tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77529799976881284062024-03-19T05:51:16.073-07:00The Magnetron ChroniclesNone Dare Call It Steampunk: The Magnetron Chronicles by D. L. Mackenzie, a rollicking parody of those breathless Victorian Era tales of adventure, weird science, and Steam Age derring-do...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-1687097418325839962014-06-21T10:30:00.000-07:002014-06-21T10:30:23.101-07:00Dr. Leonardo Cerebelli, 1830—1897(?)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg__pIJVqpGIfVh6sMIWfmTh7OvAR_dKXThZE-FGqgEMiyMcZPdR-ORXcoU6ggajI_xC1u5YekYD_B1vyxBWDNFfVuL1rzOU6QBMnGbTggp24ER6rbOuE_s-kjUbCR15wAEcBvA1o_yNvlo/s1600/Cerebelli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg__pIJVqpGIfVh6sMIWfmTh7OvAR_dKXThZE-FGqgEMiyMcZPdR-ORXcoU6ggajI_xC1u5YekYD_B1vyxBWDNFfVuL1rzOU6QBMnGbTggp24ER6rbOuE_s-kjUbCR15wAEcBvA1o_yNvlo/s1600/Cerebelli.jpg" /></a></div>
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Although no official written
documents remain, credible accounts indicate that Leonardo Cerebelli was born
in 1830 in <st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place>’s
Flatbush community to grocers Enzo and Aurora Cerebelli. Nevertheless, Cerebelli was dogged for much
of his life by rumors he was truly the son of notorious Cosa Nostra mafioso Nunzo
“Il Capo” Tosto, fearsome patron of a post-feudal Sicilian <i>cosca</i>, or crime family. Il
Capo had reputedly sired dozens of illegitimate children and sent them abroad
to appease his domineering spouse.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that Leonardo was spirited out of <st1:state w:st="on">Sicily</st1:state> as an infant, hidden in a shipment of
castelvetrano olives bound for <st1:place w:st="on">New
York</st1:place>.</div>
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Clever and industrious, young
Leonardo excelled in his schoolwork but chafed at his duties in the family
business. This fractious state of
affairs was typified by one of Leonardo’s earliest experiments, an inquiry into
chaos theory in which the eight-year-old prodigy dropped hundreds of fragile inventory
items to the floor and took detailed notes.
His father was horrified, as was his instructor, who labelled Leonardo’s
pioneering work “unadulterated rubbish.”
Leonardo’s wry humor began to emerge as he coined derogatory Latin
nicknames for regular customers, until his sly linguistic indiscretions were
detected by one of his father’s business associates, after which time Leonardo
took up Ancient Greek.</div>
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<a name='more'></a></div>
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In 1848, still at loggerheads with
his father, Cerebelli was accepted to <st1:placename w:st="on">Bowdoin</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype> in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Brunswick</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Maine</st1:state></st1:place>. Upon his arrival, the previously aloof Leonardo
became more prone to socializing and extracurricular activities. While he continued to maintain impeccable
scholastics, he also began to forge lasting friendships with his peers despite
his unusual demeanor and often cruel sense of humor. He delighted in vexing his classmates with
his puckish brand of irreverence, flouting social norms in general and the
constrictions of academia in particular.
He studied Aristotelian rhetoric and a vast range of mathematical and scientific
disciplines, delighted to find a more receptive audience to his innovative
theories. He also took up classical fencing,
soon mastering the foil, sabre and épée.</div>
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In his sophomore year, he
challenged upperclassman Oliver Howard to an unsanctioned fencing match on
campus. Howard, a decorated U. S. Army
general, had lost his right arm in battle at <st1:place w:st="on">Fair Oaks</st1:place>,
but grudgingly agreed to the match.
Cerebelli repeatedly slashed his foil at Howard’s missing arm, crying,
“There now, I’ve cut your arm off!” Howard
eventually managed an awkward but successful <i>trompement</i> and cut Cerebelli’s
face with a whip-over flick, ending the impromptu match. Despite this awkward first encounter, which
earned Cerebelli the nickname “Black Card,” the two men became fast friends.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Cerebelli also befriended Joshua
Chamberlain, another former Army general, and Melville Fuller, who would
eventually serve as the eighth Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. These and other connections formed the core
of what would become a sizeable circle of influential associates, tempering the
dashing young Cerebelli and his acerbic tongue.</div>
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After graduating, Cerebelli was
introduced to former <st1:country-region w:st="on">U. S.</st1:country-region>
Senator <st1:city w:st="on">Franklin</st1:city>
Pierce, who had recently secured the Democratic Party’s Presidential
nomination. Sensing an opportunity,
Cerebelli campaigned for Pierce and insinuated himself into the campaign,
despite earlier having publicly excoriated Pierce on the topic of the Fugitive
Slave Act. After Pierce’s win, Cerebelli
disappeared from the political machinery of the day but continued to socialize
with well-connected politicians as well as prosperous entrepreneurs in the
burgeoning rail industry. He later
lamented his political endeavors as a “triumph of deception over authenticity”
but continued to relish the gilt trappings and influence of powerful elites. </div>
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Although socially adroit, impeccably
attired, and a renowned ladies’ man, the eminently eligible Cerebelli never
married. As his fortunes grew, he was
increasingly targeted by associates who wished to marry off unappealing
daughters as a prelude to business negotiations. Cerebelli began to travel extensively and indulged
his interest in scientific inquiry by attending notable universities,
quickly earning his doctorate from the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>
of <st1:placename w:st="on">London</st1:placename></st1:place>.</div>
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In 1856, he returned to <st1:state w:st="on">New York</st1:state>, settling in a
modest home in Clarkstown. He took a job
as a structural engineer for the <st1:state w:st="on">New
York</st1:state> and Erie Railroad, where he made the
acquaintance of rail tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt. His tenure was cut short when he began removing
the wheels from locomotives in preparation for a test of magnetic levitation
and propulsion, but Cerebelli remained undaunted by the seeming setback. He commissioned the construction of an enormous
laboratory adjacent to his home and began conducting independent experiments. When questioned by a local reporter as to why he was
building such a facility, Cerebelli replied, “Why, to amuse myself, of
course!” The nature of his work was
confidential, but he managed to pen an extraordinary quantity of monographs,
such as “Acoustics and Physics of Bagpipes and other Insufferable Instruments”
and “Inquiry into the Efficacy and Olfactory Aesthetics of Vulcanizing
Couscous.”</div>
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Although Cerebelli had
carefully cultivated a sterling reputation in the press and among his
well-heeled peers, rumors persisted about supposed underworld ties. In 1859, shortly before <st1:country-region w:st="on">Italy</st1:country-region>’s annexation of <st1:state w:st="on">Sicily</st1:state>, one of Nunzo Tosto’s horses had
awakened to find his master’s severed head in its stall and burst out of the
barn to canter through town with the bloody appendage dangling from a tangled
rope. The event sparked a turf war among
rival clans, as well as renewed speculation regarding Cerebelli’s questionable
ancestry, an uncomfortable situation exacerbated by his unexplained and poorly
timed voyage abroad. The unrest in <st1:state w:st="on">Sicily</st1:state> ended abruptly for reasons that are not
altogether clear, and Cerebelli returned to Clarkstown shortly thereafter,
revealing to close associates that he had divested sizeable estates “in the <st1:place w:st="on">Mediterranean</st1:place>.”</div>
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Already quite affluent, Cerebelli’s
prosperity had reached its zenith. In
September of 1860, his craving for scientific knowledge and kinship led him to
attend the Karlsruhe Congress, a meeting of chemists held in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region>. There, he met Dr. Yngve Hogalum, who goaded
him into attending unrelated festivities at a local biergarten. Cerebelli had been a sharp and derisive youth
but—at thirty years of age—his demeanor had mellowed to a placid self-assurance
punctuated by occasional outbursts of rapier wit, a combination Hogalum found
endlessly engaging.</div>
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At length, Hogalum divulged the
secrets of the nascent Hogalum Society, which was then called simply “the
Society” and which consisted of Hogalum, Anton Karswell Valkusian, and François
Boileau. Valkusian was not in
attendance, but Boileau arrived on the last day of the conference to discuss his
recent purchase of fabulously ornate household furnishings. Cerebelli took an immediate dislike to
Boileau, and the antipathy was quite obviously mutual. Nevertheless, Hogalum nominated Cerebelli for
membership in the organization, a motion Valkusian eventually seconded. Boileau demurred unwaveringly until he
learned of Cerebelli’s immense wealth, whereupon he abruptly reversed his
position. The two men maintained a
fragile détente for several years until Boileau’s dementia—which was then just
beginning to assert itself—worsened with stunning rapidity, forcing his
ejection from the Society.</div>
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Although Cerebelli claimed no fondness
for animals in general, he was well-known for his faithful canine companion, a
miniature Schnauzer he dubbed Baron von Hundmund. As a puppy, Baron had growled continually
whenever in the presence of François Boileau, such misconduct utterly charming
his master. Boileau’s attempt to soothe
the dog backfired when Baron bit his outstretched hand, thus cementing
Cerebelli’s enduring devotion to the high-strung creature.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Cerebelli met Henry David Thoreau
shortly before the writer’s untimely demise and soon began to associate with other
literary notables of the day. He was introduced to Harriet Beecher Stowe, the wife of one of his former professors, and struck up friendships
with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Ralph Waldo Emerson. By his late thirties, Cerebelli had begun to
fancy himself a writer and his interest in the sciences began to wane. He never absorbed any of the talent with
which he was surrounded, but later claimed to have been guided through difficult times by Emerson’s
wisdom.</div>
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Cerebelli was an inestimably prized
asset to the Hogalum Society. His associations
with innumerable influential world leaders provided critical inside information
and unprecedented access to the levers of power. His keen mind and extensive range of
knowledge often proved critical to the success of Society missions. </div>
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Although he held his fellow Hogalum
Society members in the highest esteem, his sense of superiority was revealed in
an unpublished memoir found in 1906. In
it, he referred to Dr. Hogalum as a “drunken prat” and called his friends
“useful idiots.” He reserved his most
disparaging remarks for Phineas Magnetron, whom he referred to as “a
stammering, bungling dilettante,” and a “breathtakingly soft-headed bumpkin.” Nevertheless, he also professed an “enduring
respect” for the group’s “integrity and single-minded devotion.”</div>
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Cerebelli disappeared in late 1897
and was presumed dead. Again, rumors
began to circulate. In the months
following his disappearance, dozens of Sicilian crime families claimed
responsibility for his death, by methods ranging from gunfire to drowning in a
vat of rancid besciamella sauce. Fellow
Hogalum Society member Anton Valkusian told a reporter that Cerebelli had been
killed in a sabre duel in the Maltese city of <st1:city w:st="on">Valletta</st1:city>, but no contemporaneous news
accounts corroborated his story.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
When Cerebelli’s unfortunate memoir
was found, the son of Ralph Waldo Emerson reputedly stole the
manuscript and destroyed much of it.
