Demon Hunting and Tenth Dimensional Physics

Words on writing from a speculative fiction author.

Announcing Dark Dancer, a Steampunk Fantasy Novel

What do you get when you mash together steampunk airships and metal men, Shakespeare's fairy world, legends of the fae, monsters, a prophecy, pirates, evil wizards, a young woman with stolen memories, and crystals full of power? You get Dark Dancer. This is how I do fantasy.

The idea for the series came from several places. I found a cool piece of art on DeviantArt (http://anacorreal.deviantart.com/art/Release-80921725) that sparked the idea of a woman with the power to open gates between worlds. I read a series by Frances Pauli where the passages between our world and the fairy world are re-opened (Changeling Race -http://www.amazon.com/Moth-Darkness-Changeling-Race-Book-ebook/dp/B005GRBYNE/) that fired my imagination about elves and magic and their world crossing with ours. I watched too many anime episodes with airships and cool steampunk tech. I've always been in love with Errol Flynn's version of pirates. Out of this tangle came the story for Dark Dancer.

Sabrina has magic that can open the portals to the fairy world. But with that power comes great danger. Her mother tries to keep her hidden and her power a secret, even from her. Sabrina's ties to the other world are too strong. Ruthless Seligh Lords, hungry for power, will stop at nothing to gain control of Sabrina and her gift. And magic will find a way to express itself, even if it destroys the one holding it.

I'm excited to release this book. It's my first fantasy novel and it's a stand-alone story, not part of a series. I have eleven other novels out, all part of a science fiction adventure series. I've published several dozen short stories ranging from science fiction to silly horror to fantasy, so I'm no stranger to the genre. Writing about magic really isn't that much different than writing about technology, though. And for me, it's all about the characters and story. Everything else is window-dressing to make it all more exciting.

Dark Dancer has lots of great characters. I had way too much fun dreaming them up. From elves with pointed ears, slanted eyes, and a penchant for arrogance, to ferocious pixie warriors, to renegade pirates, to evil sorcerers hungry for power, to talking birds, the book has a rich cast. The star of the book is a bewildered young woman trying to figure out who she is and how her past ties her to the world of the Seligh.

With magic, mayhem, monsters, and just a touch of romance, Dark Dancer is the type of book I love to read. I hope you enjoy it, too.

You can find a complete list of all my work athttp://www.jaletac.com

Available in ebook and print.
Smashwords (all ebook formats) -https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/465920
Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Dancer-Jaleta-Clegg-ebook/dp/B
00MRANX5A

Source: vossfoster.blogspot.com

Steampunk your home!

21 Cool Tips To Steampunk Your Home

The steampunk style is not one of the most well known in terms of interior design. Maybe that’s because many of us don’t even know which are the basic details that define this concept. When I say steampunk, I remember about the Victorian era, with all the inventions back then, but the meaning of this word would be incomplete without the industrial details.

In essence, this trend is a mixture between elegant Victorian interior accessories and the strength of industrial elements. Maybe you remember about Joben Bistro, that beautiful pub from Romania. It’s an inspiration for us.

So, give your home a steampunk look with these awesome décor ideas and items!


1. Use muted neutral colors

Brown, sepia, cream, black, dark red and dark green, these are the most common colors used to describe this style. Choose one of them according to the room, or combine them if you want. Also, metallic colors should work.

2. Don’t be afraid to use refurbished furniture


It’s a fact that old furniture adds a special charm to any home. If you want to create a steampunk interior design don’t even think about buying new furniture, unless it’s specific to Victorian age.

3. Add an industrial touch with exposed bricks




Another idea will be to induce an industrial feeling by showcasing exposed bricks walls. If the structure of the building doesn’t allow you to do that, use wallpaper.

4. Decorate with old maps




Create awesome wall murals using old maps, or just frame some of them and hang them on your walls. Another idea is to decorate the lampshades with maps. The older, the better! You’ll love the result!

5. Buy a terrestrial globe (in case you don’t have one already)


Make sure it’s old and very used. It would be one of the most popular items in the house, and kids would love to spin it over and over again.

6. Expose leather items or furniture




Leather sofa and chairs are definitely a must for steampunk admirers. It’s one of the most important materials used to define this trend. Not only comfortable, but also elegant, this material increases the luxury level of your home.

7. Classy hats will bring elegance and style


Top-hats or bowler hats can be used to impress your guests. Because they are symbols of the Victorian era, they will easily become a part of your steampunk decor.

8. Victorian sewing tables


A Victorian sewing table always has a history and that’s why it will easily become a new source of inspiration for your visitors. If you don’ t have such a beautiful item in your home, try the antique stores.

9. Decorate your walls with gear wall clocks




Gears are important items of the steampunk culture, so don’t forget about them. Let your imagination run wild! A gear wall clock will certainly make a statement, but you can also use them to create and display industrial art pieces.

