Winners - Old Skewl Steampunk

Here are the winners for giveaways that
ended December 26, 2010
during the Old Skewl Steampunk event

Thanks to all contestants!

The Brimstone Key by Derek Benz and Jon S. Lewis
Winner: Kelly of I Work for Books
Winner: Vicki of Decked out in Ruffles


Mechanical Rose by Nathalie Gray
Winner: Audra of Unabridged Chick


Scourge by David H. Burton
Winner: Antonia
Winner: Nastassia
Winner: Pinkstuff of Reading After Dark
Winner: Teresa of Regency Romance World
Winner: Throuthehaze of Throuthehaze Reads -would like to pass it to another contestant, as she already has it
Runner-up Winner: Julie of Book Hooked Blog


Stephen Hawking audio tapes
Winner: Debbie


~*~
* to see the original giveaway offer, click on the prize title links

* I will email winners for mailing addresses.
Winners, feel free to contact me with your info if you don't get my email
or if you are just too darn excited and want to let me know -- like NOW ;-D

* contest policy

* if not this time, maybe next time

--> check out the current giveaways and upcoming events on my sidebar

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Old Skewl: End credits

old skewl steampunk
end credits and acknowledgments
ALAS, the final exam is cancelled. Due to a heavy snow storm in the vicinity, all airships are docked for the day.

Hope this brief steampunk event sparked an interest in reading some of the earlier works in the genre.

THANKS TO: Authors and Publishers for Book Giveaways

The Brimstone Key
Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1:
by Derek Benz and Jon S. Lewis

Mechanical Rose by Nathalie Gray

Scourge by David H. Burton

Special Thanks:

kvb (the hubby)
-a Jade back story

Nathalie Gray
-old skewlz steampunk idea and guest post: Mechanical Rose snippet

Suzanne Lazear
-guest post: A Steampunk Night Before Christmas

OH, a surprise just flew in through the window!

Steampunk Owl
Thanks Misty!

~*~
* Picnik was used for graphics creations for this event.

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Old Skewl: Library

old skewl steampunk
library
As we come towards the end of this steampunk event, let us peruse this finding from the library depths of the old skewl university based on Clement Clarke Moore's poem.

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Suzanne Lazear
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

‘Twas the night before Christmas and the whole ship was quiet,
Too quiet for the likes of this seasoned air pirate.

The airship was festooned with frippery and green,
With nary a brass polished surface to be seen.

Their stocking were hung by the crow’s nest with pride,
Along with homemade cookies and rum for Santa to imbibe.

I didn’t have the heart to tell the crew.
That Santa wouldn’t approve of what we do.

Sure, we stole from the rich, and gave to the needy.
But he’d probably think taking a cut was too greedy.

It didn’t matter that they had hearts of gold,
Only that it was stolen goods we bought and sold.

Suddenly portside there arose such a clatter,
That I grabbed my spyglass to see what was the matter.

The deck became filled with curious crew,
As I climbed the rigging for a better view.

The sky that had moments before been silent,
Had erupted with a commotion both grievous and violent.

The black ship portside was one that even we dread,
And it looked as if it were attacking a small red sled,

Driven by a fat guy and flying brown deer,
I polished the spyglass to ensure my vision was clear.

“Dread Pirate Fred’s attacking Santa, let’s help him, quick,”
Shouted my trusty first mate old Salty Nick.

What could I do but help out the sled,
“Come on, crew, let’s teach a lesson to Fred.”

I climbed down the rigging.
“There are cannons to load,
Christmas to save,
And pirates to goad.
Let’s kick up our speed,
And give up a fight.
Even we know
Robbing Santa just isn’t right.”

With a cheer, I manned the helm, going full speed ahead,
Nick loading our cannons to aim at the Dread Pirate Fred.

“Don’t worry Santa, help will arrive,
Salty Nick, man the cannons, prepare to take a dive.”

We flew through the air quickly, with all our might,
Fred’s crew had the sleigh on board, a terrible sight

Santa looked frightened, a gun to his head,
“Give me those presents,” growled the Dread Pirate Fred.

Even the reindeer had been rendered immobile,
By a few of Fred’s men in a black dirigible.

Santa shook his head, “If you take them, they will be missed.
Certainly, you all shall make my permanent naughty list.”

“I don’t care,” the pirate growled,
“We just want those gifts,” his crew avowed.

