Jeremiah Willstone is a woman of adventure from the world next door, Victoriana! We’re in the process of updating the blog, so please stay tuned for more about her adventures!
Hail, fellow adventurers – I’ll be at Clockwork Alchemy yet again, signing JEREMIAH WILLSTONE AND THE CLOCKWORK TIME MACHINE (as well as everything else I have on hand)! Tomorrow, among other things, I’ll be lecturing on the Science of Airships!
-the Centaur
Hail, fellow adventurers! Today’s mission: getting the LATER series anthologies, which are on sale at DriveThruFiction!
- TWELVE HOURS LATER: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/359389/Thirty-Days-Later-Steaming-Forward-30-Adventures-in-Time
- THIRTY DAYS LATER: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/347455/Some-Time-Later?term=some+time+later
- SOME TIME LATER: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/271326/Twelve-Hours-Later-24-Tales-of-Myth-and-Mystery
Each features pairs of stories set in Jeremiah Willstone’s time at Liberation Academy. We’re adapting these for audio, so I feel this is a good way to get into this universe early!
The sale ends February 11, so strike while the iron’s hot!
-the Centaur
Hail, fellow adventurers! Anthony will be back at Dragon Con again this year and reading Jeremiah Willstone – and yes, the picture above was taken from the very chair Jeremiah was sitting in in “Steampunk Fairy Chick”.
Better, almost all the panels have some crunchy steampunk gearworks!
- Androids & Automatons
Friday 1pm – Sheraton / Augusta
This presentation will cover the history of artificial life from the ancient Greeks to modern automata artists. Techniques for creating your own automata will also be shared. - Practical Time Travel for the Storyteller
Saturday 4pm – Sheraton / Athens
This panel discusses the real science behind time travel, as well as how these scientific theories can place both challenging & rewarding demands on the stories we tell. Time dilation, the grandfather paradox, & others will be explained & these theories discussed. - The Magic and Technology of Building Alternate Worlds
Saturday 5:30pm – Sheraton / Augusta
Be it alchemical spells or industrial revolution, many alternate history and Steampunk worlds feature magic, fantastic technological marvels, or even both. But each choice shapes the worlds these authors build. This roundtable discuss worldbuilding and the balance between fantasy and science. - Author Reading: Anthony Francis
Sunday 2:30pm – Hyatt / University
SF & Urban Fantasy author of Frost Moon, Blood Rock and Liquid Fire reads from his work, including selections from Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine, from future Dakota Frost novels, and maybe even some Cinnamon Frost stories!
Anthony was also scheduled to do a SAM Talk, but it was inadvertently booked over his author reading, so if you attend that, you may also get to hear what was intended to be his SAM Talk, “Risk Getting Worse”.
Come one, come all, and hear more about the future of Jeremiah!
-the Centaur
So, friends, the sale on JW&TCTM is over, but fear not, more Jeremiah is coming! We’re hard at work on the audio version of “A Choir of Demons”, and there are a lot of new Jeremiah things in store. Stay tuned!
-the Centaur
This Memorial Day Weekend, I’ll be appearing at the Clockwork Alchemy steampunk convention! I’m on a whole passel of panels this year, including the following (all in the Monterey room near the Author’s Alley, as far as I know):
Friday, May 26
4PM: NaNoWriMo – Beat the Clock! [Panelist]Saturday, May 27
12NOON: Working with Editors [Panelist]
1PM: The Science of Airships [Presenter]
5PM: Versimilitude in Fiction [Panelist]Sunday, May 28
10AM: Applied Plotonium [Panelist]
12NOON: Organizing an Anthology [Panelist]
1PM: Instill Caring in Readers [Panelist]
2PM: Overcoming Writer’s Block [Presenter]Monday, May 29
11AM: Past, Present, Future – Other! [Moderator]
Of course, if you don’t want to hear me yap, there are all sorts of other reasons to be there. Many great authors will be in attendance in the Author’s Alley:
There’s a great dealer’s room and a wonderful art show filled with steampunk maker art:
For yet another more year, we’ll be co-hosted with Fanime Con, so there will be buses back and forth and fans of both anime and steampunk in attendance:
As usual, I will have all my latest releases, including Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine, the steampunk novel I have like been promising you all like for ever!
