Spilt Ink #08: Turnkey and Beyond…

 March 17^th, 2013

On July 24^th, 2012, after approximately three years of conceptualizing, planning, writing, rewriting, and editing, my co-author (the lovely Lori Williams) and I released Turnkey, the first installment of The Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket for publication in ebook format.

This previous week, as any who have been following the Gaslight Volumes Facebook already know, we proudly released Turnkey in paperback format via Lulu.com.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?contributorId=1174303

Due to Lulu’s length restrictions and the novel’s admittedly hefty size, we were forced to release Turnkey in three separate parts. I admit, I was adverse to splitting up the story at first, but fortunately, when I returned to the text, I easily found distinct places between plot arcs to divide the volumes. That said, let me be perfectly clear that this is still a novel in three parts, not a reworking into three separate, new novels. Turnkey is still Turnkey.

In other news, with all of this focus on the distribution and promotion of the first volume, many of you might worry that I’m not currently paying attention to its successor. Well, you may be happy to know then that Volume II: The Crescent Rail is progressing smoothly. I’ve completed a rudimentary outline for the novel, begun penning the prologue and first three chapters, and dabbled with fresh character designs.

Perhaps the most exciting thing I can announce right now concerning Volume II is that Turnkey illustrator Derek Marunowski (http://www.marunowskibros.com) shall be returning to the world of New London to provide brand new cover and character art!

More news will be released as it comes. Promise.

- Christopher

Spilt Ink #07: The Prospero Mark-I

August 31^st, 2012

When writing and creating in the realm of steampunk, personal interpretation is always a critical point of focus. Each work is going to have a different re-envisioning of a particular point in history and the existing technology of the era. The differences amongst these works are a lot of what makes steampunk so appealing.

So, I’d like to spend the next few weeks looking at a few examples of the oft-anachronistic machinery present in the Gaslight Volumes version of 1888 England.

Tonight, let us look at the Prospero.

From Chapter Fourteen – Pocket the Gentleman:

 

I was ushered down deep through the ship’s hull to a large chamber that thankfully had not flooded.

“Excellent,” the Red Priest said, lighting candles in the only slightly tilted room. “It’s still in one piece.”

The “it” that the gentleman was referring to sat slumped in the corner on its tires.

“A carriage?” I asked, surprised.

“Not only a carriage,” the Priest boasted. “It’s an Alexandrian Prospero Mark-I steam car! One of the originals!”

“So, it’s an antique?”

“Fully functional, Pocket! Fully functional!”

“Hrmm…” I had heard of those things, steam cars. They were among the earlier advancements that the King had introduced in his rejuvenation of Britain. Horseless carriages equipped with, as the name suggests, a portable steam engine to propel the damn things along. Newer electric carriages have since made these steam cars terribly outdated, but of course, I don’t have to tell you that.

“So what’s your plan?” I asked. “It’s not like we can drive this thing across the surface of the sea.”

The Red Priest chortled and gently patted the Prospero. “Not yet.”

The pirates spent the remainder of the day feverishly working. The Priest and Hack-Jack, proving their reputations as tinkerers, clawed at parts and pieces in an attempt to outfit the Prospero with a functional…something.

The Prospero is a steam car featured in Turnkey and named primarily after the protagonist of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, who was cast out to sea on “a rotten carcass of a [boat].” The vehicle is a steam-powered horseless carriage, later modified with the attachment of twin propellers, stored aboard the steamship Lucidia. It is owned by The Red Priest, eventually loaned to Will Pocket and Gren Spader, and serves as the characters’ primary mode of transportation throughout the final arc of Turnkey.

The idea of a “steam car” may seem to some like an obvious fictional creation imagined for a steampunk world, but in reality, the existence of automobiles powered by onboard steam engines were quite commonly used and well-known by 1900 and continued to be until it was eventually made obsolete by the progress of the internal combustion engine.

The Prospero is no ordinary steam car, however. This carriage is the product of a technologically-advanced Victorian age and is somewhat of a collector’s item to the Red Priest. The adjustments eventually made to the Prospero—that is, the rigging of the propellers to the craft and wiring power from the engine in hopes of permitting the steam car to fly—well, is something more fitting in fiction than practice, I’m sure.