“Unhand those presents,” I called, dashing through the air
The cannons fired, aimed only to scare.

The reindeer bucked, trying to get free,
Fred sneered, “Captain Sno, you don’t scare me.”

Quickly, we secured Fred’s ship and dastardly crew,
But Fred still had Santa—there was only one thing to do.

Fred and I grappled across the deck, precariously,
Nick making sure Santa and the reindeer went free,

“You can’t rob Santa, it’s just not right,”
I yelled as I punched Fred when he put up a fight.

“Now, now, cease that,” Santa said,
Causing me to stop punching Dread Fred.

“Now Dread Pirate Fred, trying to steal presents in wrong,
but Captain Sno, punching him won’t stop him for long.

Christmas is about sharing and caring, not fighting and stealing,
and doing what’s right, not wheeling and dealing.”

Fred and I looked at each other, hanging our heads in shame.
The jolly old man had a good handle on our game.

Both crews made sure the gifts all went back
Into Santa’s giant red velvet sack.

Cook fed the reindeer carrots, and Santa cherry pie
I looked at the Dread Pirate Fred and gave a sigh.

“Why did you do that? That’s low even for you,
to attack Santa and take his presents on Christmas Eve, too.”

“Those presents would fetch prices that are sky high.”
But the look on Fred’s face told me that was a lie.

“There are better ways of getting a present from Santa’s sack,
then trapping the reindeer and staging an attack.”

“You’re one to talk,” Fred replied.
Nodding slowing, I looked at my crew, and again I sighed.

“I’m afraid, Santa, neither Fred nor I have been good this year,
but please, don’t forget our crew, they could use some cheer.

They don’t meant to be bad; they’re just following orders
They’re good men at heart, not drunkards and cavorters.”

Santa said, “Thank you captain, for rescuing me,
I think I my sleigh might hold an extra present or three.

You too,” he added to Dread Pirate Fred.
I shook my head. Was that what he actually said?

“Fred and his crew tried to steal your gifts to sell,
now you’re giving them presents as if all were well?”

Santa winked. “Now, Sno, remember what Christmas is all about.”
Getting in his sleigh, he gave his reindeer a shout.

“Just try to stay off the naughty list, the both of you, from now on.
Now, I have to be off, to get these delivered before dawn.”

Both crews looked up, as Santa took off.
“Merry Christmas, Santa,” my voice went soft.

With a wink of his eye, and a flick of his hand,
Presents flew out of his sleigh; onto the deck they did land.

“Thank you, Santa,” the crews did shout.
“There’s not one for me,” Dread Fred did pout.

“All I’ve ever wanted is a present from Santa, just one.”
I scoffed. “But not enough to stop having all your plundering fun.”

“Stop it you two,” Santa added with a call.
“But I didn’t forget you either, no, not at all.”

Two more presents floated down from the sky.
Turning mine over in my hands I looked up. “But why?”

Santa just smiled. “Just remember what I said.
And for once, Sno, can you stop plaguing Fred?”

With a hearty laugh, the sled flew through the sky,
Both crews waving, tears in their eyes.

“A present for me?” Fred’s eyes gleamed.
I knew deep down, he wasn’t as dreadful as he seemed.

Taking a box from my pocket, I said, “And there’s another.”
Giving it to him, I smiled. “Merry Christmas, brother.

I’m sorry I plague you, but it’s so much fun.
Let’s make next year a much better one.”

Nodding, Fred said, “For once, Sno, you’re right.
I think this should be the last time we fight.”

Santa sped by, doing one last turn.
“I hope there’s a lesson tonight you all learned.

Merry Christmas to you, and remember my lads,
no one says air pirates have to be bad.”

~end

A Steampunk Night Before Christmas by Suzanne Lazear
© 2009. All rights reserved.

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Suzanne Lazear
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

~*~
* image source steampunk reindeer

* first spotted this steampunk gem at Steamed!

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman

The Half-Made World
by Felix Gilman

Published: October 12, 2010
Genre: Steampunk, YA
Hardback: 380 pages
Rating: 4

Description from the amazon:
A fantastical reimagining of the American West which draws its influence from steampunk, the American western tradition, and magical realism

The world is only half made. What exists has been carved out amidst a war between two rival factions: the Line, paving the world with industry and claiming its residents as slaves; and the Gun, a cult of terror and violence that cripples the population with fear. The only hope at stopping them has seemingly disappeared—the Red Republic that once battled the Gun and the Line, and almost won. Now they’re just a myth, a bedtime story parents tell their children, of hope.