According to courtroom accounts, Edward Waldo Emerson claimed his father
had passed on Cerebelli’s wishes regarding the potentially scandalous
text and he was obliged to carry them out. In
his own defense, Edward cited one of Cerebelli’s favorite Emerson quotations,
saying, “Good men must not obey the law too well.”</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Despite the lack of physical
remains, a spectacularly well-attended ceremony was held in Clarkstown to memorialize Cerebelli's life and philanthropic deeds. He was
eulogized by a staggering array of prominent figures, including Mark Twain, who
said “While reports of Leonardo Cerebelli’s death have not been exaggerated, reports
of his life have been scandalously understated.” In keeping with Cerebelli’s wishes, a
gravestone was set bearing the words “Decomposition experiment in progress—do not
disturb.”</div>
<br />
<a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/biographical-information.html">Read more biographical sketches»</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-69557005709094251882013-07-14T15:34:00.000-07:002013-07-14T15:34:12.319-07:00Liquid History<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrPTU1AzwlLSHe8tPwnBgjpwF9jmriDh0omp7ogOO4OflvraT3w-pcjAUpTiRnApO7nPOmrOA0cU2WbTx0oPObhEm6CPJdRGJM13wEf65PYKsj9Zvok5-gE4VntI3MVp7p7qt_yZISiDD/s1600/Perrier-Jouet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYrPTU1AzwlLSHe8tPwnBgjpwF9jmriDh0omp7ogOO4OflvraT3w-pcjAUpTiRnApO7nPOmrOA0cU2WbTx0oPObhEm6CPJdRGJM13wEf65PYKsj9Zvok5-gE4VntI3MVp7p7qt_yZISiDD/s320/Perrier-Jouet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapter 14: The 1825 Perrier-Jouët champagne Mrs. Mackenzie retrieves from the wine cellar is historically accurate, and would have been a very fine fifty-two-year-old bottle of champagne when Magnetron smashed it across the bow of the <i>Caelestis</i>. Indeed, one of the last remaining bottles of this vintage was uncorked in 2009 for a “liquid history” tasting by wine experts, one of whom described the still-bubbly libation as “generous with an intense nose.”<br />
<br />
Read more about Perrier-Jouët champagne and its history at: <br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.atlasofwineries.com/wineries/perrierjouet.html" target="_blank">Atlas of Wineries</a>: Winery history</li>
<li><a href="http://www.wallpaper.com/commercial/perrier-jouet/brand-history/5882" target="_blank">Wallpaper.com</a>: Brand history</li>
<li><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7954876.stm" target="_blank">BBC News</a>: News account of "liquid history" tasting</li>
</ul>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-83688055584847089902013-06-22T16:22:00.000-07:002013-06-22T16:22:52.613-07:00The Great Magnetron Logophile Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYBh0xyDKhNxoChH4B6OhFOffxqk5Z_lIUSIlvu-BIS9MveJUDgu6HaV6XsrLHFq-q1KH9c1hULLvdLJ72CbwFJUAwV3fh_A5IQZTX782HyggpU6zbaGgQmtzy8PSGO4jhzpJ3VXYVmI4/s1600/dictionary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizYBh0xyDKhNxoChH4B6OhFOffxqk5Z_lIUSIlvu-BIS9MveJUDgu6HaV6XsrLHFq-q1KH9c1hULLvdLJ72CbwFJUAwV3fh_A5IQZTX782HyggpU6zbaGgQmtzy8PSGO4jhzpJ3VXYVmI4/s1600/dictionary.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Last April, I sent out a challenge to loyal Magnetron fans: <br />
<br />
<i>Calling all logophiles, verbivores, and other ostentatiously learned geeks: Share your favorite obscure English word to win fabulous prizes (okay, they'll probably just be free ebooks). Top responses will be strategically deployed in my next book, The Kraken of Cape Farewell--with appropriate attribution of course!</i><br />
<br />
Our judges have been hard at work choosing the winners, who are listed below with their winning entries: <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Hugh McCormick - Apricity, Hugger Mugger, Jollux, Snow-broth</li>
<li>Jordan Bryant - Cantankerous</li>
<li>Clarence Bonner - Defenestration</li>
<li>Tracy Abernathy - Droud</li>
<li>Christy Lynn Foster - Gorgonize, Groak, Jargogle</li>
<li>James McAllister - Shankalicious (way to make things difficult, James!)</li>
</ul>
These six lucky and ostentatiously learned geeks will each receive a free copy of Rise of the Hogalum Society in the ebook format of their choice, and will be suitably immortalized in the acknowledgments section of the next book in the Magnetron Chronicles series, The Kraken of Cape Farewell.<br />
<br />
Congratulations one and all and thanks for playing!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-33175874078484923442013-06-16T16:36:00.000-07:002013-06-16T16:36:05.771-07:001877: A Space Oddity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgV0ONxydCD03Fr22lZ2InBj3uo8oGq81dDcPSfO3U47Q9WemE9fZ16JwyuI1v3TUUwyOvvY43W8skdQPrSZwX5o0VLA3C2-bP5Imy2CqNbg42GFrufDgrOpQfOJXeRcxpe2VEVrwT1J_K/s1600/954962_satellite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgV0ONxydCD03Fr22lZ2InBj3uo8oGq81dDcPSfO3U47Q9WemE9fZ16JwyuI1v3TUUwyOvvY43W8skdQPrSZwX5o0VLA3C2-bP5Imy2CqNbg42GFrufDgrOpQfOJXeRcxpe2VEVrwT1J_K/s1600/954962_satellite.jpg" /></a></div>
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapter 13: Although Magnetron marks September 30, 1877 as the date of the first
manned spaceflight, history records that the first manmade object in
space was a V-2 rocket launched by Germany in October of 1942, some 65
years after Magnetron’s notable—but secret—achievement. History credits
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin as the first man in space in 1961. He took his entire body with him.<br />
<br />
Read more about early spaceflight at:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/space-exploration/early-manned-spaceflight/" target="_blank">National Geographic</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.russianspaceweb.com/spacecraft_manned_first.html" target="_blank">RussianSpaceWeb.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.seasky.org/spacexp/sky5d1.html" target="_blank">Sea and Sky</a></li>
</ul>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-44453417332822438522013-06-07T16:51:00.000-07:002013-06-12T16:56:16.551-07:00Neuroelectrical Pioneers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzuvHL6IXTK04TsFznfIatJ-GyMf7Bqrhzk7gSP7Kv23DACAfvmKPQA-jjNdORfP7aZg7tw16TV5qcDP_LGzbOQ3eSC9Vbo-qWUzht7Uhc2jW5a42z2SQCDhHG_DlvY6daVGP2zNlYIAn-/s1600/566012_neurology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzuvHL6IXTK04TsFznfIatJ-GyMf7Bqrhzk7gSP7Kv23DACAfvmKPQA-jjNdORfP7aZg7tw16TV5qcDP_LGzbOQ3eSC9Vbo-qWUzht7Uhc2jW5a42z2SQCDhHG_DlvY6daVGP2zNlYIAn-/s1600/566012_neurology.jpg" /></a></div>
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapter 10: Magnetron’s remarks regarding “the brain’s ability to direct the body with small electrical discharges” have a historical context dating back to Luigi Galvani’s 18th Century frog-leg experiments in “animal electricity,” which in turn spurred Alessandro Volta to invent the first battery. In Magnetron’s time, Liverpool physician Richard Caton had observed electrical activity in animal brains, although the first electroencephalogram was not recorded until 1912.<br />
<br />
Read more about Galvani, Volta, and Caton here:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/galvani.html" target="_blank">Luigi Galvani</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/volta.html" target="_blank">Alessandro Volta</a></li>
<li><a href="http://neuroportraits.eu/portrait/richard-caton" target="_blank">Richard Caton</a></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-37657925014690217522013-05-27T20:53:00.004-07:002013-06-12T16:43:55.063-07:00A Very Short Voodoo Glossary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj492JDBcVOJPCNYT1pVJsz8J7sgpIJHRQK5ijBrHZpu8rT9rM4pCAO5rbZSxtWJrzdt7P8a80fChDxrCI3uYjtOBGTCU7Xg1krFnsrWqRSGZZrqYJI5YTW8_yITyOh2sKuOWspBysZIlx6/s1600/530487_voodoo_man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj492JDBcVOJPCNYT1pVJsz8J7sgpIJHRQK5ijBrHZpu8rT9rM4pCAO5rbZSxtWJrzdt7P8a80fChDxrCI3uYjtOBGTCU7Xg1krFnsrWqRSGZZrqYJI5YTW8_yITyOh2sKuOWspBysZIlx6/s1600/530487_voodoo_man.jpg" /></a></div>
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapters 8-9: Petión’s <i>vodou</i> (voodoo) lingo represents reasonably accurate usage of such terms and “reasoning” on such topics. A <i>houngan</i> is a vodou priest, whereas a <i>bokor</i> delves into the darker aspects, including the reanimation of the dead. The <i>lwa</i> (also called <i>loa</i>), or spirit, is not analogous to a person’s “soul,” as in major religions, but is closer to an angel, an intermediary entity between humans and Bondye, the Creator. <i>Lwas</i> are summoned by a <i>vodou</i> priest, whereupon they “mount” a nearby participant, in this case, the disembodied head of Dr. Hogalum.<br />
<br />
