War of the Worlds Spin-Off.

I've listened to the audio version of The Last Days of Thunder Child. I was very pleased with it. Very pleased indeed. It is now going through the audio process of being put online with Audible. This will take up to 14 days starting from yesterday. The narrator is Jack Wynters and he reads with a gripping voice. He also does all the accents of each individual character. The whole pastiche story was brought to life in a very gratifying way. Once it is up and running on Audible, I will give it a shout out. 😀

Are You Fascinated with Steampunk Concept?

Are You Fascinated with Steampunk Concept? Learn Why! 

As we turn over the pages of history, we came across the developments and industrial revolution of the 19th century but a little-known fast known by the masses, steampunk trend for the furniture and ornaments have enriched the market in the last ten years. Think of gadgets, large mechanical pumps and other ornaments coming out of the strangest objects - turned into classy steampunk style furniture. 

The steampunk style cannot be called the most popular style when it comes to interior designs. But by far it is one of the most popular among the masses who are fascinated by the 19th-century developments and classy styles. However, when you hear the word steampunk, you’re immediately transported to visions of the Victorian era, including all the inventions and ideas that were prevalent back then. However, this representation cannot be considered complete if you don’t add in the industrial details.

Maybe you are one of the those who is fascinated by the steampunk style and when it comes to an interesting piece of furniture and ornaments, there isn't anything which can get you more excited. Today we are going to dig deep into the concept of steampunk and what makes people so much fascinated about it.

The History

You may think - why getting into the history of steampunk is all important?

Well it’s not basically the steampunk but to understand any concept, studying and understanding its history provides us with the insights into the cultures and origin of any particular subject.

The word steampunk developed its own subculture and values in the last decade, the heritage of the concept is rooted back in the Victorian Era. The word "Steampunk" was firstly coined in the 1970s to relate to the adventurousness tales of the development of an amazing period of time i.e. Technological Progressiveness of the Victorian Era; the genre actually first came into being at the same time as the scientific romance, an early name for science fiction.

Writers of that era wrote fascinating stories and adventurous tales upon the work and discoveries of the leading scientific minds of that time. However, by the span of World War - I, the romance between the scientific advancements and the fiction became less popular and was replaced by the fictional stories of the superheroes. But now as time passes, the concept of steampunk has become reached his highest peak in popularity among the masses and is still growing.

The Ultimate Rise of the Concept

Amazing trends and concepts from steampunk furniture continue to rise into the mainstream and every day the cultural masses are getting amused with the perfect blend of creativity and style. Let's rise to the big question, why is steampunk so popular? What is it about the thought of steam-powered Victorians that people find so fascinating? How it is possible for any particular type of technology innovated for a particular period of time suddenly became so popular that it’s a fully-fledged genre now.

No wonder that Steampunk rattles in an alternate history, placing the utmost importance on real life inventors such as Nikolai Tesla or Charles Babbage who were the forefathers of the inventions i.e. air shops and old age computers that run on a clockwork and steam power.

Needless to say, it takes a unique – and seemingly random – combination of ingredients to end up with Steampunk. So how did we get there and, more importantly, what can we learn from the genre’s creation?

The Science Behind the Cogs

Clockwork plays an enormous half in steampunk technology, and it’s not simply there as a result of it's sensible. There’s one thing concerning the mechanism that humans notice comprehensible. Cogs move cogs and while we have a tendency to might not perceive the intricacies, we will see for ourselves that that’s how a tool works. Likewise, steam power produces satisfying amounts of noise, nice belches of steam from large devices, that matches how we have a tendency to feel an enormous machine ought to work.

Contrast that with current technology, silent electricity and unfathomable microchips, and you'll be able to see what steampunk offers readers. Fantastical although it should be, steampunk is smart. The machinery works in an exceeding manner that usually feels more real than our own world.

Coupled with a strict, rule-based society like the Victorian era this type of technology sets up a world that even the most recent reader instantly appears like they perceive. Steampunk logic is busy with its history. we tend to believe mechanism and steam power work as a result of we all know, vaguely, that they do. they're real parts of our historical past. within the same manner, basing characters on real emotional drives and process characteristics can produce a strong resonance to that readers can respond.