To the west lies a vast, uncharted world, inhabited only by the legends of the immortal and powerful Hill People, who live at one with the earth and its elements. Liv Alverhyusen, a doctor of the new science of psychology, travels to the edge of the

made world to a spiritually protected mental institution in order to study the minds of those broken by the Gun and the Line. In its rooms lies an old general of the Red Republic, a man whose shattered mind just may hold the secret to stopping the Gun and the Line. And either side will do anything to understand how.

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): gritty
A real wild west steampunk of sorts.

This is a serious slow read with a collection of characters and scenes to savor.

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Old Skewl: Physics

old skewl steampunk
physics class

To continue my online steampunk storyline of Jane and Jade's Escapades, the hubby has concocted a bit of backstory about Jade for this event.

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by kvb (the hubby)
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
Jade snapped awake as her head dropped forward suddenly. She had been sitting at her desk for the last fifteen minutes trying to focus on what Professor Ledbetter was saying and laying out on the giant slate chalk boards.

Occasionally, however, her head would loll forward and drool would sling from her lips and slack mouth and spatter her class journal.

Professor Ledbetter was discussing moments of inertia about the various axes of irregular objects. An inertia tensor had been derived for object A and the Eulerian Angles were being employed to transform the coordinate axes to those of a spring coupled irregular object B whose single degree of freedom ran through the center of gravity of the first object.

Just saying that back to herself made Jade’s head hurt. Jade had not yet come to grips with this whole business of tensors and Eulerian Angles. She was confident that she would gain an understanding of it at some point.

Professor Ledbetter would give her some time later where she could ask the singularly off-subject questions which she was now famous for. Any mentors and professors who had ever had her in their classes had soon learned to tolerate her out-of-class visits and her peculiar lines of questioning.

A professor who was covering the field of thermodynamics had gotten a question about the fluid-like movement of flocks of starlings. He had referred her to an ornithologically minded colleague of his who had expounded on the little Passeriformes until she indicated that she was satisfied. From this, she had gained a profound understanding of turbulent and laminar flow as well as Brownian motion.

Much the same process was Jade’s modus operandi for all other scientific disciplines as well. She would come at the particular discipline or subject via byways unperceived by others. Her mind occupied a world of secret passages and trap doors, of shear faces with portals imperceptible to all but her and with secret catches and locks whose devices were comprehensible only to her. She did not do her algebra “in public.”

The means of testing in the sciences at Universitas Oxoniensis was the same as at all other institutions of higher learning. Students were dragged before panels of distinguished faculty and fellows to demonstrate their ability to understand and discourse on a specific subject. In the case of a highly quantifiable science such as physics, this involved both prosaic and quantitative treatments. “If the earth has mass P, the sun mass S, and a certain celestial body of mass M and velocity V is making its career through the family of spheres in our solar system, how would you go about computing it’s ephemerids?”

“Well,” Jade would say, “I would compute the energy and momentum of that celestial body and . . . “ and off she would go. But those eminent men, and they were all men, wanted her to show the calculations on the chalk board. They wanted equations. They wanted her to do her algebra in public and spin the cylinder and move the collar on her slide rule.

Jade didn’t own a slide rule. She worked her way towards surprisingly exact numerical answers by a series of approximations which she carried out in the labyrinth of her brain with the help of flocks of starlings and featureless walls where intricate locks revealed secret portals. The men would look at each other with raised eyebrows and perhaps make a notation. Her success or failure at this examination rested on the edge of a knife. Her private algebra made their job of examining her harder because they had to know the answer. They couldn’t just follow along with her reasoning and check a few numerical answers with their various slide ruler contraptions.

But in the end, Jade sold it to them. She gave them more than they were asking for. “. . . and the cross section for a collision between this celestial object and the earth is . . . and with Mars is . . .”

Jade had had such an examination on this morning. Not only was the problem solving difficult, but having to bind her breasts and dress and act like a man was a drain on her energy. Thankfully Professor Ledbetter was always so absorbed in his subject matter, scribbling away with two pieces of chalk, one in each hand, that he didn’t notice her head orbiting her shoulders. Her classmates were quite distracted and entertained by it however. Class was very nearly done when one of those sons of privilege dropped a squirming cockroach into her gaping mouth.