But then…those adjustments never work quite perfectly for Pocket and Gren, anyhow.

- Christopher

Spilt Ink #06: The Importance of Being Alan

August 24^th, 2012

Happy Thursday.

Or whenever you’re reading this.

As I alluded to last week, this week I wanted to single out one character in the Gaslight Volumes: Alan Dandy.

Now, if you’ve already read Turnkey, you know that Alan is significant in being the only character, with the exception of a small appearance in the first chapter, not to appear in the story proper.

But Alan’s role is no less important. In fact, you could argue that he’s one of the most important characters in Turnkey. Yes, as I talked about last week, Alan’s conversation with Pocket forms the framing device to tell the real story of the novel, but Alan’s reflections on that story are extremely important.

As I’ve discussed, Will Pocket isn’t a very reliable narrator, easily influenced by enthusiasm, depression, and especially his tendency to romanticize events in his life. Not to mention that he’s half-drunk when sharing Turnkey’s narrative. Fortunately, Alan is anything but a silent audience, calling Pocket on his exaggerations and forcing the bard to be more honest with himself than he’d care to be. Alan’s not only there to judge, though. As a daydreamer himself, the bartender’s sympathies and demands on Pocket’s stories alter the flavor of the tales.

In the upcoming novel, The Crescent Rail, Alan’s significance shifts dramatically when he actually joins Pocket and the others in the main narrative. In this book, Alan, no longer watching from the outside, finds the world of so-called “adventuring” to be a jading and exhausting place.

    - Christopher

Spilt Ink #05: Telling Stories (Part 2)

August 17^th, 2012

Hi everyone. As always, Christopher Dunkle here.

In last week’s Spilt Ink article, I talked a bit about the choice of narrative style in The Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket, specifically that the stories being told are volumes recorded and recounted by…obviously…Will Pocket.

Today, I’m gunna expand a little more on the narrative, particularly the specific framing styles of both the first volume, Turnkey, and its upcoming sequel, The Crescent Rail.

From almost the beginning of this project’s creation, I decided that while every book in the series would told through Pocket’s first-person narration (except when switching to Dolly’s), each novel would present that information through a different framing device. This allowed me to play with Pocket’s reliability as narrator and provide a little extra dimension to the Gaslight Volumes universe.

I’ll start with Turnkey.

The entirety of the novel, excluding the prologue and epilogue, takes place on one cold, October night in a small, New London tavern called the Good Doctor. The establishment has just closed its doors, and all who remain inside is a single patron, our narrator, Will Pocket, and bartender Alan Dandy. Pocket is slowly coming off of a night of heavy drinking and finds himself unable to pay his tab. Since Alan is a friend, the bartender agrees to let Pocket pay his debt by telling a story, and so begins the tale of the turnkey girl, or in other words, the novel proper. Thus the reader experiences the story the way a fly on the wall of the tavern would, with interruptions and criticisms from Alan and pauses, corrections, and reluctant admissions from our half-drunken narrator.

(More on Alan’s significance in next week’s article.)

With the upcoming Crescent Rail, the novel begins with a framing device both similar and altogether different from Turnkey’s. Once again, the entire book takes place at one specific location. Only instead of a bar, it takes place on the titular train, and this time Pocket is alone. The story comes to him in a series of self-written letters Pocket finds on the train. This is important because unlike Turnkey, where Pocket has told the story after having lived through its entirety, the letters of the Crescent Rail tell the story in chronological chunks. The narrator’s tone is more apprehensive and “in the moment,” as he doesn’t know what shall happen to him next.

That’s all for now, friends. Until we next meet, take care.

-    Christopher

Spilt Ink #04: Telling Stories

 August 9^th, 2012

A pivotal aspect of any piece of fiction is the author’s choice in narrative style, and with The Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket, I spent a good amount of time considering approaches prior to penning the series.

 I decided upon giving narrative duties over to the cast’s resident storyteller and series namesake, Will Pocket. Not only is Pocket always at the center of the plotlines in the Gaslight Volumes stories, his existence as a street bard meshed easily with my decision to present these novels through a first-person narrative.

