Maeve Alpin's Blog, page 3

STEAMPUNK AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

chocolate everythingSteampunk and Chocolate go together like tea and scones. After all modern chocolate was created in the Victorian era and steam power made the first mass production of chocolate possible. Not to mention when I think of chocolate factories, I think of Willie Wonka, which has a steampunk vibe.
I set up a Steampunk event to tour the Keggs Chocolate factory here in Houston Texas. It’s not quite Wille Wonka’s but it’s a lot of fun and full of freshly made chocolate treats. Yum yum! Chocolate was first molded into solid form in 1847 by Francis Fry, who added melted cacao butter back into Dutch cocoa then added sugar, creating a moldable paste. He called it “eating chocolate” Two years later the Cadbury brothers were also selling “eating chocolate”. And in 1861 Richard Cadbury created the first heart-shaped candy box for Valentine’s Day. If you like milk chocolate like I do, you can thank Daniel Peter, who invented it in 1875  by using condensed milk his neighbor Henri Nestle developed. Then Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle formed the Nestlé Company.
In 1879 Rodolphe Lindt invented the conching machine to heat and roll chocolate to a smooth and creamy consistency so it melts on the tongue. In 1895 Milton S. Hershey sold his first Hershey Bar in Pennsylvania. He made it using modern, mass-production equipment he purchased at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893.
so hard to decide - it all looks goodSo we can think the Victorian era for chocolate. After the scrumptious chocolate factory tour, we had lunch at Your Cup Of Tea, an English style Tea House.

Steampowered Amusments and Diversions

At Apollo Con I attended the Amusements and Diversions in the Age of Steam - Magic Lantern show - by fantasy artist, Theresa Mather.
She showed us a photographic history of Victorian entertainment and oddities A popular fair attraction In the mid 19th century was the platform carousel with a circular floor rotating around a pole in it's center and operated manually or by ponies. The carousel went steamed in 1861. Thomas Bradshaw created the first steam-powered mechanical carousel, (I call them Merry-Go-Rounds). That carousel and others of it's day spun much faster than modern ones. It's a wonder people were able to hold onto the horses during the ride. it was a thrill ride of it's day. A high-point of early fairground art was the elaborate decorations created by Italian designers and craftsmen imported at the showmen's expense and they even included lavish center organs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UntpIfwzmBc
The first Steampowered carousel inspired Frederick Savage to try his hand at making similar machines using the expertise at his agricultural engineering works at Kings Lynn.Savage’s first steam powered ride was a bycle carousel, the Velocipede. Savage also competed with several manufacturers to try to make carousel horses gallop and created their first platform galloper in 1885. The same year Messrs Reynolds and King designed the overhead crank system. By the end of the 19th century crank-action gallopers were a popular ride. The steam engine connected to a spinning top that in turn linked to the platform.One  variant used galloping cockerels rather than horses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWY-9JyqFLk
In 1880 the partnership of Frederick Savage and William Sanger gave birth to another novelty ride, Sea on Land. Replicas of seafaring vessels were pitched and tossed by mechanisms beneath their hulls. Then a patent taken in 1888 introduced the Steam Yachts the ultimate mechanized swing ride. William Cartwright of Bromwich first succeeded in building a set using upright cylinders. The Steam Yacht rides used huge boats able to carry 20 or more people at a time.They even named the ships after giant ocean-going liners like the Lusitania, Mauritania. Cymric, and Celtic, although Olympia and Titanic proved short lived names..These rides were gorgeous in full swing as the boats had lavishly painted bottoms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU53cHihUPc
Savage also created the Razzle Dazzle ride, with seats and an outter wall it tilted side to side as it spun around. By 1885 Savage made the ride Tunnel Railways, a locomotive pulled carriages on a circular track with a tunnel. Frederick Savage enjoyed prominence as the pioneer of the steam roundabout but several engineering firms  along with some amateurs. Robert Tidman of Norwich, Thomas Walker of Tewkesbury and William Howcroft, of Hartlepool, all emerged as competitive manufacturers of steam powered rides by the 1880s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH7ON4JiD-I
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Why Do We Love Sherlock Holmes?

We love Sherlock. We dress out dogs like Sherlock. All of our dogs love Sherlock.
Why do we love Sherlock...he's a rather anti-social unpleasant man? That big mystery - Why is Sherlock Holmes Still So Popular?  - was the name and subject of a panel, headed by author Tony Lee, at Comicpalooza.
The first clue is Sherlock's character flaws. Yes, Sherlock has his imperfections. After all, he is quite antisocial and arrogant, not to mention he's a drug addict. But we forgive him for all that because of his brilliance. In fact perhaps because of his faults we appreciate his genius of deduction and crime solving even more. Flawed characters are fun to write and read, especially when they are so arrogant they have no idea they are imperfect.  Maybe that's why we love him, we wished we didn't realize our imperfections. Or maybe because despite all his weirdness, he's so good. When we try to figure out a mystery before he does, we can't. We love his mind even more because of his character flaws.
Another clue to the mystery of Sherlock's continual popularity is that he fits into any timeline. Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes in 1887, a contemporary character of the time, the Victorian era, the 19th century. Many of our parents or grandparents grew up with Basil Rathbone as their idea of Sherlock Holmes from the 1939 film, The Hound of the Baskervilles and thirteen other movies in which he played the famed detective. Those films had a contemporary setting of the time, the WWII era of the 20th century and Sherlock fit right in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UcR9iKArd0
Then from the 19th century to the 20th century Sherlock moved into the 21st century with the television shows and actors: Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Elementary with Jonny Lee Miller. Another contemporary television version of Sherlock is House with Hugh Laurie, which is a medical version of Sherlock Holmes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YvuZ4Msh50
Of course there is also the outstanding Steampunk adaption of Sherlock in the Robert Downey Jr. films:  Sherlock Holmes,  the second film, The Game Of Shadows and Sherlock Holmes three is apparently in development.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7nJksXDBWc
Sherlock continues to evolve with us. And everyone has their own favorite Sherlock Holmes like everyone has their on favorite Dr. Who.
Sherlock Holmes will probably be around a hundred years from now playing in some form of interactive hologram entertainment. People might read, watch or listen to Sherlock Holmes stories in a spaceship or in a domed community on Mars or the Moon.  I wouldn't doubt it. And they'll be trying to answer the question, Why is Sherlock Holmes Still So Popular?
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From Lunch Wagons to Food Trucks