Jade tolerated Oxford much as it tolerated her. Her mentor, Professor Lorentz, was a close friend of her family. He, of course, knew her real identity. Jade was a scholar. Her position was quite tenuous, but the fact that her father had money to put her up in an apartment and that she was able to display outstanding scholarship entitled her to wear the billowy and voluminous and more importantly formless academic gown at all times and made things manageable appearance-wise.

She also had to fraternize with her fellow students, and this is what made things get exciting. There were societies and meetings and drinking and hazing and prostitutes.

Jade claimed a poor constitution and forswore all drinking. There was no use in letting alcohol weaken her guard. She could pretend to be just moneyed enough to avoid a serious identity-revealing hazing. She also acted very aloof and disengaged so that her fellow scholars wrote her off as very odd and best left to himself.

Sexual prowess had to be demonstrated, and this bit of male bonding tradition Jade could not seem to find a way to get out of. She nearly gave up on her education out of disgust.

The population of England was exploding. Her Royal Highness Queen Victoria was indeed the queen, but steam was king. Steam powered the factories and all manner of conveyances. It powered the dirigible weapons platforms which were such an important part of British foreign policy as well as the private policy of some industrialists.

Steam power was a means to power itself. Steam power came from coal. In order to be someone of any standing, a man had to have access to coal to power his infernal machines. Anthracite and bituminous coal were mined in great quantities for the queen and all the lords, and much of the mining was done by children.

Jade’s family had old money. Her ancestors had been lords of an old north-country estate with villages and commons and had always managed it well. Saying that something was managed well depends on perspective of course, and from Jade’s perspective, it was managed well because she had 20,000 pounds sterling income each and every year. She comforted herself by imagining that they were benevolent and fair in their dealings with the commoners. She never really thought about how her ancestors may have closed off some of the commons for their own private hunting preserve. They certainly took their share of the livestock and crop even when that left villagers somewhat short. Literacy didn’t suffer under their stewardship, but then you cannot double zero, can you? Jade hadn’t ever thought about her money too deeply except to delude herself with the notion that it was a far sight cleaner than the money of these new steam lords and barons.

To her credit, Jade, with her 20,000 pounds sterling each and every year, lived a frugal and Spartan lifestyle. She really was absorbed with learning to such a degree that she didn’t find the time or the inclination to indulge in dissipation. And even more to her credit, she was not miserly. The fact that she wasn’t constantly being asked to pick up the bill for this or that or to lend a few pounds to friends and acquaintances was mainly because she didn’t have any friends or acquaintances. Jade did have a girl though.

Jade had to have a girl. She had decided that this was the best way to avoid scrutiny in that area of her life. It would never do for her to be perceived as homosexual. Most of her fellow scholars were very proper gentlemen who had proper ladies waiting for them to ask for their hands in marriage. A few preferred to hire girls -- for some, the more, the better. Jade decided to take a middle course. She decided to hire a girl, but to make like the girl was not a prostitute but rather a commoner. After all, it was not unheard of for a lord such as her to fall in love with a commoner girl. Not only that, but it would help to perpetuate the perception that she was indeed odd.

In a family of commoners, it was common for there to be many children. Boys and girls alike were expected to start earning money when they were as young as five. They sold items on the street like matches. Boys became boot blackers or chimney sweeps or if they were lucky a domestic servant. They might work in the factories or on the airships as stokers.

Girls could do some of the same things as boys, but very often they were sold for sex at an early age when they would fetch a good price. The first time a girl was sold, the family ate well for a week. The second time she was sold they ate well for a couple of days. After a couple of years, the girl was diseased, disfigured from the frequent rough or dissatisfied customers, and was sent off to hurry coal out of the mines.

A seven stone girl might hurry twenty-five stone loads on corves through crawlways from a hundred meters or more depth to the surface through several kilometers of tunnel, then returning with the corves up to a dozen times a day. She would go bald from thrusting on the corves.

It was a commoner who Jade hired one day. Her name was Ann Reade. She was the youngest of five girls with two older brothers and two younger. Her two oldest sisters had had gone directly to the mines. The third sister was a stoker on an airship and occasionally a companion to the captain or one or more of the passengers. The fourth sister had been a prostitute until a customer had broken her jaw and then she had gone to the mines and died in a collapse.

Ann had been a domestic servant to some old money like Jade, but when the money ran out, she was turned out and forced to make do. Her older brothers worked in a mine too.

