The Alchemist Files: Part 5

Here is the latest installment of the Steampunk novella "The Alchemist Files."  To catch up on the beginning of this story, click here.

~~~

In the offices of Henton Clode, Alistaire Templar was reading a telegram from the Ministry Main Offices in London which was as follows: Description of woman matches all available information on Bergamot STOP Advised to apprehend suspect for questioning STOP Negotiate situations with caution STOP Do not allow suspect to escape STOP Sending re-enforcements to Paris immediately STOP Keep us apprised of all actions STOP.

The Alchemist Files: Part 4

Here is the latest installment of the Steampunk novella "The Alchemist Files." To catch up with the beginning of the story, click here.

~~~

The nights were dark in the countryside outside Marseilles. The ancient abbey that housed the Agency training academy was always quiet and dark, but the calm was worse in the darkness after curfew. It seemed like time was stagnant in these hills, waiting for something violent to waken the old Mediterranean spirits and lift the land from its warm benign stillness. Nothing ruthless ever happened here. No one died here. While they were inside the walls of the academy, the world couldn’t touch them.

Poetry Tuesday: "Without Hope" By Samuel Taylor Coleridge

All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair—
The bees are stirring—birds are on the wing-
And Winter, slumbering in the open air,  
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!  
And I, the while, the sole unbusy thing,          
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.    

Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,  
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.  
Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,  
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!   
With lips unbrighten'd, wreathless brow, I stroll:  
And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?  
Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,  
And Hope without an object cannot live.

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Ciao!

The Lonely Alchemist

Word Wednesday: "Anabiosis"

Since vampires and zombies are such a craze nowadays, I thought that today, I'd give a word related to death. Anabiosis is a scientific term that refers to a state of suspended animation (a death-like apppearance) that many animals, reptiles, and amphibians take on during times of extreme drought so that they can survive by almost shutting down their vital systems.

In a non-scientific sense, anabiosis is used to refer to resuscitation or restoration from a death-like state (like waking up from a coma or recovering from a catatonic state).

Anabiosis comes from the Greek anabioun or "to return to life" and has Indo-European roots.


Ciao!

The Lonely Alchemist

Movie Monday: "Murdoch Mysteries"

"Murdoch Mysteries" is a Canadian television show set in Toronto in the late 1890s. It centers around Detective William Murdoch who solves crimes using new technological and forensic techniques that are the predecessors of our crime solving techniques today. The show has a decidedly Steampunk feel (Murdoch himself is a devotee of Nicola Tesla) and the period-appropriate costuming and makeup is a refreshing break from modern TV.

Detective Murdoch is an exceedingly sexy man who manages to balance a deep Catholic faith with a firm belief in the immutable facts of science and technology. He is quiet and melancholy, perhaps still in grieving for his fiance who died a year before the show takes place.

Support your fellow Steampunks!

The Steampunk web-series "Dirigible Days" is about to start production! You can help them out by donating to their Kickstarter campaign here. There are only 13 days left to donate, so be sure to help them out! The series looks promising and I can't wait to watch it.

Ciao!

The Lonely Alchemist

A Quote for Thought

A quote for thought:

“There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without.”

Nicola Tesla

Ciao!

The Lonely Alchemist

The Alchemist Files: Part 3

Here is the latest installment of the Steampunk novella "The Alchemist Files." To catch up with the beginning of the story, click here.

~~~

The woman known as Marie Albion put a pot of tea on the stove, then removed her hat and hung it on the rack next to the belt of throwing knives and the black opera cape. Needless to say, her name was not Marie Albion. To most of Europe she was known as Madame Yvina, a talented psychic whose brief but influential reign over the carnivals and salons across the continent ended five years ago when she disappeared. In America, she was known for a few years by the pseudonym of Ginger Ginnie when she sailed with the crew of the pirate airship “Emelia’s Revenge.” And in South America they called her “Cuchillo Rojo,” or “Red Knife.” The Agency however, the world’s premium extermination service, called her by the code name of Bergamot, the delicious black tea that is fatal in large doses. To her roommate and fellow assassin, she was simply Sybil.