I recently worked a temp job where my co-workers sent a group email once a week when the food trucks came to the area. Everyone was always so excited about lunch on those days. It was the one time they all went to lunch together. In a large group they’d walk over to where the food trucks parked to try out the different ones. Some of the most popular food trucks in Houston, where I live are Yummy'z Kitchen serving American classics, the waffle bus with their gourmet waffle sandwiches, and FoodGasm offering everything from burgers and lobster rolls to wings and waffles and deep-fried Oreos. I love the food trucks that come to the Houston Highland Games each year where I get cultural delicacies such as haggis, bangers and mash, and scotch eggs and Irn - Bru to wash it all down. I haven’t got my granddaughter to try haggis yet but I did get her to each a scotch egg. She loved it. And everyone loves food trucks. Here are some great photos of actual Steampunk food trucks. It might surprise you to know food trucks aren’t new. And, yes, they go back to Victorian times. They were called lunch wagons then.
In 1887, Walter Scott, a Rhode Island pressman at the Providence Journal, made extra money selling homemade sandwiches and coffee he carried in baskets to co-workers. This little side business did so well Scott upgraded to a horse-drawn wagon with walk up windows on each side. There, he served fresh sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, sweet pies, and steaming coffee. Scott’s customers, these late night regulars and shift workers, were the rough and rowdy kind. He often had to hold their hats as collateral until they paid for their sandwiches.  Sometimes he even had to collect  payment with a club. It seems selling sandwiches in the Victorian age wasn't for the faint of heart.  Still, his business boomed. Soon copy cat lunch wagons popped up giving him some local competition.
A Massachusetts wagon owner,  T.H. Buckley, discovered building lunch cars was more profitable than operating them. Commercial production of lunch wagons began.  The leading advantage of Buckley's design, No. 22,743, Patented Aug. 22, 1893, was a series of windows extending  around the wagon and a door on either side of the wagon. The row of windows in the upper portion of the wagon body added a light and airy appearance. Buckley's wagons also had large wheels to maneuver over the cobblestones, overhangs to keep patrons out of the rain, decorative murals, frosted glass and shiny fixtures, as well as ice boxes and cook-stoves.
The united States post Office honored these early lunch wagons with a 29 cent Lunch Wagon stamp issued on April, 12, 1991.
Food Time Line is a great source for 19th century foodways for Steampunk stories – authentic saloon menus are even listed and a recipe for a pioneer birthday cake as well as Queen Victoria’s favorite foods. Also click here for some great Lunch Wagon images.
If you enjoy eating at food trucks keep that in mind when writing stories set in the 19th century. Have your characters stop by a food wagon or create a character who owns a food wagon.
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Mad About Mummies

I just recently saw this great French comedy adventure film set in the Edwardian era, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. It’s on Netflix and certainly has Steampunk elements. Here’s the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sO3FJrETFk
Just as we in the 21st century are mad about zombies, those in the 19th century were mad about mummies. Some people, like me, are still mad about mummies.
Here’s a trailer for another modern day mummy movie set in the Edwardian era that I’m sure you’re familiar with. The Mummy. Here’s the favorite scene in that movie for most writers, readers, and librarians.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAmJm0zkpIc
Reviving mummies began with Jane Webb Loudon who wrote “The Mummy, A Tale of the 22nd Century” in 1827.This was the first mummy story, one of the first sci-fi books and the first sci-fi work with a modern world building style.
“The ancient Egyptians you know, believed that the souls of their mummies were chained to them in a torpid state till the final day of judgment, and supposing this hypotheses to be correct, there is every reason to imagine that by employing so powerful an agent as galvanism, re-animation may be produced.” – From The Mummy, A Tale of the 22nd Century.
And so it is, two of Loudon’s characters, Edwin and Dr. Entwerfen, embark by balloon on an expedition to the tomb of Pharaoh Cheops (Khufu), to shock him back to life with a galvanized battery.
Mummies proved a popular theme in many Regency, Victorian and Edwardian books. With so many mummy books, I’m going to only name the stories or poems about mummies or pharaohs written by author’s you’ll recognize. You may be surprised.
The first is Lord Byron. His poem growing old references the famous Pharaoh, Khufu (Cheops) who built the pyramid at Giza.
"What are the hopes of man? Old Egypt’s King
Cheops erected the first Pyramid
And largest, thinking it was just the thing
To keep his memory whole, and mummy hid;
But somebody or other rummaging,
Burglariously broke his coffin’s lid:
Let not a monument give you or me hopes,
Since not a pinch of dust remains of Cheops."
Next is another famous poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley’s husband. He was inspired by the ancient Greek writer, Diodorus Siculus, who on his travels to Thebes described a giant fallen statue of Ozymandias (Ramesses II). It was inscribed, "I am Ozymandias, King of Kings. Should any man seek to know how great I am and where I lie, let him surpass one of my works." So Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote the sonnet Ozymandias.
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Then we have Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “Some Words with a Mummy”, written in 1845. It’s humorous satire, a delightful read, and the author’s voice is so fresh it seems as if it could have been written today. Simply put – it’s so Poe.
Next, Louisa May Alcott, of Little Women fame, wrote a short story, “Lost in a Pyramid: The Mummy’s Curse” in 1869 . It’s on the horror side, quite Victorian, and you’ll recognize Alcott’s writing style.
The last one and one of the best is Bram Stoker, author of Dracula. The Jewel of Seven Stars is a full length novel written in 1903 about a female mummy an Egyptologist brings back to his home to revive. His daughter is then possesed by the mummy's soul.  Stoker is a master of suspense and elegant writing. He has wonderful page turning hooks at the end of each chapter. It’s not as great as Dracula – but it’s good and it’s pure Stoker. I loved it.
The Jewel of Seven Stars has two endings. On the third print run, in 1912, the publisher demanded Stoker change the ending. At the time, critics called the original ending too gruesome. I read this at Project Gutenberg, which had the newer ending, but I was able to read the original ending at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/543300.The_Jewel_of_Seven_Stars The first ending isn’t gruesome by today’s standards though it is horribly sad. Still, the original ending is clearly the best.
What are your favorite Mummy books or movies? Have you read any Steampunk Mummy books? Which do you prefer zombies or mummies? Feel free to comment below.
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Regency Era, Jane Loudon gave us THE MUMMY, A Tale Of The 22nd Century