 In fact, the decision to go this route actually solved another issue that had been plaguing me at the time: what to actually name this series. Sure, I had plenty of candidates, most filled with flashy, steampunky words that sounded good enough to the ear, but didn’t properly represent the novels. And since this world’s idea of steampunk is sort of a battle of flash versus function, I decided on a name that simply told what these books would be: the collected volumes of stories recounted from the eyes of Pocket.

 However, once Pocket received the mantle of narrator, additional matters arose, and dealing with them soon cemented the tone and style of the novels. It also made me realize that to make the Gaslight Volumes work, there would have to be some variety in story models between individual books.

 Next week, I’ll be sitting down to discuss this variety, with a focus on Alan Dandy’s importance in Turnkey and the Victorian practice of letter-writing in The Crescent Rail.

 Don’t miss it!

C - Christopher

From Turnkey, Chapter 16:

            After a long, tense drive through the outskirts that hug up against New London proper, Gren and I found ourselves nearing the monumental city line. Gren wisely kept us off the main streets for the most part, but the closer we got to the city, the tougher it became to remain in the shadows.

            “Damn,” Gren said, slowing the Prospero to a quiet stop.

            “What is it?” I asked.

            “Look.”

            A thick cluster of helmets, rifles, and red crown insignias had set up watch just ahead where our path met the horizon.

            “Magnates,” I frowned. “Wonderful.”

August 2nd, 2012

Hello again.

Christopher, here, author of the Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket, with another look into the universe of my alt-history/steampunk series.

First, a little necessary housecleaning, as it has been—let me see—six months, fifteen days since my last “weekly” article…which itself was a day late for its weekly deadline. In fact, I wouldn’t at all blame you, dear Reader, for any skepticism on your part if I told you today that I shall now be returning to weekly posts.

That said…I shall now be returning to weekly posts, so you can expect a shiny, brand new “Spilt Ink” article every Thursday, starting tonight.

Anyhow, tonight I’d like to discuss a very important element to the city of New London, one that constantly hangs like a tripwire over the paths travelled by Pocket, Dolly, and company.

The Magnates.

In the Gaslight Volumes timeline, Alexander ascends to the throne in 1850, marking the end of a turbulent Britain brought on by the unexpected assassination of Victoria a decade prior. As we are oft reminded in Turnkey, one of the dominant aspects of this reign is the King’s growing paranoia over national and personal security. Driven by these concerns, he eventually forms what is dubbed the Royal Magnate Militia, or as they commonly known on the streets of New London, the Magnates.

The Magnates are the walking, talking, grunting symbols of law in New London. Obviously, they aren’t the only representatives of legal authority we see in the Gaslight Volumes universe. Britain maintains, of course, a standing military, and Londontown itself is already traditionally policed.

The Magnates exist then, quite simply put, as Alexander’s personal muscle, tending to specific matters that the reclusive King takes particular interest in, usually when he wants those matters to no longer exist. These skilled soldiers, sometimes referred to casually as “Blackcoats” in reference to the long, buttoned coats worn over their uniforms, are also easily identified by the blood red crown emblems they each wear pinned to their lapels.

The moniker of “Magnate,” given to the men who comprise this force, serves to remind the public of the militia’s connection to the Crown. A magnate, traditionally a person of great standing, power, or rank in any certain field, is a term well-known throughout the Britain of this period in connection to the history of powerful nobles and would-be claimants to the throne. And while Alexander’s not about to let any of these men entertain any notion of usurpation, he’s more than happy to let the connotation remind the populace of how close these troops are to his command.

Gruff, short-tempered, and armed to the teeth, the Magnates are an ever-present and pivotal force in The Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket. In fact, it is the drunken anger of one such soldier that kick-starts the story of Turnkey, resulting in storyteller Will Pocket being quite literally thrown out of a tavern and into a world of headaches.

Keep your feet to the streets and eye out for the Blackcoats!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             - Christopher

(Originally posted: Jan 18th, 2012 on our Facebook page.)