10. Use an old steamer trunk as a living room table




Sometimes you must improvise in order to obtain the desired result. If you don’t have a proper table for this kind of interior design, use a steamer trunk or any other suitcase to fill the empty space.

11. Use exposed framed herbariums


Sometimes we do our best to properly decorate the rooms of our house, but we forget about the entrance. Your hallway would never look more beautiful and sophisticated without those framed herbariums.

12. Decorate with sepia pictures




Create an antique effect by using sepia photos to decorate your walls. It’s your choice whether you use old pictures with your family, or with other places around the world.

13. Add some details by exposing technical and anatomical drawings




These kinds of sketches are highly representative for this trend. If you happen to have something like that among your personal things or you’re an engineer, don’t hesitate to use them.

14. Expose antique items like barometers, telescopes or typewriters


Victorians had a passion for inventing new tools and gadgets, and the best part is the fact that you can still find them in antique shops. Even though many of them are not functional, you can use them as decorating items.

15. Try textural contrast


You can create a steampunk interior décor if you manage to combine a hard material (leather) and a soft one, like lace. So, part of the appeal of steampunk is the juxtaposition of traditionally feminine and masculine elements.

16. Expose a Victorian dress, or canes, or helmets on the wall


Maybe some of you will consider this a creepy idea, but I think it’s worth a chance. Canes or helmets are also a good choice, and they are certainly easier to find in antique shops.

17. Don’ t forget about small wood jewelry boxes


Walk up to your local hardware store and buy some small metal pieces like gears, or screws or anything else that could be glued to the wooden box. You won’t regret this!

18. Use wallpapers with a Victorian pattern


If you don’t really like those, and you happen to be a talented painter, try something new: paint some creatures in the books of Jules Verne, or some mechanical installations you remember from Time Machine.

19. Display old books


Old books are a must in this case! Hard covered books are usually used, but paperbacks are also welcomed. Old notebooks with leather covers will also make a statement if they are tastefully arranged.

20. Create a metal pipe bookshelf


Industrial all the way, even when we talk about ideas to display your books! Steel pipes are elementary in industrial design and quite easy to handle. Here we have a special article about how you can recycle steel pipes. Have a look!

21. Add a chandelier


Light fixtures are always important. Through light you can easily emphasize the interior design of the room and even the furniture. If you have high ceilings, use a chandelier. Bring a little luxury and comfort!

Source: homedit.com

Of Bigamy, Blackmail and Betrayal!

...A scorching new graphic novel by... celebrated Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope

-Works by novelist Anthony Trollope being recast as 'graphic' comic book
-First 'novel' is based on John Caldigate and will be renamed Dispossession
-Comic book will be published next year in time for bicentenary celebrations

Anthony Trollope is one of the most celebrated novelists in the English language, a towering icon of the Victorian era who is feted by critics and adored by readers to this day. But now one of his famously lengthy works is being recast in the unlikely form of a comic book, pared down to fewer than a hundred pages of cartoon strips.

The first Trollope ‘graphic novel’ is based on his relatively obscure work John Caldigate.

The first Anthony Trollope 'graphic novel' is based on his relatively obscure work John Caldigate, and has been re-named Dispossession

Published in 1879, it is a story of bigamy, blackmail and betrayal set during the Australian gold rush, a very different milieu from the political and ecclesiastical intrigue of the Palliser novels and The Barchester Chronicles for which Trollope is best known.

Under the new title of Dispossession, the comic book will be published next year in time for the bicentenary celebrations of Trollope’s birth.

Dispossession has the same characters and plot as the original novel but it tells the story in a way that will surprise the writer’s legion of fans.

Trollope is often to referred to as the Establishment’s favourite author, and his admirers include former Prime Minister Sir John Major, the Bishop of London Richard Chartres and Lord Fellowes, the Oscar-winning creator of Downton Abbey.

Anthony Trollope is one of the most celebrated novelists in the English language, a towering icon of the Victorian era who is feted by critics to this day

Whereas Trollope’s novel ran to more than 600 pages and included no illustrations, the graphic version has just 96 pages and 576 separate images. 

Much of the narrative is delivered in the form of speech bubbles.

It also includes 700 words of Wiradjuri, an Aboriginal language that does not feature in the original book.

John Caldigate is a Victorian ne’er-do-well who graduates from Cambridge with gambling debts and begins a new life in the Australian goldfields. 

On the voyage he meets feisty widow Euphemia Smith, and the pair set up home in Australia.

Caldigate returns to England alone after making his fortune and marries his childhood sweetheart, Hester Bolton. 

But his past comes back to haunt him when Euphemia turns up and accuses him of bigamy.

Dr Simon Grennan, the artist and academic who has created the comic book, said he had chosen John Caldigate precisely because it wasn’t as well known as Trollope’s other novels.

He said: ‘That opens up the opportunities for adaptation.’

His version includes Aboriginal and convict characters only hinted at by Trollope.