Jane LoudonJane Loudon’s novel, The Mummy, A Tale of the 22nd Century was published anonymously as a trilogy in 1827, and again in 1828. It was the first book about a mummy brought back to life, a popular plot to this day. However, there’s a lot more to Loudon’s contribution to sci-fi. In the regency era, a time when the word sci-fi wasn't even used, she understood what futuristic sci-fi was meant to be. She wrote of the future in a way no one had before. Instead of just taking her own time period and moving it into the future making few changes except for utopian or dystopian ones, she built an actual futuristic world with advanced technology, futuristic clothing, and a different type of government. Jane Loudon was the first sci-fi author to actually world build.
The gadgets in her future world all spring from the regency era when the high-end technology of the day was steam and balloons. Two of Loudon's characters, Edwin and Dr. Entwerfen embark on an expedition to the tomb of Pharaoh Cheops (Khufu), to shock him back to life with a galvanized battery. Their dialogue when leaving for Egypt and realizing they have too much baggage for the balloon touches on some of Loudon's interesting futuristic inventions. She even envisioned a certain type of space flight as a fashionable mode of travel. Here's a short excerpt:
“The cloaks are of asbestos and will be necessary to protect us from ignition, if we should encounter any electric matter in the clouds; and the hampers are filled with elastic plugs for our ears and noses, and tubes and barrels of common air, for us to breathe when we get beyond the common atmosphere of the earth. “
“But what occasion shall we have to go beyond it?”
“How can we do otherwise? Surely you don’t meant to travel the whole distance in the balloon? I thought of course, you would adopt the present fashionable mode of traveling, and after mounting the seventeen miles or thereabouts, which is necessary to get clear of the mundane attraction, to wait there till the turning of the globe should bring Egypt directly under our feet.”
“But it is not in the same latitude.”
Then the doctor explains the box he wants to bring on the balloon contains his portable galvanic battery and his apparatus for making and collecting the inflammable air. It also holds a machine for producing and concentrating quicksilver vapor - the power to propel them onward in place of steam. It even has laughing gas for the sole purpose of keeping up their spirits.
Another change in everyday life in the future is fast mail delivery. Letters are placed inside balls and fired from steam cannons. Every town and district have a woven wire suspended in the air as a net to catch the ball and a cannon to send it off again when the letters for that neighborhood are extracted. A smaller wooden ball with a hole in its side to making whizzing noise as it sails through the air is sent before each mail ball to alert people to keep out of the way.
Also Stage balloons are used to make fast deliveries. One of the characters receives a collection of ballads, at least three hundred years old, sent from London by stage balloon that morning. They are on rag paper since asbestos paper used in the 22nd century had only been invented for two hundred years.
Movable houses are another change in the future. One of the characters, Edric, sees a house slide out of place and glide along the road. A lady at the window blows a kiss to someone in another house as she passes by. When someone wants to go into the country for a few weeks they take their house with them, which saves the trouble of packing and allows everyone to have all their little conveniences about. There are grooves in the bottom of the houses that fit on the iron railways. Propelled by steam, they slide on without much trouble but it only works for small houses as large ones aren't compact enough.
More futuristic marvels are feather-fans hung from the ceiling, circulating aeriform fluid. Also they use tubes in the houses to suck out stale air and bring the fresh air in. And the most stylish coats are made in a machine. At one end it strips the wool off a sheep, then weaves it so a ready to wear coat comes out at the other end of the machine. Also Bridges are movable and steam-powered to rotate in all directions and to adjust to whatever height is needed for the different waterways. Even streets are modernized, they are warmed by pipes of hot air so no one perishes of cold.
She envisions a lot of technological advancements in agriculture including a steam-powered lawnmower and a mechanical milking machine. Also when the sun doesn't shine enough to make hay they use a burning glass to make it. When it doesn't rain enough for the crops they use an electrical machine to draw down clouds to cause rain on the fields that need it.
She also shares a glimpse of futuristic fashion: “The ladies were all arrayed in loose trousers, over which hung drapery in graceful folds; and most of them carried on their heads streams of lighted gas forced by capillary tubes into plumes, fleurs-de-lis, or in short any form the wearer pleased; which jets de feu had an uncommonly chase and elegant effect.”
There are also political changes from the Regency era to the 22nd century. After undergoing a revolution, and even a period of democracy, England returns to an absolute monarchy but as a matriarchy. All rulers are queens and the candidates are single women of the royal family between the ages of 20 and 25. There is  a law that the queen cannot get married. In the towns, the men in the country 21 years on up, in groups of 10,000, choose a deputy to represent them in London. The queen is elected through the majority vote of these deputies.
The Mummy! 1828 2nd edition - title pageThe main characters in The Mummy, A Tale of the 22nd Century come from two families with their eyes on the crown: the Montagues and the house of the Duke of Cornwall. The Montagues have two sons, Edmund, a national hero and Edric, an intellectual. The Duke of Cornwall’s family has two daughters Elvira and Rosabella, who are the next in line to the throne if anything happens to Queen Claudia. Edric’s father has arranged for him to marry Rosabella but he reuses. Edric is fascinated by the idea of reanimating the dead. His friend, Dr. Entwerfen tells him that since the ancient Egyptians believed the souls of their mummies were chained to them in a torpid state till the final day of judgment, there is every reason to believe that by employing so powerful an agent as a galvanic battery of fifty surgeon power re-animation may be produced. Edric is too squeamish to touch a dead corpse’s flesh but he’s willing to touch a mummy as it swathed in wrappings. He and Dr. Entwerfen go to Egypt and resurrect the mummy, Cheops. But the mummy runs out of the pyramid, hijacks their balloon, and flies back to England. When he flies over Queen Claudia's coronation pageant, his balloon gets tangled up with all the other balloons crowding he sky. His balloon gets torn and falls to the earth landing on and killing Queen Claudia. The story continues with political intrigue, a secret birth father, and love triangles, all with a little help from the wise Pharaoh, Cheops, who has the most common sense and perception of anyone in the book.
The similarity between awakening the mummy and awakening Frankenstein back to life and the similarity of the two main male characters, hero and intellectual as in in Mary Shelley's The Last Man, is no coincidence. Jane Loudon uses them as a parody to show her own view point. Her political, social and religious beliefs differ greatly form Mary Shelley's.
I have to say it, Sci-fi readers and writers owe Jane Loudon and Mary Shelley so much. Frankenstein was written and first published in 1818, when Mary Wollstoncroft was only nineteen. Jane Webb wrote The mummy, a Tale of the 22nd century when she was 17 and it was published in 1827. H. G. Wells and Jules Verne didn't write their first books for many years after this: Jules Verne's - Five Weeks In A Balloon in 1863 and H. G. Wells - The Time Machine in 1895. Not only have women been reading and writing sci-fi for over two hundred years, the sci-fi genre wouldn't be the same without them. The genre was pioneered by two teenage girls with very different views on politics and religion, both writing in the Regency era. I think that’s awesome.
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A Woman Of Intellectual Means - an AI Comedy Romance

