>Odd Victorian Factoid 28: Don't Make Fanny Mad

>Hunchback Assignments Victorian Factoid

Odd Victorian Factoid #28

Don't get Fanny mad! The Great Train Robbery of 1855 was a dashing, amazing criminal event. Robbers somehow stole many gold bars, bullion, American Eagle coins and more bullion leaving behind the same weight in lead shot on the train (the safes were weighed at every station). They would have lived like kings, too, and never been caught, except one of them cheated a woman named Fanny, who knew they had done something against the law to do with the South-eastern Railway. She told on them. They got caught. Oops.

Art

>Riding Leviathan

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I am very thankful for the release of Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan. Not just because it will be a dynamite read (I have just cracked open my copy and it is a gorgeous book--an object) but more so because of how its arrival onto the YA “steampunk*” scene will affect me. And, it’s all about me, as I like to say. : )

My sense is that “steampunk” has been gaining steam (ha--get it? forgive me, oh please forgive me) in the YAlit world. Yes, it’s been around since the ’80’s but these things sometimes rise very slowly. It seems to be referenced more and more in the public realm and in the mass consciousness cloud that surrounds us all. So, obviously, since there is this curiosity about the genre, it’s the perfect time to release a “steampunk” book.

The Hunchback Assignments is one.
So is Cherie Priest's Boneshaker (which I have not yet read, but will-I absolutely love the cover) and there are many others both recently released and from the past (Oppel’s Airborn and Reeves’ Hungry City Chronicles come to mind).
My sense is the genre needs a focal point. A beacon. And that’s where Westerfeld’s Leviathan comes in. He’s already extremely well-known and it pushes the genre further into the public realm to have his book out. And, like a passing zeppelin, it drags all the rest of us “steampunkers” in its wake. Hunchback has been listed on several “steampunk” lists along with Leviathan, appeared in stores on the “steampunk” display, and been mentioned in blogs, tweets, and songs (okay, not songs). So I’m thankful that Leviathan was released at the same time as my book so that my little Hunchback hero can cling to the landing ropes and wave hello!

So Modo is riding Leviathan! And hanging on for dear life.

I like that image. I think I’ll put an airship in the 3rd book. : )

Humbly yours,
Art

*Steampunk could be described as science fiction that is set in or inspired by Victorian times, especially the scientific advances of that age.

>Wordfest Report

>Just back home after having an excellent time at the Calgary Wordfest. My first event was Wordfeast, which is a fund raiser. Yes, people actually pay money to sit with writers. I put on quite a show gobbling all my food down like a madman and talking with dessert in my mouth. They got their money's worth! The next morning I shared the stage with Don Calame, a master of humour! Or maybe a Ninja of humour.

The audience was loud, proud and...err on the smallish size. Only because it had snowed heavily that morning and the buses for one of the schools couldn't make it. So, at the request of one of the teachers, Don and I donned our superman capes and flew to the school that afternoon and did an extra presentation at the school.
On Thursday I visited Holy Cross school and talked about The Hunchback Assignments and odd Victorian factoids for over an hour. Boy, those students just couldn't get enough Victorian factoids. Then in the afternoon I teamed up with Matthew Skelton, author of Cirrus Flux and Endymion Spring.

The crowd was loud, proud and well big...because all the buses worked that day. And each student from one of the schools brought drawings of the covers of my book and Matthew's. They were amazing (I hope to have pics someday).

Then, all done, I donned my superman cape and flew home. Or was it that I waited in the airport for ages then hopped a Westjet flight?

Art

>The Canadian Hunchback Assignments Character Contest

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Hang onto your top hats! HarperCollins Canada has set up a new character contest. Yes, you could have a character that you've dreamed up in your amazingly brilliant head appear in one of the books from The Hunchback Assignments series! Besides the world wide fame that will give you, you'll also win a free signed book. Signed by the author himself (or Wayne Gretzky, but only if he accidentally signs it). This is your assignment. Go to the Hunchback website and click on the button that takes you to the contest.

Alas this contest is only open to Canadians. But never fear, there may be an American and an Australian version very soon, too.

Until then, I salute thee!

Art