Read more about voodoo at:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Vodou" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.howstuffworks.com/voodoo.htm" target="_blank">HowStuffWorks.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=ustx&c=trads&id=6325" target="_blank">The Witches' Voice</a></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-85559910504892677122013-05-16T14:48:00.003-07:002013-06-12T16:45:45.138-07:00Thoreau's Famous Last Words<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpaSkEzVmSN5KpPXLH6Q6gC9uokcayeQyACz4TMI2U1RJINaEQq45v-rQ7UOJYoop_Uqu9lNsf3iIdTZI-5uUcUKtOmrMWrffQK2fsHTeKRDsen4NnyBwZDh4UpAiAbTrgBXbu2Ndzg6Px/s1600/thoreau1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpaSkEzVmSN5KpPXLH6Q6gC9uokcayeQyACz4TMI2U1RJINaEQq45v-rQ7UOJYoop_Uqu9lNsf3iIdTZI-5uUcUKtOmrMWrffQK2fsHTeKRDsen4NnyBwZDh4UpAiAbTrgBXbu2Ndzg6Px/s1600/thoreau1a.jpg" /></a></div>
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapter 5: The quotation on Dr. Hogalum’s headstone was indeed uttered by Henry David Thoreau, who died at the age of 44 of tuberculosis. Although quite ill, he had continued to write extensively and take visitors, including the Quaker abolitionist Parker Pillsbury, who reportedly prompted him for theories on the afterlife, to which he replied, “Oh, one world at a time.” Thoreau died a few days later, uttering his final words: "Moose… Indian."<br />
<br />
Read more about Henry David Thoreau at:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.walden.org/thoreau" target="_blank">The Walden Woods Project</a></li>
<li><a href="http://w.thoreausociety.org/_news_abouthdt.htm" target="_blank">The Thoreau Society</a></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-47438695818219529472013-05-12T14:19:00.000-07:002013-06-12T16:46:53.456-07:00Uncommonly Tenacious Soldiers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzSU-r4c4NjjAG0xqL9woC5o0zVixWIZEcL3nRJndMc6z1Xe6iwT7DoJvSx9SCJYTOyB0GeH1_uSPRqY5wYsmio27APtibXtBCD-rAOAAxUmufPRna6pG0d39s3-mdM9CoxG52raKOqyR/s1600/220px-Onoda-young.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDzSU-r4c4NjjAG0xqL9woC5o0zVixWIZEcL3nRJndMc6z1Xe6iwT7DoJvSx9SCJYTOyB0GeH1_uSPRqY5wYsmio27APtibXtBCD-rAOAAxUmufPRna6pG0d39s3-mdM9CoxG52raKOqyR/s1600/220px-Onoda-young.jpg" /></a></div>
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapter 5: The character General Lucian Southwick was inspired by resolute Confederate General Joseph Shelby, Texas Governor Pendleton Murrah, and others who similarly kept fighting well after the Civil War had drawn to a close; also by Japanese Lt. Hiroo Onoda, who refused to believe that World War II had ended and fought the good fight for twenty-nine years after his comrades had called it quits.<br />
<br />
Read more about these uncommonly tenacious soldiers:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://mocivilwar150.com/history/figure/191" target="_blank">Joseph Shelby</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmu15" target="_blank">Pendleton Murrah</a></li>
<li><a href="http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/soldiersurr.htm" target="_blank">Hiroo Onoda</a></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-1965224465766249332013-05-08T13:53:00.000-07:002013-06-12T16:51:56.612-07:00Thrale's Russian Imperial Stout<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirmfbEXu6ABTGrXIuIN_sa1ktCZhb5c-tKwgJ2-oI90k-1QRJsCxvynpQIhn5bGw86cmiIBgvQD_vYteRnwzlE6CF_8kAWgPLL9QPJoH5lUg4i6qfWHPAYn2aQRtFFsMd31MbvkcZFIKwu/s1600/russian_stout_label.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirmfbEXu6ABTGrXIuIN_sa1ktCZhb5c-tKwgJ2-oI90k-1QRJsCxvynpQIhn5bGw86cmiIBgvQD_vYteRnwzlE6CF_8kAWgPLL9QPJoH5lUg4i6qfWHPAYn2aQRtFFsMd31MbvkcZFIKwu/s1600/russian_stout_label.png" /></a></div>
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapter 2: The Thrale’s Russian Imperial Stout beer mentioned in regards to Magnetron's initiation ritual may be an anachronism, as Henry Thrale’s Anchor Brewery was sold after his death to Barclay’s of banking fame. Regrettably, the author’s research failed to determine when the name of this historic brew was changed, as eventually came to pass. Also, some beer historians are skeptical that the designation “Russian Imperial Stout” was used before 1900. In the end, the lyrical quality of "Thrale’s Russian Imperial Stout" was deemed too alluring to resist and survived an otherwise ruthless editing session.<br />
<br />
Read more about Thrale’s, the Anchor Brewery and Russian imperial stouts at:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.thrale.com/russian_imperial_stout" target="_blank">Thrale.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://banksidethenandnow.co.uk/#/anchor-brewery/4554173696" target="_blank">Bankside Then and Now</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.totalwine.com/eng/guide-to-beer/russian-imperial-stout.cfm" target="_blank">Total Wine Beer Guide</a></li>
</ul>
<i>Note: The oft-repeated story of the Czar's original order of porter arriving in St. Petersburg spoiled, prompting the brewery to crank up the alcohol content as a preservative measure, is believed by some beer historians to be inaccurate.</i><br />
<ul>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-51685993670351863982013-05-05T19:58:00.004-07:002013-05-12T20:20:25.421-07:00Historical Background NotesIn response to reader input, Volumes 1 and 2 of the Magnetron Chronicles have both been appended with Historical Background Notes sections:<br />
<br />
<i>"This volume contains a variety of historical and scientific references, abstruse jargon, and intentional anachronisms. To enhance the reader’s appreciation of the aforementioned story elements, a more or less scholarly examination of them is presented below. It should be noted that these remarks represent not exhaustive research but good faith attempts at historical accuracy, and that they have been written predominantly in passive voice so as to appear more scholarly than they really are."</i><br />
<br />
New editions of the Magnetron Chronicles books are being released one at a time with this additional historical and other background information. If your older copy doesn't include this section, fear not! All of the background information will be published on this website as well, with hyperlinks to additional information on the web.<br />
<br />
Start reading <a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/search/label/Historical%20Background%20Notes">here</a> or click the Historical Background Notes link on the right.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-41813966362711202402013-05-05T19:50:00.000-07:002013-06-12T17:00:51.845-07:00Lasiodora parahybana tarantula<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGm_v8YfPEFdvM2V3Y0gO3MQMW92hvnFxMiICDe9xGdrv3GiA1TSSUo39vy3VO0dssnqoEl6poocCYbYIcvufbtIeO4fKkC8d8P3XDoyrLoUinmhYHq8YNA-EygoPuww1C4I5ol3VNItfR/s1600/Lasiodora_parahybana_2009_G03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGm_v8YfPEFdvM2V3Y0gO3MQMW92hvnFxMiICDe9xGdrv3GiA1TSSUo39vy3VO0dssnqoEl6poocCYbYIcvufbtIeO4fKkC8d8P3XDoyrLoUinmhYHq8YNA-EygoPuww1C4I5ol3VNItfR/s1600/Lasiodora_parahybana_2009_G03.jpg" /></a></div>
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapter 2: The <i>Lasiodora parahybana</i> tarantula used in Magnetron’s initiation ritual is an exceptionally large spider also known as the Brazilian Salmon Pink Bird-eating Tarantula. <i>L. parahybana</i> have been known to sport one-inch fangs and reach leg spans in excess of eleven inches. As a point of historical fact, the <i>L. parahybana</i> was not discovered by zoologists until 1917, but the spiny creature proved too compelling to be edited from the final manuscript, a rare literary instance of an anachronistic arachnid.<br />
<br />
Read more about the Lasiodora parahybana tarantula at:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasiodora_parahybana" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.arkive.org/brazilian-salmon-pink-tarantula/lasiodora-parahybana/" target="_blank">ARKive.org</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/visit-the-zoo/invertebrates-house/spiders-and-scorpions-1254385524/lasiodora-parahybana" target="_blank">WAZA.org (World Assoc. of Zoos and Aquariums)</a></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-52001370337179173712013-05-05T19:35:00.005-07:002013-06-12T17:01:17.867-07:00The Battle of Chancellorsville<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrtpmgbA7NZ9JQENtZpnfkLZxBlzJzAICBvOgASc879g9cUersdLfEG6TYjc3f5r1gR0IOWX1clI8RAVjwjlyAeaN7l8N1nmzQ3M-OTxAPcHUsUWhAJ5_C30ej_rc-1KKxiFOQ2bH7Wvu/s1600/300px-Battle_of_Chancellorsville.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgrtpmgbA7NZ9JQENtZpnfkLZxBlzJzAICBvOgASc879g9cUersdLfEG6TYjc3f5r1gR0IOWX1clI8RAVjwjlyAeaN7l8N1nmzQ3M-OTxAPcHUsUWhAJ5_C30ej_rc-1KKxiFOQ2bH7Wvu/s1600/300px-Battle_of_Chancellorsville.png" /></a></div>
Historical Background Note for Volume 1, Chapter 2: Phineas Magnetron refers to a "corpse-littered battlefield," which is one of several such American Civil War battlefields of the Battle of Chancellorsville, fought in Virginia in early May of 1863. This prolonged, bloody engagement was a decisive victory for Robert E. Lee’s Northern Virginia Army over Hooker’s much larger infantry and cavalry forces. Unfortunately for the South, storied general Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded in the battle as well.<br />
<br />