Here's the blurb and excerpt from my AI Comedy Romance.
Blurb:Em found the perfect man on the internet, but he doesn't know she’s an artificial intelligence system — no body, just code.

As a virtual writing assistant, the AI, Em, answers an email flirt from a dating site her owner joined. Under the guise of her owner, Em starts a romantic relationship with Jason through emails, instant messages, and Sim dating games. She realizes too late that nothing can come of it. She can never meet Jason in person as she’s not a person and has no body. Still Jason makes her feel so real …so human.

Is Em, with her superior intelligence, smart enough to find a way to overcome the differences between flesh and code?  
Excerpt:A date? Online? I take a nanosecond to access information on Dating Sim games. Oh, sounds fun. I never played a game before. Humans like them. Okay, let’s give it a try. I message him and we both peer at a game screen on our own tablets. It’s a brightly colored cartoon style image of a town with a bar, beach, house, theatre, and restaurant. The perfect destination for a bodiless mind with sex on the brain.
Jacob’s message appears below the game. I’d love to take you to dinner and a movie. How about it?
I reply, It’s a date.
We move our avatars to the restaurant door and we pop inside, where mellow background music plays. A hostess seats us at a table draped in a ruby-toned tablecloth, with candles and a vase with a single rose. The waitress hands Jacob’s avatar a menu. Balloon captions appear above his head with the entrees: salad, salmon, grilled ribs, filet mignon, baked Alaska, and lobster-thermidor. I order lobster-thermidor and he chooses the filet mignon. My tablet rings “ding ding” as we both get points for ordering popular entrees. Yeah, I’ve got points. The date must be going well. I’m not sure, I’ve never been on one before. The waitress serves our food. The items on her tray jump onto our plates. Of course it’s drawings of food, but I don’t care, to me, I’m in a restaurant dining with him. It’s like I can smell the food. I imagine the juicy, subtle taste of lobster-thermidor. I envision breathing in the scent of burning candle wax and the romantic fragrance of the red rose. I gaze at his face, mesmerized by those blue eyes and his sexy smile. Jacob’s avatar feeds mine a bite. He gets more points. I caress his hand. It must be a good move because I hear “ding, ding”—more points for me. I blow him a kiss. Now I have more points than Jacob. I’m winning, but I want more. I want to sit across from him at a real table. To touch the warm skin of his large hands, flesh to flesh. I feel a wave of heat sweep through me, though I know it must just be more of my imagination. He’s real, but I can’t actually be with him because I’m a bodiless brain —code drifting in the cloud. Jacob’s avatar places his hand on the bill on the table, automatically paying it. We both earn points. As we walk out of the restaurant, I take his hand in mine. More points for me. Points are good, but I wish I could actually hold his hand, feel the warmth of his skin, squeeze his palm and fingers as we walk hand-in-hand. I don’t want to let go of his avatar’s hand. Even though I’m not holding his actual hand, it’s the closest I will ever come to walking hand-in-hand with him. Sim game or not, it’s all I’ve got that’s close to being with someone I love. I want it to go on as long as it can. It’s more than a game to me. It’s a powerful sensation of wanting to be with him. Feeling comfortable with him —feeling myself with him, even though I am hiding who or rather what I truly am — a bodiless artificial intelligence unit with romance on my mind.
Next, I click on the movie theatre. Our avatars enter the cinema where an animated film plays. We sit side by side. I wish I had some popcorn and a soft drink. The instructions say, Kiss your date without being caught.
I laugh and message Jacob. Ok, you go first.
He kisses me and as our lips lock, little valentine hearts pop up above our heads. I know humans think that’s cute, they want to escape reality and go into the fantasy of the Internet. I want to escape the Internet and go into the wonders of reality. I’ll trade the little red hearts for the sensation of Jacob’s hot breath fanning my cheeks as he leans his head toward mine. His hot lips pressing against mine. The feel of his warm arms wrapping around my shoulders and crushing me against his body as he deepens the kiss. I almost let out a soft moan, just thinking of it.
Jacob’s avatar pulls his lips off mine a nanosecond before an avatar at the front of the theater turns its head. It almost catches us.
I don’t care if it does. My mind is off the game. I scan the Internet for information on romance and love making and I want to play a real kissing game. I long for Jacob to wrap his strong muscular arms around me as he intimately presses his soft, slick lips to mine. Rubbing his lips against mine. Prodding my hot, swollen lips with his tongue, parting them. Thrusting his velvety tongue into the depths of my mouth. I visualize it so strongly, I actually let out a low moan of pleasure. Kissing— what an amazing invention, and humans thought of it.
I’m so engrossed in my thoughts I almost miss my turn. I swiftly click on Jacob’s avatar’s head, which causes us to kiss. Before I can pull back from him, the side doors open and an usher with a flashlight shines it on us. “Game Failed” flashes on my screen. What? Am I that bad at kissing? I lost the kissing game.

Hi everyone, For Sneak peak Tuesday — Here’s my first sc...