Grennan, a research fellow at the University of Chester, said: ‘Trollope set this story in New South Wales but did not make more of the miners, convicts and Aboriginals who lived there. 

'I didn’t want that implausibility in Dispossession.’ 

Lord Fellowes welcomed the new version, which he hoped would introduce new readers to the author, saying: ‘Any road that leads to Trollope is worth taking.' 

Source: dailymail.co.uk

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: 1880!

"Great to see a best-selling-author (NY Times) like Tony Lee turn to Steampunk!"

May 17th, 2014, Mt. Laurel, NJ: Following Dynamite’s incredible success with its first steampunk book, Legenderry, Battlestar Galactica is getting a steampunk makeover of its own with Steampunk Battlestar Galactica: 1880! Written by Tony Lee, with art by Aneke and covers by Ardian Syaf and Sergio Fernandez Davilla.

Welcome to the world of Battlestar Galactica, as never seen before, in Steampunk Battlestar Galactica: 1880, where #1 NYT Bestselling Author Tony Lee gives it a Steampunk spin! After Professor Baltar’s clockwork Cylonics destroy the Colonial Empire, Arch Duke Adama learns that his son Apollo is missing! It’s up to Lady Athena to travel to the Sky Pirate world of the Rising Star and ask for help from the only hope she has – the disgraced Captain Starbuck and his humanoid / Daggit copilot Muffit…

“I’ve been a fan of Steampunk ever since I played Space: 1889 as a teenager, or read the works of H.G Wells and Jules Verne as a small child. I think in a way it’s one of the reasons why I became a writer, to dream of flying through the luminiferous Aether in my Cavorite-powered Space probe. Of all the current science fiction licenses out there, Battlestar Galactica is by far (in my opinion) the best designed show to throw into a steampunk setting, with talks of colonials and hierarchies and strange mechanical creatures that threaten them, and the chance of creating clockwork Cylons with punch-card brains was too good an opportunity to miss, and I’ve had a blast creating new creations from the insane Professor Baltar, and his Babbage computer Lu-C-Fer. And I think people will be surprised by the changes made in the human side of the series too, especially with fan favourites like Boomer, Jolly and Muffit…”

-Tony Lee

“Tony has done a great job reimagining the classic world of Battlestar Galactica into something new, by making it something “old” in the form of Galactica: 1880.” – Joseph Rybandt, Dynamite Senior Editor

“There’s so much about the steampunk aesthetic — from the Industrial Age metalworks to the Victorian fashion flair — that Tony Lee and Aneke can explore in the Battlestar Galactica universe,” says Keith Davidsen, Marketing Manager at Dynamite Entertainment. “From the Raptors to Colonial pistols, from the Basestar capital warships to the Cylons themselves, fans will thrill to the sight of spacefaring 1880s technology, and to beloved heroes like Starbuck, Apollo, and Athena reimagined in retro-futuristic ways.”

For art and more information, please visit: http://www.dynamite.com.

Source: westfieldcomics.com

Dead Man’s Hand...

"...An anthology to the Weird West - Titan Books publishes Dead Man’s Hand – An Anthology of the Weird West, an exclusive “weird western” collection edited by John Joseph Adams, that includes stories from many of today’s most celebrated authors – some new to the genre."

The twenty-two original works — produced specifically for this volume — ranges from a brand new Orson Scott Card tale (his first “Alvin Maker” story in a decade), to an original adventure by Fred Van Lente (creator of Cowboys & Aliens). It also will include stories such as Elizabeth Bear’s account of a steampunk bordello, and new writer Rajan Khanna’s exploration of sorcery found in a magical deck of playing cards.

“The weird western is the forefather of steampunk, with a history that includes Stephen King’s Dark Tower and Card’s Alvin Maker,” editor John Joseph Adams explains. “But where steampunk is Victorian, weird westerns are darker, grittier, so the protagonist might be gunned down in a duel, killed by a vampire, or confronted by aliens on the streets of a dusty frontier town.”

“The phrase “dead man’s hand’ refers to the poker hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot and killed by the coward Jack McCall. 

“What the hand actually was seems to be open to some debate,” Adams continues. “I suppose the only way we could ever know for sure would be to reanimate his corpse or to travel back in time … both of which are the stuff of the “weird western” tale—stories of the Old West infused with elements of the fantastic.”

Other contributors include Jonathan Maberry, Mike Resnick, Kelley Armstrong, Jeffrey Ford, Tobias Buckell, Seanan McGuire, Walter Jon Williams, David Farland, Alan Dean Foster, Beth Revis, Laura Anne Gilman, Charles Yu, and Alastair Reynolds.

JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS (www.johnjosephadams.com) is the bestselling editor of popular anthologies such as Epic: Legends of Fantasy, Wastelands, The Living Dead, By Blood We Live, and Oz Reimagined. A six-time Hugo Award finalist, he is the editor and publisher of the magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare. John co-hosts Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

Source: steampunkjournal.org