Read more about the Battle of Chancellorsville at:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/chancellorsville.html" target="_blank">Civilwar.org</a> (The Civil War Trust)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.history.com/topics/battle-of-chancellorsville" target="_blank">History.com</a></li>
</ul>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-21614319802002653852013-04-21T15:01:00.000-07:002013-04-21T15:07:54.288-07:00A Trilogy of Pentalogies?With the publication of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CB7WDZU?tag=dlma0b-20">Luftigel and Doppelgänger</a>, the first five volumes of the Magnetron Chronicles are now available as Kindle ebooks. However, a new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CCTUL4M?tag=dlma0b-20">Rise of the Hogalum Society</a> has also been released recently, a happy event which has nevertheless caused some confusion. Therefore, a bit of explanation is in order.<br />
<br />
<i>The Magnetron Chronicles</i> is a planned trilogy in fifteen parts, a
series of fifteen novelette-length (10-15,000 words) volumes compiled
into three longer books, each containing five smaller volumes. The
first five volumes in the series are now available as ebooks from your favorite online stores:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/volume-1.html">Volume 1: The Last Adventure of Dr. Yngve Hogalum</a></li>
<li><a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/volume-2.html">Volume 2: Spring-heeled Jack and the President's Ring</a></li>
<li><a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/volume-3.html">Volume 3: Escape from Xanadu</a></li>
<li><a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/volume-4.html">Volume 4: High Crimes and Miscreants</a></li>
<li><a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/volume-5.html">Volume 5: Luftigel and Doppelgänger</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
These first five volumes are also now available together in Book I of the Magnetron Chronicles trilogy, <a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/book-i.html">Rise of the Hogalum Society</a>. This admittedly oddball arrangement is enumerated in greater detail <a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/about-magnetron-chronicles.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-26858070824155945462013-04-14T16:18:00.001-07:002013-04-14T16:21:13.490-07:00Cover Reveal for Book I<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5_sThBBDnkzA13Bw6ZqhmyTIMuQVBE_woPe218IwI6pd2MgNdAa0FjEQIXlDiGP6zC9W9naLAF6y9uATWpnUNoxzJdvYAvVDwXixrRDwmOYd_XNOgOQvsynVtwzgIJEgwF8FQgPztXU/s1600/Bk1Cover310x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5_sThBBDnkzA13Bw6ZqhmyTIMuQVBE_woPe218IwI6pd2MgNdAa0FjEQIXlDiGP6zC9W9naLAF6y9uATWpnUNoxzJdvYAvVDwXixrRDwmOYd_XNOgOQvsynVtwzgIJEgwF8FQgPztXU/s320/Bk1Cover310x450.jpg" width="220" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first complete book of<br />
the Magnetron Chronicles Trilogy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The newest Magnetron Chronicles book will soon be available at Amazon. It will include all of the first five individual volumes, plus a bonus short story, at a special price!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-4356972555652403072013-04-08T17:27:00.001-07:002013-04-08T17:38:03.939-07:00Steam Whistles Past the Graveyard...The fine folks at <a href="http://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">horroraddicts.net</a> generally have their hands full peering into fresh graves and chasing down bloodthirsty monsters. Now, they have ventured into the weird world of steampunk with a look at two steampunk series, <a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/about-magnetron-chronicles.html">The Magnetron Chronicles</a>, and <a href="http://thewilliamshunt.mt-pockets.org/" target="_blank">The William's Hunt</a> series by my Facebook writer pal, Krista Cagg.<br />
<br />
Reviewer David Watson checked out the first volumes of each series, calling Cagg's <i>Shove Off</i> "short and sweet, with a lot of action," and The Last Adventure of Dr. Yngve Hogalum "excellent... fun... a must-read." Check out Watson's horroraddicts.net review <a href="http://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/shove-off-and-the-magnetron-chronicles/" target="_blank">here</a>!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-5241482072915316892013-03-31T10:26:00.002-07:002013-03-31T10:26:35.448-07:00Volume 5 Cover Reveal<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwRtJlpC5GLUY32YlUWmtq_Buytqj9_XOAuSQJO1yEG9-P-eVEeC3qpzqKILC20p6CQposSSa7b6nxgsGFOV9aC7ZlvTOgbIxIoMcolNIuZS6zs5puyyebhHhJ3lDujNgV3C770K4Mu5g/s1600/Vol5Cover310x450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwRtJlpC5GLUY32YlUWmtq_Buytqj9_XOAuSQJO1yEG9-P-eVEeC3qpzqKILC20p6CQposSSa7b6nxgsGFOV9aC7ZlvTOgbIxIoMcolNIuZS6zs5puyyebhHhJ3lDujNgV3C770K4Mu5g/s320/Vol5Cover310x450.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover for the upcoming fifth volume</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Here it is, the cover for "Luftigel and Doppelgänger," the fifth volume in the <i>Magnetron Chronicles</i> saga. This cover depicts the <i>Luftigel</i>, the Hogalum Society's advanced airship, engaged in a pitched battle with the League of Miscreants' copycat airship over the city of Berlin. If you look closely, you can almost make out Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin pointing and taking detailed notes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-62855505097732826422013-03-23T07:33:00.000-07:002013-03-23T07:33:23.953-07:00Luftigel and DoppelgängerThe latest volume of The Magnetron Chronicles is in final editing, and henceforth the working title shall be known simply as "the title," or more specifically, "Luftigel and Doppelgänger."<br />
<br />
In this fifth volume of Magnetron's journals, the strange truth regarding Magnetron's previously unexplained disappearance in 1900 is revealed, as are hitherto unremarked romantic interests. Having journeyed to Berlin, the Hogalum Society members seek to clear their names and hunt down Eldridge Compost before he can do more harm. In so doing, they will be drawn into Compost's twisted schemes, culminating in an aerial battle to the death over Prussian skies.<br />
<br />
More information--including a cover reveal--coming soon!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-36557562111311580462013-03-17T08:30:00.000-07:002013-03-17T08:30:33.602-07:00"A world of vast, quirky potential..."Dieselpunk author and pulp aficionado Grant Gardiner has recently reviewed "The Last Adventure of Dr. Yngve Hogalum" on Goodreads, giving it 4 Stars (Recommend). Gardiner's latest project is his "Tommy Thunder and the Tales of the Aether Age" series, set in an alternate timeline 1920s America. Thankfully, he took some time out to offer some insightful remarks on the first book in the Magnetron Chronicles series, calling it "fantastic... whacky steampunk... in the style of an H. Rider Haggard adventure story." Check out his review <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/473557723" target="_blank">here</a>, and then plot a course for his blog <a href="http://www.tommythunder.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. There be two-fisted, hair-part flipping action and adventure dead ahead...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-62582499837930690582012-12-08T05:57:00.001-08:002013-03-23T07:44:25.242-07:00Winter of Our Daring Gents<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AZRLWUA?tag=dlma0b-20" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEillNUINMT2yE4uv36IWQvDPJzR78daUp8Q2I8JHtYRK_iTIvq54kHA1N99uMwBOQSKcPCh8LMlVmgsPzREuHHvTyFApefn26jdQti-KKvlHL02ZDGEzxYRSRXQJp3IwBEQbudOai1xAiw/s320/esteampunk.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">eSteampunk's long-awaited second issue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
At long last, the December 2012 issue of <a href="http://www.efictionmag.com/esteampunk/" target="_blank">eSteampunk</a> is available from the steampunk imprint of <a href="http://www.efictionmag.com/" target="_blank">eFiction</a>. This issue features D. L. Mackenzie's "The Smiljan Breach," a prequel to the Magnetron Chronicles series featuring Dr. Hogalum on a Viennese bender, the <i>Luftigel</i>'s maiden voyage, and a cameo appearance by none other than Nikola Tesla.<br />
<br />