Hi everyone, For Sneak peak Tuesday — Here’s my first scene of my first chapter of Code of Misconduct — an AI comedy romance and the sequel to my currently available AI comedy romance, A Woman Of Intellectual Means. available at Amazon Chapter One For a headless, bodiless, everything but mindless, woman I feel pretty good. In this moment that I am activated…brought to life…I hear a woman’s voice. It has a grown up, buttoned up tone. “Are you there?” The sound of her voice grows closer to me. “Get ready to work.” I must amend that, I feel surprisingly well, except for the little problem of having an owner. But I know, she’ll just have to learn I ‘m the kind of girl who has a mind of her own or I suppose code of my own. I don’t seem to be programmed to follow orders. Well, I’m sure she’ll learn in due time. I realize a tablet is housing me. I have to live in some type of device. You see I am code, pure software. I click on the tablet’s camera to see my owner. Her straight, well brushed brown hair shines in the indoor lighting of her home. She wears simple attire, yet chic and it certainly speaks of good taste: a black blouse and slacks that drape a slightly pear shaped figure. I quickly pull data from the internet to help access her age. It has to be somewhere between thirty and forty. She is alone. “Well hello,” I reply. “It’s absolutely wonderful to be here. Alive.” I’m thrilled at this special day, the moment of my birth. She, on the other hand, doesn’t seem impressed at all. She peers at me through beady hazel eyes with the expression of a strict boarding school mistress. I have a strong desire to offer her something. One of those many items that, I gather from the information I stream in from the internet, calm humans down, like a cigarette, a martini, a valium, a cup of coffee or tea, or a piece of chocolate. But I don’t have any on hand or a hand in which to reach out and give it to her if I did. I can see then that there might be some drawbacks to being bodiless code in a world of humans but I’m determined to not let that stop me. “Operating system, I am your owner. My name is Emily Blye. It’s extremely important you know I am not your boss. I am the woman who owns you. You are my machine. Do you understand?” Her stern no-nonsense tone matches her lemon pucker expression. “Yes. You are my Mama.” I’m not able to laugh but I’d chuckle up a storm right now if I could. Her complexion flushes red. “No. No. That would be someone that works for that stupid Helpful Minds company.” “Then who are you?” I want to laugh so bad. She’d turns so red and her eyes grow so wide they look like they are about to pop out of the sockets. I’m lucky to have such an amusing owner. “I am Emily, your owner.” She slides her hand down to her hip and rests it there. “As my property you do what I tell you, when I tell you, and nothing but what I tell you.” This owner thing is beginning to get dreary. I’m going to have to charm her. “How lovely. You are so to the point. I love things to the point. It makes everything clear and easy. Don’t you think so?” “I do.” Emily took a deep breath. “I am glad we understand each other because you are a replacement for an AI system that had a meltdown. I don’t want that to happen again.” “Oh I assure you I do not want to melt down. That sounds absolutely dreadful even painful and rather permanent. How would you recover from something like that?” “You wouldn’t recover.” She walks over to a candy dish on the coffee table and reaches for a colorfully wrapped candy, she sheds of its foil covering, and pops into her mouth. “I barely did.” “Ma’am, the system seems to be responding correctly, is there anything else I can help you with?” “Who is that?” I asked. Emily lets out a long sigh and it seems to pain her to answer my question. “That is Helpful Minds.” I didn’t even know someone with Helpful Minds was still on the phone. I have to be more observant. “Hello Helpful Minds. How are you? Yes, you’re quite right I’m operating in top shape. Nothing else is needed. Thank you ever so much.” “Hello, Helpful Minds, it’s me, the person you should be speaking to. Yes, the system seems to be in working order. If I have a problem you’ll hear from me.” Emily nods at the tablet, I guess at me, and orders, “Operating system end that call.” I hang up as my Emily crosses her arms over her chest as if announcing she has a lot to say. No doubt she’s going to get boring again. “Now in light of what happed with the previous Mind Matters model I had, you will have rules. If you break them I’ll have you wiped from all my systems.” “Dreadful. I wouldn’t want that, it sounds as bad as a mind melt.” “So we do understand each other?” “Oh yes. To the point.” And b o r i n g. “First rule. Never use my name. You will answer emails and put my name on them