Book Crawl, Book Crawl progress, Sekmet vs the Brides, Van Helsing, Consulting Bag Contents, Blaud Pills, Lost Kingdom of Angkor, Palestine’s Ghosts progress. All this week’s Secret Knowledge is below…
You can get autographed copies of all four books in Selene Reborn Series (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers, Selene Unchained), Antarctic Honeymoon, and Mirim’s First Christmas at Richardson Farmer’s Market on Saturday. https://malcolmupton.com/events/
In North Texas during the month of August, there is a really cool event I encourage everyone to participate in: The North Texas Indie Bookstore Crawl. You get a passport to take to 33 independent bookstores all across North Texas. The bookstore stamps or signs your passport when you visit. At the end of the month, you submit your passport electronically and get entered into a raffle for bookish prizes. Every visit gives you an additional entry. If you are a reader and like to support local, independent bookstores, this is a great excuse to get to know more bookstores.
North Texas Indie Bookstore Crawl visits this week:
Daydream bookstore and coffee bar – Arlington: Specializing in Romance Novels and great coffee
Wyrd and Wand Archive – Waxahachie: If you are a Harry Potter fan, you have to visit this one.
Paper Leaves Bookstore – Waxahachie: Books and Plants – I also got to talk to a fellow author, JW Jones.
O’Brian’s Bookshop – Midlothian: I got to talk with Lisa, one of the owners. She’s a really sweet lady.
Same Page Bookstore – Mansfield: This one is in an area with a number of small shops that is really cool.
I had an idea for a scene near the end of Weird The First, so I went ahead and wrote it even if it is ahead of time.
Weird The First II introduces a significant new character – Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. If you don’t recognize the name, you need to read more classic Gothic Horror…
I looked up classifications of fiction by length and discovered this:
Flash Fiction – 50 to 1000 words
Short Story – 1000 to 7500 words
Novelette – 7500 to 17,500 words
Novella – 17,500 to 40,000 words
Novel – 40,000+ (note: most publishers like 70k-100k, especially for debut authors).
I always thought Mirim’s First Christmas was too long for a short story, but thought it too short for a novella – I was right, but didn’t know about the novelette, which is where First Christmas fits. That also gives me a better idea of what the five Weird stories are. They will likely be novelette-length stories stitched together by bridge chapters in Palestine.
Herr Professor Dr. Van Helsing consulting bag became a project all its own. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Medical_bag He used a relatively new instrument for his examination of Lucy – the binaural stethoscope. In 1851 either NB Marsh or Arthur Leared (I found credible sources claiming both). Although the stethoscope was originally invented to allow doctors to listen to the hearts and breathing of young women without directly touching or putting their ears to the young woman’s chest, the fact they made such sounds easier to hear meant they were rapidly adopted. The first ones were simple cones, but the binaural stethoscope allowed the blocking of sounds other than what the doctor was listening for, making it even more effective. In 1867, Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt invented a new thermometer for clinical use. Instead of being a foot long, it was only six inches. Instead of taking 20 minutes to get a reading, it only took 5. And because it had a self-registering constriction, the mercury within stayed at the peak measured temperature until it was shaken back down. Dr. Van Helsing also used a rather simple but effective instrument in his examination of Lucy that is rarely seen today—mostly because doctors have more effect tools to do the same thing. A Head Mirror. It was made so the doctor could put it over one eye and place a lamp next to the patient. By adjusting the mirror slightly, the light from the lamp would bounce off the mirrored surface and shine on the patient’s ears, nose, or throat, illuminating the portion the doctor was looking at. Since the light was in the line of sight and slightly concentrated by its concave shape it provided shadowless illumination. Who’s old enough to remember a doctor using one of these?
Even in the 19th century, they had iron supplements to combat anemia.
Had some trouble staying on task Monday. Instead of doom scrolling or watching videos, I came up with some possibilities for future Walter & Eleanor adventures. This was the one that sounds the most intriguing (at least right now).
Palestine’s Ghosts chapters this week:
Weird The First II: Van Helsing
Weird The First III: Count Wampyr – started
Weird The First V – partial
Word Count is 17,710 in 3+ chapters of an estimated 70,000-130,000 in 32 chapters.
June Sales: Artemis Rising sold 1 ebook, 629 pages on Kindle Unlimited, and 1 paper book off Amazon, 8 in-person. Celestial Accord sold 192 pages on Kindle Unlimited and 5 in-person. Forging the Chain Breakers sold 5 in-person. Selene Unchained sold 5 in-person, 2 ebooks off Amazon. Antarctic Honeymoon sold 83 pages on Kindle Unlimited and 3 in-person. Mirim’s First Christmas sold 5 in-person.
Antarctic Honeymoon is #745 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,668 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #5,001 in Exploration Science Fiction. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, or the kindle version here. The audiobook is available here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Artemis Rising is #436 in Steampunk Fiction, #949 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), and #1,584 in Alternative History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Seven reviews for Artemis Rising. More will help others find the series as well – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Celestial Accord is in #1,540 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,646 Steampunk Fiction, #4,156 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Forging the Chain Breakers is #1,860 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,896 in Steampunk Fiction, #4,888 in Alternative History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Selene Unchained is #1,523 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,664 in Steampunk Fiction, #4,103 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here
Mirim’s First Christmas is #11,780 in Colonization Science Fiction, #11,915 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #18,804 in Science Fiction Short Stories. You can find the paper version here or the kindle version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.