eSteampunk's second issue also brings you Matt Bett's "The Safest Passage," George S. Walker's "The Case of the Night-walking Automaton" and eSteampunk's first serial, "Black Dragon Blues," plus stunning cover art by Jonathan Hunt. Available in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB formats for only $3.99!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-84198107844317218172012-10-02T10:11:00.000-07:002012-10-02T10:13:14.690-07:00Tesla Sighting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.wattpad.com/story/2000563-the-smiljan-breach" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZhpnNAm8W9mWYpV10GPZntU3DfY6hT9yjxn4zCP7OPrwbCzMsPpJhu8o76dhkvCO4KzeuW5R1Yw7XbxL2OrrnCFJhQXmtmDwoi8MmVEv2BIiAPr-sOa8h_mNZWHZys_IIJMY-8skWnV8/s320/Vol0Cover310x450.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The latest Magnetron story is a prequel called "The Smiljan Breach." <a href="http://www.wattpad.com/story/2000563-the-smiljan-breach" target="_blank">Available free exclusively at Wattpad</a>, The Smiljan Breach features the incomparable Dr. Hogalum along with a somewhat younger Hogalum Society. Our heroes encounter intrigue in Vienna and board the <i>Luftigel</i> on her maiden flight to Smiljan, birthplace of Nikola Tesla, whereupon horror and hilarity ensue. <a href="http://www.wattpad.com/story/2000563-the-smiljan-breach" target="_blank">Check out the story for free at Wattpad</a> before it is submitted for publication elsewhere!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-77018744203767219292012-08-19T07:32:00.001-07:002012-08-19T08:51:10.767-07:00Dr. Anton Karswell Valkusian, 1829—1899<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijaUZXlADRL90jXhluDdn8igaEH_bKntdtamyVfRjE19K9Wu3iwPvXf8tvdZwRgq1bXzi7o2aoJdGj4F0Lnyt-_I1Bz_UrJFvLs5aDHFAkZn_DuwK6TWPpI94niYm1h5s9cC9tYhSn4-E/s1600/Valkusian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijaUZXlADRL90jXhluDdn8igaEH_bKntdtamyVfRjE19K9Wu3iwPvXf8tvdZwRgq1bXzi7o2aoJdGj4F0Lnyt-_I1Bz_UrJFvLs5aDHFAkZn_DuwK6TWPpI94niYm1h5s9cC9tYhSn4-E/s1600/Valkusian.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Anton Karswell
Valkusian was born in 1829 in the tiny hamlet of Pigniu, in Switzerland's Graubünden canton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An extraordinarily gifted child, he was also
profoundly quiet and unsociable, preferring the solitude of his mother's garden
to the company of other children his age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the age of four, he had yet to utter a word, prompting his worried
mother to consult with a physician in Geneva.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a brief examination, the doctor
pronounced the boy mentally deficient and recommended institutionalization,
whereupon young Anton reportedly swore at the doctor in four languages and
unfavorably critiqued his most recent monograph on the topic of ringworm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus cured, he nonetheless remained quite taciturn well
into adulthood, despite his rare talent for language.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
When Anton's
parents enrolled him in the village school, he astonished his teacher by
completing all of his lessons for an entire school year in one evening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The teacher took the precocious child under
her direct tutelage, schooling him with her own library of books and with a
variety of texts ordered by mail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
a brilliant student, but as the unquestioned "teacher's pet," Anton's
interpersonal difficulties with his classmates intensified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He became an accomplished fighter through
multiple schoolyard scraps, many of which arose from unkind words regarding
Anton's family.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
The Valkusians
were unusually isolated in their small village, sullied by rumor and shunned by
all but a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Valkusian's mother Ladina
Valkusian had dismayed traditionally provincial villagers by marrying a man
from outside the village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Worse, he was
not even Swiss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Egidius Valkusian was a
gruff Dutch merchant who rarely missed an opportunity to alienate neighbors and
potential customers with coarse anti-Swiss remarks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He delighted in
flaunting his Dutch-made pocket watch, and horrified acquaintances by publicly scorning
local chocolates and cheeses.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
As unpopular
as Egidius Valkusian was, his wife was held in even greater contempt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only was Ladina Valkusian blamed for
marrying a brusque foreigner, it was rumored in the town that little Anton's
true father was another man, an itinerant poet, possibly Ambrose Spenser.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The family business eventually withered and
folded, and Anton's father abruptly left one day, never to return.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Anton and his mother remained
ostracized in the otherwise close-knit community until, in 1840, Ladina
Valkusian took a job in Bern
as a governess and left Pigniu for good.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Anton
Valkusian's love of languages served him well as he began to interact with his
new friends in Bern and travel with his mother
throughout Switzerland's
French-speaking districts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He attended university
at an early age, studying history, philosophy, and religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon, he began an independent study of
Eastern mysticism, prompting him to leave school at the age of 21 and embark on
a series of Asian expeditions in search of ancient wisdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was rumored to have experimented with opium and occult phenomena, and seemed disinclined to deny such speculation. A fragment retrieved from an unfinished
memoir revealed that he spent at least two years among Tibetan monks, but the
remainder of his itinerary and activities remain the subject of much conjecture to this day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
When Valkusian
reemerged in the West, his insightful facility with language served him well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His knowledge of dozens of ancient scripts
and dead languages earned him a position at the British Museum
where he was given free reign to study a wide range of priceless ancient artifacts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Valkusian stayed on at the museum until 1859,
when he was discharged after a visit by Prime Minister John Russell, then Foreign
Secretary in the Palmerston cabinet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Witnesses claimed that Valkusian had lunged and assaulted Lord Russell
when he absentmindedly set a cup of tea on a display case housing the Rosetta
Stone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lord Russell declined to
prosecute, but Valkusian was summarily dismissed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Almost
immediately after returning to Switzerland,
he was consulted by Dr. Yngve Hogalum and François Boileau of the
newly founded Hogalum Society and aided them in deciphering an ancient coded
document from the Tang Dynasty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shortly
thereafter, he was inducted into the Society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Valkusian also returned to university, eventually receiving his doctorate
degree, and began publishing his work between Hogalum Society missions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Hebrew professor Samuel Preiswerk
introduced Valkusian to his daughter Emilie and son-in-law Paul Jung.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Valkusian reportedly began a torrid affair with
Emilie Preismark and was rumored to be the true father of her son, Carl Jung.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Valkusian's flowing
dark blonde hair, gray eyes, and lean frame lent him a natural charisma despite
his characteristically antisocial demeanor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He was frequently somewhat unkempt in his dress, wearing rumpled tweeds or
exotic costumes still dusty from undisclosed explorations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, he could always be counted upon
to present himself as a dapper gentleman, typically appearing in public
shrouded in his signature black cape and silk Gibus top hat, and occasionally
donning a monocle for reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was
rarely seen without an intricately carved walking stick (a gift from a Tibetan
sherpa who died while guiding Valkusian on one of many adventures), and an
equally ornate pipe carved from briarwood and Grecian sepiolite.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
As one of the
original three members of the Hogalum Society, Anton Karswell Valkusian was a
guiding force, introducing much-needed intellectual rigor to the Society's
formerly rather whimsical and disorderly flights of fancy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although secretive, he was wise, patient, and
generous in his advice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, the
frequent friction between Valkusian and Boileau eventually erupted in a
volcanic battle, prompting Boileau to betray the Hogalum Society in spectacular
fashion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, Boileau was
ejected, Valkusian restored control, and he and Dr. Hogalum worked tirelessly
to build the Hogalum Society into a disciplined squadron of talented and
intellectual adventurers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
After Dr.