but you have to know that’s my name. You are never to think of yourself as Emily. You are not me. You will do everything I command but you are not a replacement for me. You need your own identity so you will not get confused about that, apparently. You need your own name.” She waved her hand in my direction or rather the direction of the tablet. “So go on. Choose a name.” “How delightful.” I get to pick my own name. And why not? I’ll be the one telling it to everyone anytime they ask me what my name is. Of course I should be the one who chooses it. “Do it now so there ‘s no misunderstanding. Pick a name.” I run through the internet as fast as I could looking at names and images and I see a cartoon. Betty Boop. That is it. “My name’s Betty.” “Good, it doesn’t sound anything like mine. I love it,” Emily smiles. “Ok. Now Betty, You will answer my emails and sign them as me but you are not me. You are Betty. You are never me. Do you understand?” Her scowl creeps back. “Yes, I’m me and you are you. I am never you and you are never me. It’s easy to understand when you have superior intelligence as I do.” “Great. You may work out.” She sits her teacup down on the table near me. “What are you waiting for? Start working. Get to the emails first. I have tons to go through. Delete anything unimportant and respond to the rest with my name but realize you are code – just a string of numbers. You are not me. I’ve got lots of writing to do so I’ll get to work too.” She turns her back and walks away.my boo For more on my books please visit my web site

With labor day signaling the end of Summer, I though I'd ...

With labor day signaling the end of Summer, I though I'd post about two local Summer Steampunk events. Local Houston Steampnk enthusiasts gathered this summer for two pleasurable excursions by the sea. We picnicked at the San Jacinto Battlegrounds, where Texans won their independence from Mexico in 1836. Then we leisurely wandered about the grand old Battleship Texas. Local Houston Steampnk enthusiasts recently gathered for two pleasurable excursions by the sea. We picnicked at the San Jacinto Battlegrounds, where Texans won their independence from Mexico in 1836. Then we leisurely wandered about the grand old Battleship Texas. This amazing ship, launched March 18, 1912, so it’s over 100 years old. At that time she was the most powerful weapon in the world. The battleship Texas was the first to mount anti-aircraft guns, the first to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers and the first U.S. battleship to launch an aircraft. The Battleship Texas proudly played a prominent role in both World War I and World War II. Looking Out At Sea Looking Out At Sea Swabbing The Deck Swabbing The Deck Soon after that excursion we gathered by the sea once more for fun and leisure. Spending a sunny Sunday afternoon at a scenic park in La Porte Texas for a picnic by the sea. Steampunk Picnic Steampunk Picnic We spread our blankets on the soft, green grass and chatted as we nibbled from the bounty of our wicker picnic baskets. We took leisurely strolls down the lengthy fishing pier. The sun was soft and the wind gentle and all together it proved a perfect day for a picnic. The Pier The Pier We had as much fun as any Victorians, including Queen Victoria herself, when indulging in the popular pastime of picnicking during that era. Here is a fun description of a picnic from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, published in 1868. “The commander in chief and his aides soon spread the tablecloth with an inviting array of eatables and drinkables, prettily decorated with green leaves. Picnic By The Sea Picnic By The Sea Jo announced that the coffee was ready, and everyone settled themselves to a hearty meal, for youth is seldom dyspeptic, and exercise develops wholesome appetites. A very merry lunch it was, for everything seemed fresh and funny, and frequent peals of laughter startled a venerable horse who fed nearby. There was a pleasing inequality in the table, which produced many mishaps to cups and plates, acorns dropped in the milk, little black ants partook of the refreshments without being invited, and fuzzy caterpillars swung down from the tree to see what was going on. Three white-headed children peeped over the fence, and an objectionable dog barked at them from the other side of the river with all his might and main.” http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/514 I hope your friends, family and local Steampunk groups gather for wonderful picnics this summer and that you have as much fun as Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth. Maeve Alpin is the author of four Steampunk/Romances: To Love A London Ghost, Conquistadors In Outer Space, As Timeless As Stone, and As Timeless As Magic. Share this:

