Skip to main content

The Feast of Fools

How's the summer (or winter for my friends from the southern hemisphere)? I'm clawing my way back into the blogging habit now that my day jobs are over for a while.

Now we're into July, I'm a little late in telling you about 'Southern Steam: Tales from Port Reprieve', which is available from Amazon.


My fellow steampunk authors at the Scribblers' Den and I have gotten together for our third anthology. This one is set around the world of Port Reprieve, the  brainchild of fellow anthology author and the founder of the Scribblers' Den, Jack Tyler, is a fictional port in the southern US.

The content is as follows:
Stars and Bars by Steve Moore
The Stench Street Revs by William J. Jackson
Hoodwinked by N. O. A. Rawle
The Aeronaut by Bryce Raffle
Sea Story by Jack Tyler

Now this was quite a difficult challenge for me as I have never had the good fortune to visit the southern States, so I thought about what I knew best about this area and something that I could tie in with experience I already had, that way I would make my story more believable. Carnival or the Mardi Gras of New Orleans was the straw I found myself clutching.

I have long been a fan of carnival and have participated in many parades from my first in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, to more recently here in Greece more as a spectator. With a little research I managed to tie in Greek traditions with American ones, added a little horror, suspense and a good dollop of Steampunk and, low and behold, 'Hoodwinked' was born!

'Hoodwinked' tells the story of Vera Portmandritou who ventures into the New World after her Aunt Mara's death. Within minutes of stepping onto the quay, she is greeted by a mysterious stranger who offers her a ride. Now I'm sure mama warned you about taking lifts with strangers, so you can imagine that there are a lot of unpleasant surprises in store. One of the best things about carnival is of course the masquerading. Vera takes part in all of this and is introduced to the tableau vivant, a concept that was new to me too and one I should like to see for real one day. (Do click this link if you want to see what inspired the ending to my story, you are in for an amazing show, although it my not be to everyone's liking!)

Once again all proceeds from the sales of this anthology will go to charity - the Red Cross - so not only are you getting a great read, but you are also doing a little bit to help your fellow human beings! What are you waiting for? Click on the links below to purchase your (very reasonably priced) copy today!

Southern Steam in the UK
Southern Steam in the USA

What have I been reading?
The Halloween Party by Agatha Christie

What have I been making?
Southern Red Velvet Cake

What have I been watching?
The Mule

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Anniversary Scribblers' Den! Cover Reveal: The Den of Antiquity

I have had a band of virtual friends for a little more than a year now, and this week marked the second anniversary of that group: The Scribblers' Den in the Steampunk Empire . Today we are holding another 24 hour party spanning the world East to West, starting with sunrise in Australia and ending at sundown in Haiti, why not join us and see what you are inspired to create? Last years party gave birth to the idea of The Denizens of Steam anthology through a flash fiction competition we held during the party. This year we are celebrating two years of joyous companionship and to that end I will be revealing the cover our second anthology The Den of Antiquity! This book is bursting with short stories rather than flash fiction and is sculpted rather than being an instinctive creation. But before I reveal the wonderful cover designed by Bryce Raffle, I thought I'd send my roving reporter, Antigone Nix, out into the Steampunk Empire to track dow a few of the members of the Scrib...
7 comments
Read more

The Den of Antiquity - Be Charitable - Get Your Copy Today!

READ ALL ABOUT IT! ANTHOLOGY TO DONATE ROYALTIES TO DISASTER FUND!  Amazon US Amazon. UK Barnes & Noble Kobo With today's release of The Den Of Antiquity you can not only entertain yourself, but also make a contribution to a worthy cause . The collaborative opinion when we at the Scribblers' Den decided on a new anthology, was that any money made should go to a charity to be decided closer to the date. As one of our Scribblers' Den members actually lives in Haiti and has first hand experience of the destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew, the collective opinion was that the International Red Cross will receive whatever royalties we earn in order to help people who literally have been left with nothing more than the clothes they stand up in. Watch the video below to see what you will be contributing to if you buy the Den of Antiquities today. READ ALL ABOUT IT! THE SECRETS BEHIND THE STORIES IN THE DEN OF ANTIQUITIES! A den is a snug place to curl up ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Where do you get your ideas?

Ask a 1000 writers and you'll get a 1000 answers. It's one of those bug-bear questions. When I get something published (hooray!) I try to tell the story behind the story but it ain't always easy (and sometimes I simply don't want to share!) In this post I thought I'd let you into my thought processes.   This is a gorgeous treasure chest that sits just inside the front door of my godmother's house. I've always loved it as it's got gorgeous colours and seems pretty old - about a century if I were to hazard a guess. Due to the fact that it is a delightful hiding place for palm-sized hairy brown arachnids it has never really been used for more than dumping empty carrier bags. This summer I thought I'd do it up so that we could use it for storing winter blankets. The brass plate at the front has been painted with horrid poo-coloured gloss which I have no idea how to remove but the paper lining, which was all torn, wa...
5 comments
Read more