On a warm sunny afternoon, Edward P. Quinn strolls down the usual bustling Main street. He stops short upon entering Mrs O'Grady's tea establishment to pat down his whackadoodle hair. Unfortunately, each pat causes only a bit of slight shifting of Edward's hair as it bounces right back into chaos.
The town square clock tower chimes the three o'clock hour.
Before entering Mrs O'Grady's Tea & Treats, Edward tosses a coin to the newspaper boy and in response a paper is thrown his way.
He exchanges pleasantries with the Honorable Luke Cogsmith before Susie shows him to an empty table and leaves him with a menu of today's treats.
I'll have the Lemon Scones with Raspberry cream today with a pot of Earl Gray.
Edward then opens quickly scans the front page of the paper and opens it up to the second page for another scan and spots an interesting book announcement on the upper left corner of the page.
He retrieves his notebook from his coat pocket to write down the title of this particular book for it is one that he must inquire about during his visit with Mr Beebe, the local bookshop owner. Perhaps this is one for YOU to note as well.
by Lev AC Rosen
Inspired by Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, All Men of Genius takes place in a Victorian London familiar but fantastical, where mad science makes the impossible possible.
Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father's policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.
But keeping the secret of her sex won't be easy, not with her friend Jack's constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke's young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet's alter ego, "Ashton." Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, the way Violet's pulse quickens whenever Ernest speaks to her, and a deadly legacy left by Ernest's father. She soon realizes that it's not just keeping her secret until the end of the year she has to worry about: it's surviving that long.
* image source newspaper advert