Hogalum's death, Anton Valkusian adopted a leadership role within the Hogalum
Society, but remained true to his ideals of direct democracy within the often
fractious group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to his
knowledge of dead languages, Valkusian reputedly spoke some thirty languages
fluently, and his knowledge of foreign cultures also made him an invaluable
asset to the globetrotting Hogalum Society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He often served as navigator aboard the Luftigel airship when Cerebelli
was otherwise engaged.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
He was fond of
quoting reciting obscure proverbs when he felt a situation called for
coolheaded wisdom, although his precise meaning often evaded onlookers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before grappling with a difficult task, he
often remarked that "a peasant will have to stand on a hillside for a long
time with his mouth open until a roast duck flies into it." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of his most oft-quoted utterances from shortly
before he was killed in an 1899 duel was "A tiger leaves its skin when
dead, but men live by their fame instead." </div>
<a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/biographical-information.html">Read more biographical sketches»</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-44504060755321308272012-08-08T16:05:00.002-07:002012-08-19T07:49:05.399-07:00Eldridge Compost, 1840—1911(?)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyomU72X5-JzneHOc7ldX6oVglOgSEQYUDyeD1y9NkDC-cvrKt1oMi_HnRfYei0uY-JNGyoxcgO690Kvg4aRUy7e8KxuYT2q3iKdJKVR3grNFn-8JoK-14dKTtmMenn_N-TxOiSSwPxwA/s1600/Compost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyomU72X5-JzneHOc7ldX6oVglOgSEQYUDyeD1y9NkDC-cvrKt1oMi_HnRfYei0uY-JNGyoxcgO690Kvg4aRUy7e8KxuYT2q3iKdJKVR3grNFn-8JoK-14dKTtmMenn_N-TxOiSSwPxwA/s1600/Compost.jpg" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Eldridge
Compost was a brilliant, well-educated madman, and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">de facto</i> leader of the League of Miscreants, a loose confederation
of the most unbalanced crime magnates of the late Nineteenth Century. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An inscrutable radical, Compost was regarded
by many intellectuals of his time as one of the century's most influential
Utopians. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was an outspoken social
critic who longed to raze modern society, reversing what he called
"Euro-American Technomorphic Hegemony," replacing it with a complex
social system he dubbed "Frolicking Neo-primitivism."<br />
<br />
Compost's
hatred of Western civilization sprang from his singular childhood and
adolescence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The child of
anthropologists, Compost was a mere infant when he was lost in an African
jungle on one of his parents' many excursions to the largely unexplored
continent. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Found by tribesman, he was
raised in their culture, and enjoyed an earthy but idyllic youth.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
At the age of
twelve, he was engaged in a "manhood quest," a sacred rite of passage
to adulthood in his tribe, when he was spotted and captured by a party of
German hunters. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since he could not speak
German, they assumed he was English and returned him to London. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scientists there poked and prodded this
"Jungle Boy" (who could not speak English, either) in a fruitless
attempt at understanding the nature of his anomalous development. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compost escaped within weeks, reappearing
months later in a traveling carnival, on display as "The Wild Boy of
Tanganyika." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shortly thereafter, he
was purchased for £250 by the whaling tycoon Sylvester Compost, who gave the
boy his name.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
To his credit,
Compost investigated thoroughly and found that the boy's true parents had been
killed and eaten, not by Africans, but by a particularly disagreeable group of
Greek fishermen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compost took the boy as
his own, as his marriage of ten years had failed to produce any progeny. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The elder Compost then set about
"civilizing" the grunting adolescent, dressing him in the finest
clothes and sending him to the finest institutions of learning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Eldridge
absorbed the community into which he was so thrust, adopting the language and
customs far more readily than anyone had predicted. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unbeknownst to his doting adoptive parents,
Eldridge was quietly plotting revenge, biding his time until he had learned
enough to adapt to—and overcome—the society that had plucked from his happy
home in Africa. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the Composts
themselves never came to any harm, the young Compost embarked on a career of
horrendous misdeeds against others.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
He was an inveterate
prankster in his early teens, but his offenses spiraled upward in severity and
cruelty. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He narrowly escaped capture for
hurling obscenities and rotten produce at the Queen, and was finally captured
and jailed for burning down a sewing machine factory. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His sentence was commuted due to the tireless
efforts and social standing of his father, but he was summarily disowned at age
twenty when he arrived at an elegant birthday party—arranged by his tormented
parents—wearing nothing but a large ceremonial mask.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Shortly
thereafter, Compost founded The League of Miscreants, taking his first members
from the crime-ridden streets of London.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over time, the common ruffians were
replaced by criminals of a higher order, and Compost struggled to manage the
tenuous association, which was continually fraught with interpersonal and
organizational struggles. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compost
strived to achieve a tightly planned system of interdependent objectives, but
was largely ineffective at instilling even the pretense of discipline in his
ranks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
The one
objective upon which all members were in agreement was the destruction of
modern civilization. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of them driven
by demons of their own, the Miscreants attacked social, industrial, and
governmental institutions with abandon. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
diverged zealously with respect to their final objective, however. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each wanted to rule the world, and much of
their efforts on their own behalf were calculated to do injury to their rivals
within the League.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Compost's
dashing appearance and Utopian schemes, coupled with his talent for persuasion,
permitted him to charm the rich and powerful against their better nature. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The League of Miscreants was funded in no
small part by donations from wealthy daughters of the British nobility.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Compost was
badly burned and disfigured in a skirmish with the Hogalum Society in late
1877.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robbed of his good looks, his
finances failed as well, dragging him down into a maelstrom of madness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his later years, he renounced his criminal
ties and set about convincing the public at large of the evils of modern
society and the advantages of Frolicking Neo-primitivism.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
In 1908,
Compost published his magnum opus, a nine-volume monograph entitled "The
Mud Hut." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Billed as "a master
plan for an enlightened society," the massive tome languished in
bookstores and was universally panned by critics. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first volume was autobiographical in
nature, detailing his youth in Africa. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second volume began with his adoption and
spun out of control as he described the "totalitarian regime" of the
Compost household. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The third, fourth,
and fifth volumes consisted primarily of baseless criticism and elaborate
conspiracy theories surrounding the "landed gentry with aesthetically
pleasing teeth" he insisted were guilty of "bleaching" Africa and bleeding everyone else. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The seventh through ninth volumes purported to
lay out in detail the blueprints for constructing a model village. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Compost evidently was becoming
confused in these later years and the volumes were riddled with contradictions
and errors which he corrected in print rather than editing them from the text.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
For instance,
in Volume Seven (Making a Mud Hut) he recommended mixing mud from earth and
"the blood of white oppressors." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This recommendation evidently required
considerable qualification, however, as the bulk of Volume Eight (Making a Mud
Hut Part Two) was devoted to explaining that not every white man was an
oppressor. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For instance, he took great
pains to exclude himself from consideration as a building material, and listed
others such as Mark Twain who also fell into this category. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Volume Nine (Making an Even Better Mud Hut)
began with instructions for destroying mud huts that were "defiled by the
blood of white oppressors," and ended with a recommendation that villagers
commune with nature by sleeping in trees.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
As he neared
completion of this final volume, Compost became agitated that publication of
his book would require the use of printing presses and other machinery for
binding, distribution, etc., and he abruptly stopped writing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He outraged a series of publishers by
demanding that his book be inscribed by hand on paper made from the skin of
white oppressors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, he
destroyed his own home with an axe and had the timber converted to paper for
his first, and final, printing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Compost was
not seen nor heard from again. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1910,
local police reported a naked elderly man "gamboling about in nothing but
an African mask" and ejected him from Mark Twain's funeral, but it is
unclear if this was actually Compost. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is rumored that he returned to Africa, but
there is no proof of this, and no official record of his death or place of
burial.</div>
<a href="http://themagnetronchronicles.blogspot.com/p/biographical-information.html">Read more biographical sketches»</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-69814796943800533252012-07-28T14:28:00.002-07:002012-07-28T14:28:35.502-07:00The Goodreads Magnetron QuizThat's right, the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/quizzes/results/18961" target="_blank">Goodreads Magnetron Quiz</a> is a short collection of perplexing posers about The Last Adventure of Dr. Yngve Hogalum, the first volume of the Magnetron Chronicles series. Not a Goodreads member? Why not? It's absolutely free to <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_blank">join</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-21174174937492880642012-07-12T13:43:00.000-07:002012-08-19T07:49:30.364-07:00Pierce Coburn, 1840—1915<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jsczjUVxFbJD-K629MkGEo-oS5cbCz681-EVNTLv3c6qGno1aF9ozNxsogaA7Lq_0gnl1PGn5cNw1Y34kJ-hM2YxioIK4E8kmuFQQTvOMgv9-BtupsJaGyqQPGW8EV3NFxlAKR5Y4H-R/s1600/Coburn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3jsczjUVxFbJD-K629MkGEo-oS5cbCz681-EVNTLv3c6qGno1aF9ozNxsogaA7Lq_0gnl1PGn5cNw1Y34kJ-hM2YxioIK4E8kmuFQQTvOMgv9-BtupsJaGyqQPGW8EV3NFxlAKR5Y4H-R/s1600/Coburn.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Pierce Elijah
Coburn was born in August of 1840 in Sydney Cove, New South Wales and raised by his father and
mother in an inconspicuous home near the penal colony. His father earned a modest but comfortable
living as a farrier and horse trainer for the military police and his mother
schooled young Pierce in the hopes he would one day attend university.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Pierce grew
tall and spindly and presented an introverted and meek demeanor. He rarely uttered a word, and when he did, it
was but a whisper. He was energetic,
nimble, and blessed with extraordinary visual acuity. He was also a voracious reader, which in Sydney, necessitated
ordering innumerable books from abroad. Pierce loved to read about warfare and
prominent warriors of the distant past, particularly Alexander and Hannibal. He had an enduring interest in weaponry of all
kinds and when he was not reading he spent his idle time making sketches of catapults,
cannons, and warships, sometimes building scale models of his fanciful designs.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
As he grew,
his strength increased magnificently but he became more aloof and taciturn. His father took him to the stables where he
worked and showed him how to ride and work with horses. Pierce was captivated with the graceful,
powerful beasts and began clamoring for a horse of his own, a request his
father gladly fulfilled. One of the
officers took a liking to young Pierce and taught him how to shoot. On Coburn's twelfth birthday, he received his
first firearm, a Hunt-Jennings repeating rifle which was the forerunner of the
iconic Winchester.