One of the younger ones was a chimney sweep and the other had been jailed after he tried to pick a gentleman’s pocket. Ann wasn’t actually selling herself when Jade approached her. She was not dressed in the usual ragged, somewhat suggestive garb of the common prostitute.

She had never been a prostitute though necessity was pushing her in that direction. She knew what the rates were and was so surprised at the amount that Jade offered that she immediately agreed. Jade took her back to her quarters.

Ann was nervous as she entered this young looking gentleman’s quarters. The quarters were two of the upstairs rooms of the Kearny inn adjacent to Oxford. The inn was run by a matronly lady and her two adult daughters who kept to themselves and made no comments when Jade escorted Ann upstairs.

Jade seated Ann at a table in the one room she had designated as her study and called down to order some plum duff pudding for the two of them. There was a lot of work that had to be done that night with this complete stranger. An agreement had to be reached with this 16 year old commoner girl who was a complete stranger to Jade.

~end

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by kvb (the hubby)
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

catch up on the Jane and Jade Escapades

~~*!~~ Delectable Audio Book Giveaway ~~!*~~

A Brief History of Time
by Stephen W. Hawking

Universe
by Stephen W. Hawking

Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays
by Stephen W. Hawking

These are audio tapes.
please note: A Brief History of Time package was opened but never played.

Open to all.

Offer ends: December 26, 2010

TO DO:

Leave a question or comment for Jade AND your email address (if I already don't have it).

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Contest has ended - winner is here

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

* image source

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Mechanical Rose by Nathalie Gray

Mechanical Rose
by Nathalie Gray
ebook published: 2009
Genre: Erotica, Steampunk
Rating: 4

Description from the amazon:
Violet. Her name is as pretty as her lips.

Did they taste as sweet as they looked?

Would the color transfer to a lover's lips?

They live in a fragile world, one that could collapse instantly, and it is her duty within the Mechanical Rose Society to keep the delicate balance.

She is a spy.

Strength of will, cunning and sex are her tools.

Never failed, never will.

She has been sent to either gain Leeford Gunn's cooperation in the cessation of his newest invention - or kill him.

To Leeford she is strength wrapped in beauty.

And, Divine Graces, she has brains.

Now if that is not sexy, not intoxicating to the highest degree, then nothing is.

From the first moment he saw "Violet" his world of machines and inventions faded. He would create a devoted study of the woman before him. It would be his greatest pleasure to strip her garments, reveal the soft skin beneath, touch her tender flesh.

But in a world of secret societies, there is always more behind the mask than it appears.

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): corset
Lots of action, adventure and passion with the characters of this steampunk tale.

Definitely a dose of old skewl gadgets and bad guys in this one.

Beware: this being in the erotica genre means the story also sizzles

~*~
* read Nathalie's Old Skewl Steampunk post: Flash fiction derived from Mechanical Rose

* read Nathalie's Steampink post: Menace from Above - with characters from Full Steam Ahead

~~*!~~ Delectable eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~~!*~~
signup for ebook giveaway

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Scourge by David H. Burton

Scourge:
A Grim Doyle Adventure (Volume 1)
by David H. Burton

Published: November 2010
Genre: Fantasy, Steampunk
Paperback: 232 pages
Rating: 4

Description from the amazon:
Two dads, five siblings, and goggles! Grim Doyle has always known his life was not exactly "normal", and things get even more curious when he discovers a set of stones that sweep him and his family to the fantasy, steampunk world of Verne - a place they had escaped from years ago.

Now that they've returned, Grim and his siblings hide from the evil Lord Victor and his minions. And while learning about Jinns, Mystics, and the power of absinth they try to discover who is trying to kill them with the deadly Scourge.

Amusing ditty:
Mushrooms red - a gnome's delight, pick them not or they will fight,

Mushrooms blue - do not harass, for they are full of poison gas,

Mushrooms green are comered in slime, step through them and you'll lose time,

All the others are safe to eat, especially orange - what a treat!
- Treena's warning, chapter 6

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): mystic
I enjoyed this first book of this fantasy steampunk series.

The story introduces all the players for there are many who make up this world. I liked meeting and learning about creatures like a gargoyle and sylph.

Siblings and friends join the main hero in the story to solve the mystery of the Scourge.

