out pair of jeweler’s loupes and a pair of goggles. Continue reading
A group of animators is running an Indiegogo campaign to fund a Steampunk-themed animated film.
As their Indiegogo page states, “Hullabaloo is a 2D (hand-drawn) animated steampunk film that hopes to help preserve the dying art of 2D animation; and by supporting this project, you get to help save 2D animation from an untimely demise.” The creator is James Lopez, who has 25 years of experience in animation, including working at Disney and Dreamworks. He has a talented lineup of animators working with him. I am a big fan of animation and 2-D animation is a real art form in itself. I’m happy to have helped them create something that could be awesome.
The heroine of the story is Veronica Daring, a young inventor who returns from boarding school to find her father missing. She must thwart a cabal of villains who are bent on using her father’s technology for evil deeds.
Hullabaloo! has blown past its initial $80,000 goal (they’re at $219,410 as I type this) with 24 days left in their campaign. They have a number of stretch goals lined up including making additional episodes and a full-orchestral sound track.
I’m happy to lend my modest voice to their campaign, and look forward to seeing Hullaballoo! when it’s finished. See a “work in progress” trailer below.
If you are a mechanical sort, and have an hour or two to while away, may I suggest spending it at 507movements.com, a website that contains an enhanced version of the book of the same name by Henry Brown, which was originally published in 1868.
“Multiple gearing”—a recent invention. The smaller triangular wheel drives the larger one by the movement of its attached friction-rollers in the radial grooves.
The website features the 21st edition of this long-popular technical book which was published in 1908. (The satisfyingly wordy and descriptive frontispiece of which is roughly reproduced below: Continue reading
Note: From time to time, I will be posting selections from my upcoming books, or entries from various fictional sources on background information on the world of my book series. (Are these blogs canon? Sure. For now, at least.) I’ll denote them by using the Fiction tag and coloring the text blue.
The entry in the Encyclopædia Caledonica (1876 Abridged Edition for the British Public) for the “Air War” is as follows:
At the outset of the year 1863, the circumstances of the various German States and Principalities were such that the Kingdom of Prussia was the most powerful, but not of sufficient influence to induce a union of the states. Wilhelm, the King of Prussia, however, sought a way to unite the Germanic states into a single empire with himself as Emperor. While a decisive military victory over a convenient foe might bring the other states under their leadership, the Prussian military, while powerful, did not possess sufficient men and materiel to provide a quick military triumph. Continue reading
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