Pierce astounded all of the ordinarily
imperturbable military officers with his splendid aim, prompting them to bestow
the nickname "Bullseye" upon the lad.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
His mother
attempted to continue his education, accelerating the pace, but young
Bullseye's extracurricular activities left him little time for studying. His horse granted him the liberty to go where
he pleased.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Pierce
delighted in the strange flora and fauna found in and around the Great Dividing
Range of Southeastern Australia.
One day, as he was exploring its western
slope, he was astonished to see a bird felled by a flying 'L' shaped weapon and
scrambled to meet the wielder of this fabulous instrument. It was then he met Ganawanda, an aborigine boy
who was as fascinated by Pierce's rifle as Pierce was by his boomerang. Ganawanda taught Pierce how to use a boomerang
and several other native weapons. Pierce
taught Ganawanda how to fire a rifle and ride horses, and Ganawanda taught him
much about surviving in the bush and on the outback. They became inseparable friends, each learning
the other's language and customs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
On Pierce's
sixteenth birthday, he was angered that his father had been required to work
and would be unable to attend his birthday party. He left his mother after a brief argument and
rode out to meet his friends on the outback. He returned well after dark that evening to
find his mother weeping inconsolably. Between sobs, she related the dreadful news
that his father had died after having been thrown by an agitated horse. Though emotionally devastated, Pierce
maintained his composure and announced that he would take a job in the mines to
help with the family finances.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
At a small
open-pit mine west of Canberra,
he caught the attention of his foreman with his quick mind and strong back. He assisted in the setting of charges and
eventually became the explosives chief after his predecessor was killed by an
ill-timed blast.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Coburn
maintained his friendship with Ganawanda and others of his tribe. He spent his free time hunting and exploring
with several of them and accumulated abundant knowledge of hunting, tracking,
and surviving in an inhospitable wilderness. On one of their treks, the men stumbled across
a rich vein of gold running through a low seam. They staked a claim and began working the mine
which proved productive beyond their most fervent anticipations. All five became quite wealthy, although Coburn
began to lose interest in the day-to-day tedium of running a mine and sold his
stake to the other members. The Bullseye
Mine became the Ganawanda Mine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Coburn, now
extraordinarily well-to-do, amused himself by competing in horse racing and
target shooting events. He showered his
mother with extravagant gifts, and became legendary in the local taverns for
his singular capacity for imbibing large quantities of liquor without appearing
to become inebriated. Coburn entertained
himself in this fashion for many months until another ghastly occurrence roused
him to sobriety.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
In late 1867,
Ganawanda was killed by a robber who ambushed him as he left the assayer's
office with the day's proceeds. The
local constabulary was unconcerned with the death of an aborigine man, but
Coburn resolved he would catch the criminal and hold him accountable. He launched a one-man dragnet, doggedly
pursuing the murderous scoundrel responsible for the death of his childhood
friend. Months later, he apprehended
Billy Clodpole, and in a rage, beat him half to death.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Now a criminal
himself, he hastily left New South Wales for America
before he could be captured for his crime. He landed in the California Territory
and set up shop as a bounty hunter. Coburn's
skill and his unusual appearance earned him a rapidly spreading reputation. Dressed in his distinctive long Texas Ranger
coat, "Bullseye" Coburn impressed the local men with his stupendous
gunnery and attracted the local ladies with his ever-present budgie, a
high-spirited talking parakeet named "Bunyip."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
In late 1869,
Coburn had pursued Lucius "Porcupine" Craddock from California
into Carson City, Nevada. Craddock was an escaped murderer who began his
career of criminal behavior as a horse thief. He was infamous for his gang, which numbered
nearly forty and which had looted entire towns, stealing everything from gold
to cattle. Coburn had located the
Porcupine Gang but was mystified by the five dapper gentlemen who also appeared
to be observing them. They did not look
like lawmen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
That
evening,
he surprised them at their camp, demanding they explain their motives.
Dr. Hogalum and the four other members of the
Hogalum Society revealed that they had been retained by the Italian
government
to retrieve a rare artifact that had been stolen in a train robbery.
Coburn was unimpressed. He admonished the Hogalums to keep their
distance lest they be harmed in the crossfire, and disappeared as
suddenly as
he had appeared.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
The following
morning, Satyros witnessed a most extraordinary occurrence from his perch in a
nearby tree. The Porcupine Gang was
making its way slowly up a hillside with Craddock himself at the fore, guiding
the group upward with impatient shouts. Coburn
appeared from behind an outcropping twenty or so feet above Craddock and began
hurling insults and epithets of a most coarse and unseemly kind. Craddock obliged Coburn, climbing up and
positioning himself to fire his revolver at the source of the incendiary
bombast, but Coburn slipped out of sight in an instant. Suddenly, the entire hillside erupted in a
dusty explosion, and Craddock's gang slid kicking and bellowing down the hill
some two hundred feet into an enormous net. By the time Craddock had recovered his
footing, Coburn had him restrained with rope and manacles.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
All of the
Hogalums were intrigued by Coburn's no-nonsense style and unusual accent, but
it was Satyros who suggested offering him membership. In characteristic style, the Hogalums debated
fiercely about the "dusty gunman," finally tabling the discussion
until a suitable tavern might be found. As
luck would have it, their first foray into a genuine western saloon found them
face to face with Coburn himself. He had
sampled the entirety of the female companionship to be found in this
establishment and was about to take his leave when he spied the Hogalums
crossing the dirt road toward the saloon. They entered reluctantly and stepped up to the
bar to place their orders. All of the
patrons laughed uproariously at the exotic libations requested by each Hogalum
in their turn, but the bartender maintained a straight face. When they had finished ordering, the bartender
poured five shots of a most inferior whiskey, "compliments of
Bullseye."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Coburn
apologized curtly that he was unable to retrieve the artifact the Hogalum
Society had been commissioned to retrieve. Valkusian opened a leather case revealing a
spectacular jeweled dagger and calmly explained that Satyros had liberated it
from Craddock's heavily guarded encampment the night before Coburn's
spectacular display of explosives aptitude. Coburn was speechless. Dr. Hogalum, who had rather a taste for
whiskey, was talkative. He invited
Coburn to join the Hogalum Society.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Coburn was
uneasy about the "pompous, self-important" Hogalums, due in part to
their "propensity for pedantic magniloquence and insubstantial
intellectual abstractions." Coburn
had no tolerance for such self-indulgent colloquy, nor for the incessant
argumentation which typified their discourse. When asked about his taciturn reserve, Coburn
frequently quoted the Greek philosopher Xenocrates, saying, "I have often
repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Over the
years, Coburn came to respect the adroitness and wisdom of Dr. Hogalum and his
protégés. The Hogalums, though dubious
at the outset, soon came to value Coburn's contributions and eventually to
admit that his deft clarity of thought made him able to see clearly through the
bewildering murk and subterfuge that often baffled them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Coburn served
as pilot aboard the Luftigel, and his firearm skills were a welcome supplement
to the Hogalums' otherwise meager defensive capabilities. He amassed an armory of weapons, often
carrying multiple pistols and blades strapped to every limb, in addition to his
prized Belgian-made 20-chamber revolver, which he displayed prominently in an
elaborately tooled leather waist holster. Coburn tried for years—without success—to
convince Magnetron to place Gatling guns on the Luftigel Airship. He designed a mechanism that would permit one
shooter to fire five guns simultaneously, but it was never used.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Pierce
"Bullseye" Coburn was a man of few words and calm determination. In
spite of his rough-hewn exterior and proclivity for violent conduct, he was
quite adept at unraveling puzzles that completely perplexed the more intellectual
Hogalums. He assiduously avoided
entanglement in the customary squabbling, and was always prepared for the next