Steampunk Home Decor

It is pretty much understandable to this point that there are not many different and innovative styles of furniture and decor people will get inspiration from as they struggle to place marking the effect over their interior decoration in their home which can reflect their personality and style.

However, one uncommon style to which the general public isn’t tuned in to is that the steampunk interior decoration. As soon as you hear the word “steampunk,” what’s the primary factor that pops in your mind? fiction, adventure, technology or any may be something more relevant.

Usually, with Steampunk we have a tendency to imagine the Victorian era and every one the good and tremendous inventions from that specific period of time. Steampunk conjointly plays a district in cosplay.

You see engaging females dressing up in animal skin corsets paired a crinoline, and that they complete the whole outfit by adding pilot spectacles and barrel a barrel gun. Yup, that what steampunk fashion is.

Even though steampunk remains new and elusive once it involves home style, it's step by step starting to show its influence within the world of the interior coming up with. Steampunk will merely be outlined because of the mix of each class and machinery.

The Relation of Steampunk with Interior Designing

The steampunk methodology cannot be referred to as one of the most liked and desired style when it involves interior styles. However, why is that exactly? Maybe it’s because most of the people don’t even apprehend the essential facts encompassing the idea of steampunk.

When you hear the word steampunk, you’re forthwith transported to visions of the Victorian era, as well as all the inventions and concepts that were prevailing previously. However, this illustration cannot be thought-about complete if you don’t add within the industrial details.

You can realize the steampunk style influences in interior style particularly in Gothic-Victorian fashion and decorations.

But as the trend, if populating and lifting towards the general masses, it is becoming more common and people having a specific acknowledgement towards the word steampunk often gets fascinated with it. Within the last decade the steampunk style of furniture and ornaments are becoming more and more essentials parts of interior designing and people are attracting towards this specific style of furniture as the market grow.

How to Steampunk Your Home

If you’re trying to form a completely new look and overhaul in your home, then the steampunk interior design style is the perfect way to amuse your family and friends and to showcase a completely new look to your interior design thanks to go. many folks have drawn inspiration from this sense of style to form totally different that slot in well with a steampunk-inspired interior.

Here’s a glance at a number of the exceptional qualities of the steampunk interior design style that you just will note of and make the most of especially if this can be the kind of fashion you’ve been on the lookout for.

The Martians v HMS Thunder Child

War of the Worlds pastiche

Britain in 1898.

HMS Thunder Child cruises into action. 

The Martians really came and this is the alternative history of that dreadful event. Join the crew of HMS Thunder Child as she prepares to embark upon her doomed voyage, before her demise and courageous battle with three Martian tripod fighting machines at the River Blackwater in the county of Essex, England, UK.

Captain McIntosh and his brave crew can hardly believe the semaphore messages sent from the shore stations. The news is so uncanny and fantastic that none can accept the stories of Martians falling from space. All hands of HMS Thunder Child must keep a dreadful appointment with destiny as they cruise towards the dire outcome awaiting them.

The War of the Worlds first terrified audiences in book form in 1898, as the first-person narrator tells us the adventures of an unnamed protagonist and his brother as Martians invade Earth. But there were other characters with stories to tell.

C. A. Powell delves into H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and offers fans of the original novel a brand new perspective on the invasion of Earth. In The Last Days of Thunder Child, we see this classic through the eyes of the Royal Navy crew members of HMS Thunder Child and the land-based Ministry of Defence. With this pastiche novel, you will have an even greater understanding and appreciation of the original classic. 

Find out what happens and read: The Last Days of Thunder Child By C.A. Powell

The Martians are Here!

Alien invaders lay waste to Victorian Britain! One ship defies the pitiless assault. H.M.S. Thunder Child steams towards her glorious destiny in this 'War of the Worlds' pastiche! The War of the Worlds contains a small section on the Thunder Child battleship that attacks three tripods to save a paddle steamer. This story takes place a few days before the event and leads up to the final dramatic moment. The clever build-up leads to this final battle of ironclad v three Martian tripods. The story moves between the crew of the HMS Thunder Child at sea, and Mister Stanley, the low-grade clerk from the War Office. He is moving across the land to various semaphore stations. He is linked to the ship because he delivered the mission orders before the story starts. If you have read War of the Worlds and enjoyed it, you will like this story too.