It's a page turner.

paperback version is also available

~~*!~~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~~!*~~
signup for giveaway - 5 winners will be selected

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Watch out: The Relic Hunters

The Relic Hunters
Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #2:
by Derek Benz and Jon S. Lewis

Release date: May 2011
Description from the amazon:
In just one semester at Iron Bridge Academy, The Grey Griffins have already had quite an education-clockwork robots, students with super powers, and a hidden land beyond our world where mystical creatures and incredible inventions exist.

But as second semester begins, their friendship is put to the test-Max, Ernie, Natalia, and Harley are growing apart.

When their arch nemesis Otto Von Strife reemerges with another evil plan, the Griffins must learn to set aside their differences and reunite to save the world. And each other.

BUT if you haven't read book one yet, here's your chance to own it...

~~*!~~ Book Giveaway courtesy of author ~~!*~~
signup for giveaway

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Old Skewl: History

steampunk
history lesson

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; in other words, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc.
-per wikipedia

Here's a list of most noted steampunk fiction of the past for you to sample...
please note: this only covers notables before y2k and is not a complete list

Influencers:

Bleak House
by Charles Dickens

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

The Time Machine
by H.G. Wells

The Extraordinary Journeys:
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne

Founders:

Queen Victoria's Bomb
by Ronald W. Clark (1967)

Warlord of the Air
by Michael Moorcock (1971)

Morlock Night
by K. W. Jeter (1979)

Homunculus
by James Blaylock (1986)

The Difference Engine
by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (1990)

Anno Dracula
by Kim Newman (1992)

Anti-Ice
by Stephen Baxter (1993)

Steampunk Trilogy
by Paul Di Filippo (1995)
-the first use of the word, steampunk, in a title

~*~
Why not add some of these classics to your reading list and join in the Full Steampunk Ahead Challenge 2011, hosted by Book Soulmates (signup and details)

Read at least 10 Steampunk books this year.

HEY, join me!

I'm using the above as my reading list.

participant links:
jan - feb
host ended this in February

~*~
* image source

* y2k and beyond book list will be presented in the next steampunk event next year

* thanks to Freda for the heads up on the steampunk challenge!

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Old Skewl: Lab

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Nathalie Gray
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
Eleanor Clerverly may have been a spy, a murderess, but she was no fiend. Why resort to violence when a simple drop of potent poison would suffice? She tested the spring-loaded mechanism that allowed a needle to shoot out of the broach then gently pinned it back on her corseted dress. Blood-red, like her lips. One of her many weapons. Enough were concealed on her person—her corset alone was a veritable armory—to kill a man in half a dozen ways. Slender dagger, garrote, pistols, poison.

She hurried down the deserted corridor. A drafty night owned the silent university.

No one would be here. Except him.

The checkered floor did not register her steps. To the untrained ear, no faint rustling stirred the air. To the amateur eye, no shadow flitted along the stone wall. Beyond the great ramparts keeping the university from sliding into the tumultuous ocean, thunderclouds gathered like angry god-fists. Eleanor reached the massive double-doors keeping all but the best picks from entering the observatory. Hers were the finest in the land. She closed the door behind her, making sure not to click the bolt back in place. She would need to make a hasty retreat after the deed was done.

Leeford Gunn, her target, must have been hard at work, shut-out from society and his rich family, except for two people who depended on his meager rent; a vinegary groundskeeper and a quite mad cousin who called herself Lady Frivolous. She had no qualms with such a man who would seemed considerate and charitable. But his research was just too dangerous to be allowed to flourish in hands not as responsible as is.

So after the society for which she worked had failed to convince Gunn to abandon his project, she had been tasked with his murder. Still, such a shame for she had caught a glimpse of the man earlier in the night. Standing a good head taller than anyone,

Gunn was hard to miss. Dark blond hair that stuck out at odd angles, eyes bluer than the sky, and a genuine smile that curved only at one corner. But it was his hands that Eleanor had noticed first. Long, strong hands covered in ink stains. Made to follow the contour of a woman’s body. Eleanor shivered.

She crept up the circular staircase, each step taking her closer to the unpleasant business. Sounds filtered down to her. Then smells. Sulfur, ammonia. Incense? She would put nothing past the eccentric man. The door was open, so she stole a glance inside. She had expected chaos, but nothing like this.