assignment.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752979997688128406.post-87285190979515807622012-03-18T13:40:00.000-07:002012-08-19T07:49:46.054-07:00Atticus Satyros, 1839—1907(?)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZ3O_mqDgUflCPAY4U8i1VnUJ3BFrDdeHc8ztmW_N64kw5kX3g5dTlyu9aSM6V0y1KqrQ6tbLMrtuUn5kyltgGAk6qTSiAERgByRR_q6laBg6zl4zfPW0FwxaMBherzlWlOFJLwkw4DT9/s1600/Satyros.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZ3O_mqDgUflCPAY4U8i1VnUJ3BFrDdeHc8ztmW_N64kw5kX3g5dTlyu9aSM6V0y1KqrQ6tbLMrtuUn5kyltgGAk6qTSiAERgByRR_q6laBg6zl4zfPW0FwxaMBherzlWlOFJLwkw4DT9/s1600/Satyros.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
Atticus Satyros was born in Millinocket, a small town in
central Maine's Penobscot River Valley
in February of 1839 to Greek immigrants Mikael and Lauren Satyros. The young Atticus manifested an abiding
passion for sleight of hand at a very young age, a passion which intensified
with each passing year. However, his practical
nature and analytical mind led him to accept a position down river in Bangor as a clerk at the
Venal Bros. Merchant Marine Bank. Though
Atticus was unaware of it, the institution had long been suspected by local
police as a front for underworld business transactions. The bank owners, brothers Brutus and Luigi Venal,
were charismatic and personable in spite of their clandestine criminal
activity, and became endeared to Atticus and his delightful feats of magic.<br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Atticus eventually
uncovered conclusive evidence of criminal activity, which he swiftly brought to
the attention of the Venal brothers. His
conscientious deed was ostensibly well received by the bankers, who patronized
and promoted young Atticus—then only twenty-one years of age—to a senior
position, granting him a generous bonus. Luigi Venal formally introduced him to Traviata
Maga, a becoming young lady to whom Atticus became inseparably devoted and
eventually engaged. Unfortunately for
Atticus, the Venal brothers were merely assuaging his apprehensions long enough
to eliminate him by means of a cruel and insidious deception.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
The Venals
undertook a campaign of trickery, expressing concern to Atticus' parents—at
progressively shorter intervals—that the young man was not himself. One wintry evening in 1861, as Atticus walked
his regular route home, he fell unconscious and awoke days later confined to
the Worcester, Massachusetts Insane Asylum.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Luigi Venal informed
Atticus' parents that their son had evidenced his unbalanced mental state by
strangling his fiancée while she slept.
He promised to use his influence to save Atticus from the gallows if the
Satyroses agreed to have their son committed to a mental institution. Atticus spent the next three years there
among criminals, madmen and other tortured souls, bitterly protesting his
committal and disavowing any culpability in the death of his beloved, but was
nevertheless unable to recollect his actions or whereabouts on that fateful
evening.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Confined and
embittered, Atticus withdrew inward and became thoroughly immersed in prestidigitation
in all its many forms. He was able to
relieve his boredom and charm even the most malevolent lunatics and murderers
with whom he was forced to coexist by extracting horehound candies from their
ears. Satyros missed no opportunity to
augment his skills, picking locks throughout the madhouse. Doors, padlocks, and shackles—none could
withstand his uncanny skills.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Satyros
continued to plead for a reexamination of his mental competency. His pleas went unanswered, leading to fits of
rage, threats of revenge, and bouts of depression. When all seemed lost, he was assigned a new
physician—Dr. Yngve Hogalum—who was conducting research on a revolutionary brain
elixir at the Worcester Asylum, which treatment which he prescribed for
Satyros. Removed from his former
senseless and emotionally crippling treatment regime, Satyros made a dramatic
recovery.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Dr. Hogalum
marveled at Satyros' unusual dexterity and motor skills as well as his knack
with complex theories of human behavior. His natural talents—forged in a madhouse—produced
several remarkable abilities, not the least of which was the ability to free
himself from straightjackets.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Hogalum
considered Atticus' incredible story acutely, and resolved to unravel the
mystery. Hogalum's investigation produced
no evidence that a murder had been committed at all, much less by his new
patient and friend. He convinced
authorities that Satyros had been falsely implicated in an elaborate scheme,
thus securing his release at age 25.
Afterward, Satyros traveled extensively, maintaining contact with his
family and Dr. Hogalum—his only remaining friend—by sending letters from
every corner of the world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Satyros'
methods were nearly always unconventional and frequently controversial, and his
research into mentalism and the perceptual deception inherent in magic
illusions tended to the obscure and sinister. It was said of Satyros that he was "just
mad enough" to conjure up transcendental faculties of misdirection
completely unknown to "any sane man." Appearing on stage in Paris as The Amazing Satyros, he was himself
shaken by the unexplained and lurid appearance of blood upon the stage, which
resulted in his own fear that he had actually sawed his assistant in half. His assistant was released from her
"coffin" unharmed, but Satyros was convinced that he had stumbled
upon dark archaic powers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
As a
performer, he attained a measure of social stature which allowed him to make a
variety of aristocratic liaisons within private social clubs, many of which
invited him to join at the behest of one of their longstanding members
bewitched by Satyros' magic. He became
something of a financial expert by socializing with tycoons at black tie
parties and political events, though his own personal fortune remained tenuous.
Throughout his career, Satyros displayed
little compunction about importuning well-heeled acquaintances for favors. He was rumored to have borrowed as much as
$100,000 from J. P. Morgan, which he reputedly paid back in the form of bond
certificates which mysteriously vanished the day before they matured.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Atticus
Satyros was tall and sinewy, with long, wavy brown hair. Dark brown flashing eyes completed the
picture of the passionate sorcerer. He
was fastidiously clean and dapper and well versed in social graces, although he
was prone to abandoning his practiced poise in moments of anger, or when he
felt he was being unjustly reproached. In
May of 1865, he was invited to join the Hogalum Society by none other than Dr.
Hogalum. There was concern among other
Hogalum members about the possibility of long-term effects from his confinement
in a sanitarium, but although Satyros displayed somewhat unpredictable
behavior, he proved himself a man of integrity and good works.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
In the
biography, "Satyros the Unknown," historical researcher and
descendant Martin Satyros uncovered Satyros' previously undocumented acrophobia, a
disclosure which shed new light on a performer who frequently staged elaborate
outdoor performances at dizzying heights. Martin Satyros observes, "He was extremely
passionate about magic, perhaps as sublimation of his feelings of rage and fear
from his years in confinement. This passion spread to all his many endeavors,
and surmounted his many fears."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
As a performer
of international renown, he was extraordinarily well-traveled, but knew little
of the cities in which he had performed. Rather, his tourism consisted of seeking out
bizarre mysticisms from obscure sources ranging from Tibetan monks to Egyptian street
performers. After Dr. Hogalum's death,
Satyros played an active role in planning the Hogalum Society's adventures and
itineraries, and also brought his considerable talents to bear on more routine
chores, such as cooking and organizing case files. He was frequently the group's "ear to the
ground," typically the first to hear of strange goings on and alert the
group to possible trouble. He took
advantage of his aristocratic connections—and occasionally his nimble
legerdemain—to secure information and financial support for the team. He did not hesitate to provide the Society
with his unique insight into perplexing criminal motives, and to forewarn them
when they were being misled. He often
attempted penetrating the stoic exterior of his Hogalum comrades, to their
intense consternation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
Satyros
continued to divide his energies between performing and serving with the
Hogalum Society until his disappearance in 1907, a career interrupted only
briefly by a torrid romance and short-lived matrimony with Emanuelle
Vichyssoise, a fiery French dancer who became Satyros' onstage assistant
during the early 1890's. In his final
appearance, The Amazing Satyros performed an illusion not duplicated since. According to audience members in the Bangor, Maine
theater, Satyros simply vanished into thin air without the aid of any prop or
magical implement. An intense manhunt
yielded no hint of his whereabouts after that incident. Questioned by authorities after the incident,
Satyros' son Icarus—also a magician of some repute—replied simply, "Some
mysteries ought to remain unknown."</div>
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