vvb32 reads

More Tea and Cupcakes

Mr. Goodbody walks gingerly over to Edward's table and tries to seat himself inconspicuously. But nevertheless, the female heads turn to watch.

Dash Goodbody at your service, sir! Thank you for the invitation, I fear Susie has quite forgotten my order.

Did my ears hear correctly you mention something along the line of zombies?

Edward puts his paper aside and proceeds to pour Dash a cup.

Zombies? Well Mr Goodbody, that depends. Are you a believer?

Just then, Mrs O'Grady pushes a dessert cart around the room with the treat of the day.

My dears, today we have special cupcakes made especially from our visiting guest from Italy, Chef Vaporetto Malatesta!

Everyone claps with delight.

The cart also holds this cake creation by the Chef...

Chef Malatesta visits each table to meet and greet all the guests today.

When he reaches Edward and Dash...

Are we talking zombies? Because I just took this (disappears into the kitchen and returns) out of the oven...

Just then, Susie returns from outside with the timepiece still in hand.

Edward calls Susie over to find out what happened.

It is a mystery, sir. Honorable Cogsmith said that he found his timepiece in his pocket. Funny though, because this one is a spitting image of his.

Hmmm, may I take a look? Susie hands the timepiece to Edward and continues on her rounds about the dining room.

Dash leans forward with interest and says, I know of a detective if you are in need of one. And then he turns to the Chef while stroking his mustache and says, Now, I would love a slice of that!

The Steampunk Detective
by Darrell Pitt
An orphan. The world’s greatest detective. A planet dominated by airships, steam powered spacecraft and towers that stretch into orbit.

Welcome to the world of The Steampunk Detective.

Jack Mason is an orphan wanting a new life. Ignatius Doyle is an aging detective who needs an assistant. When Jack goes to work for Mr Doyle, he has no idea what lies ahead.

They are called in to locate a missing scientist by his daughter, the beautiful Scarlet Bell. As Jack and Mr Doyle investigate, they discover links to Leonardo da Vinci and the Phoenix Society, a clandestine organisation that has been secretly developing technology for centuries.

As they close in on the missing scientist, they discover other forces at play. The Nazis want the technology of the Phoenix Society as does the mysterious Napoleon of Crime, Professor M.

With the world teetering on the verge of war, a weapon of mass destruction is stolen from the Phoenix Society and London held to ransom.
Will Jack and Mr Doyle find the missing scientist? Will they track down the weapon before London is destroyed? And what is the true identity of Professor M?

Filled with references to Sherlock Holmes and the world of Victorian literature, The Steampunk Detective is an action packed adventure for readers of all ages as it brings together a boy in need of a family and a man in need of a son.

fyi: ebook is currently available for 99 cents at Smashwords

~*~
* image source steampunk cupcake, zombie cake, steampunk cake

* side note on Dash:
Dash Goodbody - Uncommonly handsome scoundrel, cad and general layabout. Best noted for his luxurious black handlebar moustache and unparalled success with the ladies.

* side note on Chef:
Chef Vaporetto Malatesta, mad candymaker with a terrible sweet tooth, hopes to find inspiration for new and steamy desserts.

::= SteamBoyz schedule =::

Article: The Atomic Weight of Secrets

After Edward takes his first bite of scone followed by a sip of tea, he settles down to read the newspaper properly.

He is drawn to an article at the bottom right side of the page...

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Eden Unger Bowditch
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
It was the amazing Steve Parke (who did the cover art for my book) who told me about the movement. “Your book is totally Steampunk!” he said.

The funny thing is that I have always been totally into the Steampunk thing—but until The Young Inventors Guild entered my brain, I didn’t know what it was! Really! Okay, so The Atomic Weight of Secrets is a story that takes place at the turn of the last century, and there are a bunch of brilliant inventors. How could I have missed it?

Well, for one, I’ve been living in Egypt. Steampunk, as a movement, has not made it over there, but anyone looking for amazing stuff from the late nineteenth century would have a field day. In shops, you can find old Smith Corona typewriters and Victrolas and cool walking sticks, all the detritus of bygone adventurers who left their goods behind when they traveled elsewhere or died trying.

The Atomic Weight of Secrets is the introduction to the world of the Young Inventors Guild, and I am so glad it has found a home where it belongs. So many people were critical, since there are no magic wands or flying broomsticks (not that I have anything against either!). The magic of invention, they thought, was too different and too strange. It almost felt like a lost cause to try to bring to life the power behind the concept.