In addition to my fine books, there will also be new titles from Thinking Ink Press, including the steampunk anthologies TWELVE HOURS LATER, THIRTY DAYS LATER, and SOME TIME LATER!
I think I have about as much fun at Clockwork Alchemy as I do at Dragon Con, and that’s saying something. So I hope you come join us, fellow adventurers, in celebrating all things steampunk!
-the Centaur
One more interview with Sage and Savant … me!
https://www.sageandsavant.com/2017/04/05/anthony-francis-talks-about-jeremiah-willstone/
Q: In your story “The Fall of the Falcon” the main character is female, but she has a male name, Jeremiah Willstone. Why is that?
AF: It’s more than just gender bending: it’s an outward sign of their society’s aggressive approach to women’s liberation. I wanted to tell a steampunk story about a young Victorian female soldier, but the Victorians didn’t have women soldiers – we’ve only recently started to allow them in our military. So I imagined a world where that wasn’t just a little bit different, but comprehensively different – a world where women’s liberation came a century early, and with twice as many brains working on hard problems, they were more advanced in 1908 than we are today. But I needed a way to communicate that in the story, and decided that the women in Jeremiah’s family took male names to try to achieve gender equality. With her history written into her name, I now had the storytelling power to discuss that issue as much as I wanted to – or let it slide into the background until someone innocently asks the question, “So, Jeremiah is female, but has a male name. Why is that?”
To read more, check out my interview, and also check out the podcast on Sage and Savant!
-the Centaur
Almost let this one slip by … Thinking Ink Press and Sage and Savant are partnering to give away copies of anthologies containing Jeremiah Willstone stories, TWELVE HOURS LATER and THIRTY DAYS LATER!
If you’re waiting for a chance to jump on the Jeremiah Willstone train, now’s a great time to do so! The stories are from the Plague of Gears storyline, chronicling Jeremiah’s time at Liberation Academy, and – shh! – have some inevitable spoilers about JEREMIAH WILLSTONE AND THE CLOCKWORK TIME MACHINE, so, enjoy, but be warned – or pick up JW&TCTM first!
Enjoy!
-the Centaur
Hail, fellow adventurers! To help celebrate steampunk (and Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine :-D), our friends at Bell Bridge Books have come up with the Steampunk Drinking Game!
Here are the rules: Pick out a steampunk movie or book of your choice. Beverage may be of your choice. For each item you come across, take the prescribed drink. (Best played with others who don’t actually plan to go anywhere afterward.) The last person standing wins!
- Aether = 1 drink
- Airship = 2 sips
- Automaton = gulp
- Bodice = 1 drink
- Corset = down the whole shot
- Gears = 1 sip
- Goggles = three sips plus bite of lemon
- Her Majesty and/or Queen Victoria = down the whole shot
- Horse and/or carriage = 3 drinks
- Inventor and/or mad scientist = 4 drinks
- Inexplicable device = 1 drink
- Mention of social rank (Duke, Marquess, Earl, Barron, etc.) = 4 sips
- Parasol = 2 drinks
- Presence of bioengineering = 4 drinks
- Puff of steam = 1 drink
- Raygun = chug
- Top Hat = 3 drinks
- Tesla coil = down the whole shot
Now, remember: drink responsibly, and definitely do not attempt to play the drinking game in one sitting with Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine! According to our calculations, if you followed the Steampunk Drinking Game rules with JW&TCTM, you would end up:
- taking 155 drinks
- taking 1,115 sips plus 34 bites of lemon
- taking 16 shots
- and would have to chug your drink 12 times!
You know a book is full of steampunk when the Steampunk Drinking Game tries to knock you out with it!
So, I hope you responsibly enjoy JW&TCTM, and celebrate Steampunk!
-the Centaur
Pictured: coffee and pocketwatch from Pixabay, beer sampling by Paul Joseph, by way of Wikimedia Commons.