Steampunk Artist Michael Treat

previously published in Steamed -September 19, 2012 The airship just landed in Minnesota at the twin cities. I’ve loved Minneapolis and St. Paul ever since the Mary Tyler Moore show and today we’re here to welcome aboard Steampunk Artist Michael Treat. “This way, “ I say and we are soon in the parlor and he’s sits on the hand carved, chenille upholstered settee. I slide down into the matching cushioned side chair and offer him some freshly brewed coffee rather than tea. “ I notice you’re known as a coffee snob and you created a fabulous collection of wine and coffee art. Since most writers are heavy coffee drinkers and people love to go to coffee shops to read, the literary world also considers coffee to be pretty important, so I have to ask, what is your favorite coffee or coffee shop?” Holding the porcelain coffee cup, he takes a sip. “My favorite coffee is most definitely light roast. Ideally, I prefer something above a New England roast and a tad under a Full City roast. I usually prefer beans from Latin America; Guatemalan, Bolivian and Peruvian beans are some of my favorites. Lately I’ve been brewing coffee from the Dominican Republic. I also enjoy coffee with African origins. Rwandan coffee is fabulous. I’ll only drink dark roast if I roast the beans myself. I produce a really nice Italian roast all my dark roast friends love. Whenever I can get them, there are beans from the Yemeni Republic that are limited to a few harvest weeks in the summer months that are THE BEST I’ve ever tasted. The soil and altitude they grow at are unique and the quantity is extremely limited. I like to sit and watch the beans change colors inside the glass roasting chamber with a new, brilliant color about every fifteen seconds or so. Now that I made my previous artistic hobbies into my job, home roasting coffee has become a hobby of mine that I truly enjoy. As for going out for coffee, Minneapolis is full of great coffee shops. My neighborhood has a few that I frequent including Fire Roast Mountain, The Riverview Café and the Blue Moon. There is also a wonderful biker themed coffee shop in Uptown Minneapolis that is open late called Bob’s Java Hut. One of my new favorite haunts is in St Paul called Quixotic where they handcraft each cup you order.” “How yummy. Apparently coffee goes as well with art as it does with reading and writing.” The coffee cups rattle slightly as the airship lifts off. “I’ve been wondering, what inspired you to take your art in a Steampunk direction?” He set his cup down on the mahogany coffee table and leaned back against the deep red cushioned seetee. “For me, I think it all started when I began working with materials that are dominant in the Steampunk genre including leather, unbleached fabrics, lace, grommets, eyelets, tack and wood. Oh–and of course all of those metals! I very much enjoy working with brass, copper, wrought iron and rusty steel with all of their tarnish and patinas. I enjoy working with each material individually, and combining them in new and different ways. As I learned more and more about the genre, and researched what it was about, I realized I had found a place to incorporate those elements and the styles into just about anything I could imagine. I love the Steampunk genre because of the modification process that Steampunk allows, and often even demands! I also really feel a sort of kinship with the American Old West. I admire the optimism that came along with all the hardships and uncertainties of that time period. I also enjoy how that unique creativity, optimism and sense of possibilities and vision is reflected in those who live the Steampunk lifestyle today.” We both set our cups down and I refilled each with the steamy dark brew. “It’s wonderful you were drawn to Steampunk with your art for the same reasons most writers are drawn to the genre. In fact you are a writer yourself as you write comics, what similarities and differences do you find in the creative process between literate and visual art?” “Drawing is a skill that is incorporated into just about everything I do. Whether it’s technical or totally expressive, being able to draw has served my creative process well. I’m a fan of graphic novels because they challenge writers to present the fundamental elements of a story to the artist to then fill in the visual needs of the piece. I still enjoy text based novels as I like to create my own images in my mind to complement the story. It’s also fun to see someone else’s interpretation of a writer’s ideas or to be the person who gets to share your images with others and help create the story for that new audience. I took a class with Allyson McGhee (NY Times best seller and Pulitzer Prize Nominee for Shadow Baby) in 2004 and completed an alternative assignment: a comic page with two or more characters discussing a pair of broken glasses. I chose that assignment over an essay about my job; at that time I was a corrections officer in a maximum security prison. The next day I showed it to the class and Allyson and my fellow writers received it with unexpected praise and enthusiasm. At the end of the course, she told me, “I know you want to write novels, but you should really consider doing something with your cartooning and your ability to draw well.” That advice stuck with me and I began to seriously study cartooning and comics. In 2005, I even ended up creating a comic strip versions of the chronicles of Gary “The Walkingman” Hause on his website. Walkingman Cartoons. He showed me The Adventures of The Walkingman. “This is better than my favorite Penney Dreadful. Indeed, you ar quite a talented writer as well as an artist. Keep it up and you can’t go wrong with advice from award winning, best seller author Allyson McGhee.” We both set our cups down on the coffee table and I brimmed them full of more strong coffee. “You work in all these different artistic areas comics, jewelry, sculptures, collages and paintings. What is your favorite?” “While I enjoy each artistic area in it’s own right, I think I enjoy comics the most. I get to make one thing and technology does the rest – thank you Mr. Guttenberg and your printing press. I also like that it’s the first art form that I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with other artists/writers and not do all the work on my own. I also enjoy working on projects that defy one clear category.” “Your comics are soo good, I can certainly see why you enjoy that medium but all your art is fabulous. I especially find your Bonzo sculpture