The brilliance of Steampunk is that it captures the birth of a modern era while embracing the elegance of a bygone age. As I work, full steam, on Book Two of the Young Inventors Guild trilogy, I can feel the pleasure of knowing that the story has a home within this visionary and wonderfully enthusiastic community.

So that’s how I first discovered Steampunk. How did you?

What does it mean to you?

~end

Guest post created for SteamBoyz event by Eden Unger Bowditch, author of The Atomic Weight of Secrets
© 2011. All rights reserved.

~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
by Eden Unger Bowditch
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~

--~ Book Giveaway courtesy of author ~--

The Atomic Weight of Secrets
or The Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black
-The Young Inventors Guild
by Eden Unger Bowditch
signup to win this book

~*~
* earn an extra point for the giveaway by answering one of Eden's questions:

How did you first discover Steampunk?

What does Steampunk mean to you?

* image source newspaper advert

::= SteamBoyz schedule =::

Tea and Scones

Honorable Luke Cogsmith couldn't imagine where he left his timepiece.

This brings to mind another book that Edward must inquire about...

Ganymede
(Clockwork Century)
by Cherie Priest
Release date: September 2011
The air pirate Andan Cly is going straight. Well, straighter. Although he’s happy to run alcohol guns wherever the money’s good, he doesn’t think the world needs more sap, or its increasingly ugly side-effects. But becoming legit is easier said than done, and Cly’s first legal gig—a supply run for the Seattle Underground—will be paid for by sap money.

New Orleans is not Cly’s first pick for a shopping run. He loved the Big Easy once, back when he also loved a beautiful mixed-race prostitute named Josephine Early—but that was a decade ago, and he hasn’t looked back since. Jo’s still thinking about him, though, or so he learns when he gets a telegram about a peculiar piloting job. It’s a chance to complete two lucrative jobs at once, one he can’t refuse. He sends his old paramour a note and heads for New Orleans, with no idea of what he’s in for—or what she wants him to fly.

But he won’t be flying. Not exactly. Hidden at the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain lurks an astonishing war machine, an immense submersible called the Ganymede. This prototype could end the war, if only anyone had the faintest idea of how to operate it…. If only they could sneak it past the Southern forces at the mouth of the Mississippi River… If only it hadn’t killed most of the men who’d ever set foot inside it.

But it’s those “if onlys” that will decide whether Cly and his crew will end up in the history books, or at the bottom of the ocean.

~*~
Susie arrives with Edward's tea service.

A steaming pot of Earl Gray and...

LEMON SCONES WITH RASPBERRY CREAM
(The raspberry cream is an alternative to the normal jam and cream- makes 12).

Scones:

1lb 2oz plain flour

2 teaspns bicarb soda

2 teaspns baking powder

1 teaspn salt

4 1/2 oz unsalted butter

1/2 pint milk

zest of 2 lemons

1 beaten egg or extra milk(to glaze scones)

Raspberry cream:

1/2 pint dollop style cream (or clotted cream)

1 punnet of raspberries

Icing sugar

Scones : Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking tray.

Sift flour, bicarb soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Rub in butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add milk and lemon zest to form a soft dough. Roll out to about 1 1/4 inch thick and cut out scones. Brush with beaten egg or extra milk and bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Remove to a cake rack and cool slightly. Serve warm with the raspberry cream. Raspberry cream : Mash the berries with a little icing sugar and swirl into the cream. NOTE: a punnet would be about half a pound. (Berries come in little plastic punnets here - we have to buy them from the store because it's too hot here to grow them).

~*~
* source timepiece, recipe

::= SteamBoyz schedule =::

Advert: All Men of Genius

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.

All Men of Genius
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

::= SteamBoyz schedule =::

SteamBoyz: Book List

SteamBoyz
a virtual book event
interactive
steampunk driven
July 28-30, 2011
Complete list of books featured and mentioned:
there will be more... final list will be updated at the end of the event

All Men of Genius
by Lev AC Rosen

The Atomic Weight of Secrets
or The Arrival of the Mysterious Men in Black
-The Young Inventors Guild
by Eden Unger Bowditch

Ganymede
(Clockwork Century)
by Cherie Priest