Everywhere machines hung, lay or leaned, they stood, balanced or ticked, they rumbled, steamed and occupied every flat surface available in the giant circular room. To her surprise, it felt very cozy, very comforting. Below the domed ceiling of glass and steel stretched a metal framework where a collection of pulleys of all sizes and lengths of chain stirred in the amber light cast from gas bracket lights.

She felt as though she were inside a living machine. Gears, chains, levers, switches, light bulbs, copper pipes, glass tubes. Sheets of paper lay everywhere.

Drawings done in haste by hand covered three blackboards leaning precariously against a denuded portion of the wall. In a corner, a tiny enamel kitchen sink bolted into the wall, a cast-iron cooker on bowed legs, a small dresser filled with things that had little to do with cooking. Pliers, tiny iron hammers, a set of miniature clamps. The man was messy. Steam rose from a kettle the likes of which she had never seen. It stood a foot tall on its pewter pedestal with a long “beak” and a thick porcelain handle. It resembled a crane to her.

But what caught her eye was a table across the room on which a gray tarp hid a barrel-sized lump. Her heart skipped a beat.

She sensed the presence behind her too late. A click she knew well heralded something small and hard pressing in the nape of her neck. “Can I help you, madam?” a man whispered.

She did not need to turn around to recognize Leeford Gunn’s characteristic voice.

She would have to play it smooth.

~end

Flash fiction derived from Mechanical Rose, by Nathalie Gray
© 2010. All rights reserved.

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Nathalie Gray
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

~~*!~~ eBook Giveaway courtesy of author ~~!*~~

Mechanical Rose
by Nathalie Gray
This is an ebook.

Open to all.

Offer ends: December 26, 2010

TO DO:

Send me a link to a picture of a (steampunk) corset you like AND include you email in comments (if i don't already have it).

View corset entries here.

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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* image source mechanical rose brooch

::=== Old Skewl Steampunk schedule ===::

Old Skewl Steampunk: schedule

Old Skewl Steampunk
December 15-18, 2010
back to school - the early dayz
W E L C O M E

Don't miss anything! Sign up to receive posts via email on my sidebar.

FYI: There will be 2+ posts per day posted between 5am - 3pm PST.

More details and links below will be filled in after posted.

Per usual, giveaway links are also on the sidebar which all end on December 26, 2010.

Because steampunk continues to be a genre that fascinates me, I present to you a third steampunk event for the year...

Old Skewl Steampunk

The event name was sparked by the phrase, old skewlz steampunk from author Nathalie Gray when referring to her ebook, Mechanical Rose which will be featured. It is a taste of the steampunk genre before it became what it is today.

For this event, I thought it would be fun to give a brief introduction by way of books.

Perhaps your interest will be piqued to try one?

Oh, and do let me know if you do!

Or if you are already well acquainted, feel free to make recommendations of books you have enjoyed in comments.

In any case, grab a notebook and pen and be prepared to take notes.

Final Exams will be held at the end of the event.

And, you thought it was vacation time ;-D

Previous steampunk events:
giveaways have ended for the first two, but you can gather recommended reading materials

Steampink

SteamBoyz

Iron Seas Series Challenge

Event schedule:

Teaser

December 15:
Welcome and schedule
Lab: giveaway: Mechanical Rose by Nathalie Gray

December 16:
History - book list of pre y2k notables

December 17:
Physics
- a Jade backstory
- giveaway: Stephen Hawking audio tapes

December 18:
Wardrobe - corsets
Library
- A Steampunk Night Before Christmas by Suzanne Lazear
End Credits and acknowledgments

December 26:
Giveaways end

December 30:
Announcement: giveaway winners

Books featured:

The Brimstone Key
Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1:
by Derek Benz and Jon S. Lewis
-my review
-signup for giveaway

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman
-my review

Mechanical Rose by Nathalie Gray
-my review
-signup for giveaway

Scourge by David H. Burton
-my review
-signup for giveaway

more to be revealed during event

~*~
* image source event badge from Nathalie Gray's Mechanical Rose cover

Old Skewl Steampunk

Old Skewl Steampunk
December 15-18, 2010
back to school - the early dayz
save the date

Join me for some steampunk stories from the past and a couple from the present...

Books featured:

The Brimstone Key
Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #1:
by Derek Benz and Jon S. Lewis

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman

Mechanical Rose by Nathalie Gray

Scourge by David H. Burton

more to be revealed during event

~*~
* image source event badge from Nathalie Gray's Mechanical Rose cover