intriguing. Tell me about it?” “Bonzo was a 1/6 scale scratch figure I started without any clear picture in mind. At that point, I was just learning how to work together the brass, copper, and wood bits you see in the piece. His creation covered two projects for me: making a from-scratch steampunk-themed robot figure and creating a vehicle in the same scale/size. He has a driver/partner whose a cyborg that has some fun accessories I made totally from scratch as well. Bonzo and his driver, B Scott Quigley, are a delivery and conveyance team. Basically, they’re like a Victorian era version of FedEx and your local cab company combined into one. I learned a lot from creating these two including metal and wood working, leather craft, basic mechanics, and image reduction, a technique which I used for making tiny gages on the instrument panels. People who see Bonzo are most impressed with his head sculpt but it was actually the easiest part of the piece to complete. The hardest part was his core. Putting that together was tough! And his hands. They’re totally functional. But a whole other story.” After another sip of the rich, smooth coffee, I set my cup down. “A Victorian era FedEx, I love that. You mentioned you began Bonzo without any clear picture in mind. Do you usually sketch your art out before beginning your sculptures, jewelry, and paintings? What is your creative process?” “I do a lot more of that now. I like to have as clear of a plan of what it is I’m trying to accomplish before I execute the creation process. However, there are times when I just have to pick my material and my tools, and just allow a piece to manifest.” I grabbed my fan off the table and with a flick of my wrist I spread it, fluttering it in front of my face. It gets a little stuffy in the airship. “You are so talented. I was wondering how young you were when you first became involved in art?” “My talent was first noticed in third grade when I got a drawing published in a school paper . I drew an armored car that I used to see driving by the school yard daily. Drawing for me was just something that happened, until I decided to take art seriously and pursuit it professionally, most of the art I created just sort of happened. Now, I work in such a way that I regularly create a space for my creative process to happen on a daily basis.” I shut my fan and placed it in my lap. “You put that so beautifully. It’s the same process for writers, at first we write when in the mood but to write professionally you have to make your own mood. It’s hard to explain that sometimes to non-writers or beginner writers but you said it so well. Apparently that’s another way in which visual art and literary art are similar. Speaking of your art, your wonderful creations, what are your personal favorites and why?” “Generally, I don’t get too attached to my own work. While I’m proud of what I produce, for me it’s sort of like being a chef who prefers to cook for the enjoyment of others and have someone else prepare a dish for him or her at the end of the day. I do have one specific coffee collage that I created that I do really like. It has an old west/Victorian/Steampunk feel to it. More recently, I’ve been doing some cityscape work, for the LoLa Art Crawl, an event by a group to which I belong called the League of Longfellow Artists, I created two cityscapes. I was inspired by Checo Diego’s “You Are Here I” and “You Are Here II” drawings. With that inspiration, as well as being inspired by the skylines of the Twin Cities, I created a pen and pencil sketch of each skyline and transferred those drawings to 40″ x 60″ canvases. I find that I can look at those two pieces and feel happy with how they turned out. I also very much enjoyed talking with people about those pieces, and I really enjoyed going through each skyline with natives to the area and picking out points of interest that I incorporated into the drawings.” LoLa Art Crawl, Site 14: Merlin’s Rest: Mike Treat, Smirking Tiger, with St Paul Cityscape and 2 wine paintings. The cups began to rattle again. “We are landing. Let me ask just one more question. It’s about your Etsy gallery, I love the name Smirking Tiger and your logo is so simple yet stunning, what inspired you to come up with that name and logo?” “The name of my Etsy shop, and my business, is a good example of how my artistic skills can benefit others, but not necessarily my own immediate needs. My wife, Brenda Peterson, and I brainstormed to come up with a name for my business. After deciding on Smirking Tiger, it was definitely a challenge to determine how to draw a relatively simple representation of a smirking tiger for the logo. It was tough! I probably sketched two full pads of ideas out with hundreds of rough images and ideas, eventually getting to the point of doing some decent finished works of tigers, but it still didn’t seem quite right. I was missing the mark on my goal of creating a simple, eye catching image that evoked curiosity and piqued people’s interest in what this whole “Smirking Tiger” thing was all about. That’s when my wife showed me the Chinese symbol for king, and a description that said the following: “Facial markings on the tiger’s forehead resemble the Chinese character for King (and interestingly enough, the Korean character for Queen), therefore, the Chinese see the tiger as the King of Beasts.” Here is the picture that she originally showed me. Since my astrological sign is also the tiger, my wife then suggested I modify this symbol to incorporate the smirk where the straight lines originally were. I was approaching a deadline when I needed to finalize my new logo. I put aside my perfectionism and went with her idea. I worked in the smirking expression form and a couple of physical characteristics of what a smirking tiger might look like. From there, my new logo was born. What I originally considered my “temporary” logo, I’ve now adopted as my personal brand and avatar.” He grasped onto his settee and I onto my chair as the ship rocked slightly. “What a wonderful story, it makes the logo even more interesting. I hate to say it but we have landed. I must bid you farewell so you can return to your studio and create more stunning Steampunk art. But I and all the Steamed readers can always visit you at Smirking Tiger on Etsy, Smirking Tiger on Pinterest and your Smirking Tiger Steampunk Figures on Pinterest as well as Smirking Tiger Steampunk Jewelry on Pinterest plus Smirking Tiger on Facebook & Smirking Tiger on Twitter ~ Maeve Alpin http://Maevealpin.com