(A quick apology before getting started. As you can see, I am a day late posting this article. The majority of it was written last night, but alas, I was unable to meet my own deadline. Let’s hope this doesn’t become a trend. Once again, I apologize.)

Hello, hello, everyone.

So here we are. Wednesday.

You know, I’ve spent a good chunk of this last week pondering possible topics for tonight’s article, and while I’ve had no problems coming up with aspects of The Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket to explore, the difficulty I struggled with was which one would be best suited for this article.

See, although this is technically the second installment of “Spilt Ink,” it really is, for all purposes, the first, as the preceding entry was little more than an introduction and quick tease. So naturally, I kinda sweated, knowing that whatever I chose to write about would sorta set a tone for these articles.

But enough complaining. Let’s get this discussion on the way. Tonight, I will be focusing on a figure that, while never appearing in The Gaslight Volumes, is incredibly pivotal to the creation and workings of this universe.

Tonight, I will be discussing the great Queen Victoria.

Now, those of you who’ve read the Prologue to Turnkey (available in its entirety online) already know that in this series, the spark that eventually caused the creation of New London was the fictional assassination of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert.

What you may not know is how close this is to an actual historical attempt on the Queen’s life in 1840.

To quote Wikipedia:

 ”During Victoria’s first pregnancy in 1840, in the first few months of the marriage, 18-year-old Edward Oxford attempted to assassinate her while she was riding in a carriage with Prince Albert on her way to visit her mother. Oxford fired twice, but both bullets missed. He was tried for high treason and found guilty, but was acquitted on the grounds of insanity. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Victoria’s popularity soared, mitigating residual discontent over the Hastings affair and the bedchamber crisis.”

 The only difference in the Gaslight timeline? The bullets didn’t miss. And from that single twist of history, my entire fictional world came into form. I mean, imagine what could’ve been if that attempt had been successful. Victoria was, remember, pregnant at the time of the attack, and more importantly, she was pregnant with her first child. Maybe the assassination of Victoria and Albert wouldn’t have resulted in the rotting and rebuilding of London as imagined in my novels, but it would have left the monarchy without a direct heir to the throne.

When I first sat down a few years ago to scribble out the framework for what would become New London, I knew that if I chose a fictional assassination as the starting point of my timeline, it would cause a huge ripple through the mindset of the people in my fictional city. And to be honest, I was worried. But the more I explored Victoria’s absence in the narrative, the more potential I saw in it. Eventually I realized that although the late Queen doesn’t ever appear in the text, she is a very influential character. Her untimely death, for example, raises her to a beloved ideal amongst her people and instills a sense of growing paranoia that becomes the defining characteristic of the novel’s fictional King Alexander. She becomes a sort of reference point to the citizens of New London, both a figure of “better times” to those unhappy with the current political state of Britain and a nostalgic forerunner to those proud and thankful for the current Alexandrian rule.

On a smaller level, Victoria is also held in high regard by Gren Spader, one of Turnkey’s main characters, who on occasion praises her sense of stubborn fieriness, a trait he finds attractive in women.

Without going too much into spoilers, I will say a focus on the fallen Victoria will return in The Crescent Rail, specifically in a scene when a broken Will Pocket ends up at her burial grounds.

That’s all for now! See ya next time!

- Christopher

(Originally posted: Jan 11th, 2012 on our Facebook page.)

Good afternoon, friends!

Christopher Dunkle, author of The Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket, here!

And I’d like to welcome you to the first installment of “Spilt Ink,” my new series of articles involving all things Gaslight Volumes. My goal in penning these short pieces of writing is to share with you, on a weekly basis, various nuggets of information on the series between releases, everything from details on the production process to insight into the mythos of the world and its characters within.

A new article will be published every Wednesday, each with a different focus and topic of discussion. And speaking of discussion, followers of The Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket are wholeheartedly encouraged to participate. I’ll be here to respond to your questions and comments, and I welcome any potential suggestions for future installments.

I look forward to digging deep into the corners of Pocket’s London with you.

See you next Wednesday!

- Christopher

Welcome, dear friends, to the official tumblr for The Gaslight Volumes of Will Pocket!

More info shall be coming very soon, so keep your eyes nearby!