For THE LAST DAYS OF THUNDER CHILD - click the widget below:

The Martians were on the rampage all across Queen Victoria's Britain. Nothing man possessed could stop them. But then the huge fighting machines began to slow down and lumber to a halt. One by one, the Martians inside the giant machines began to die. Soon there were just scattered and failing remnants of the once-mighty tripods wandering here and there among the derelict monuments. Even the red weed was dying as Mother Earth began to reclaim her own. The human survivors became emboldened and they emerged from the hiding places intent on fighting back.

For: THE LAST DAYS OF THE FIGHTING MACHINE - click the widget below.

Two War of the Worlds Science Fiction Adaptations.

A second War of the Worlds adaptation in the form of a disease-ridden and battle-damaged Martian fighting machine. 

Read, THE LAST DAYS OF THE FIGHTING MACHINE.

First came, The Last Days of Thunder Child.

Now we have The Last Days of the Fighting Machine.

1. Did you enjoy the dreadful thought of the War of the Worlds Tripod Fighting Machines from Mars?

2. What About the War of the Worlds 1953 Radio Broadcast?

3. Or the Jeff Wayne War of the Worlds Musical?

Imagine it from the cool maths game point of view. The Martians did not make an allowance for a world of warships. Therefore, war and thunder spitting from the ironclad's guns would take the complacent Martians, in their fighting machines, by surprise.

Science Fiction Lovers Indulge This Thought.

Imagine, if you will, how it would have been to be a Victorian sailor from retro British times of 1898. You are on board HMS Thunder Child and the ship is picking up strange semaphore messages from the shore stations. Invaders from Mars are striding about and destroying the entire fabric of our nation. Would you believe such outrages things? The entire ship would be alive with speculation and disbelief. These sailors were destined to see three Martian fighting machines and confront the colossal edifices in battle.

As an impressionable young lad, I always found myself pondering such things.

I would walk about in my dream thinking, “If I was in that story, I would do this or that.” I found myself wishing for all sorts of adventures.

When I read H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, I remember getting a tremendous lift out of the short excerpt when an ironclad called H.M.S. Thunder Child attacked three Martian tripods in the River Blackwater to save a paddle steamer full of refugees.

Coming Soon - A Second War of the Worlds Pastiche.

Coming soon!

THE LAST DAYS OF THE FIGHTING MACHINE.
By
C. A. Powell

(The Martians are Dying)

A War of the Worlds Pastiche. 

The terrifying Martian apocalypse of Queen Victoria's Britain was in full swing. Then the Martian invasion suddenly broke down. The once competent battle formations of the fighting machines become uncoordinated. Large numbers of tripod machines simply halted. 

Britain is now a nation littered with giant motionless three-legged edifices. Inside most of these machines, is the blight riddled bodies of dead alien beings from Mars. The Martians that survive,  have become dwindling remnants of a mechanised army in disarray.  

One such battered Martian fighting machine wanders into the small remote village of Paglesham Churchend in Essex. The tripod stands like a sentinel against the church tower. 

For the desperate human survivors, it is time for a reckoning. A village policeman, a poacher and other local residents join forces with a group of shipwrecked French sailors. They decide to fight back against the disease-ridden Martians inside their crippled fighting machine. 

All Hell is about to break loose in the remote little English village of Pagelsham Churchend.

Granddaughters Millie and Rosie with Carole at the Crooked Cottage in Manea.

I forgot I had this photo on my phone. It was taken back in August on a rather hot day. Carole and I took Granddaughters, Millie and Rosie to the bird hides. We passed the rickety old cottage along the way and I thought it a good excuse to take a photoshoot on the mobile.

The Rain is Coming in the Fenlands.

As I was driving out of the village of Benwick in the Fenlands of Cambridgeshire, I turned down this country lane and was struck by the clouds as I looked out across the Fens. I stopped the truck and took a quick photo. There were different layers of clouds moving swiftly across the sky. It lent a fierce look and was followed by a fierce downpour of torrential rain. You can certainly see the weather coming in the fens. 😀

We Dug the Garden Pond Deeper and Now Want More.

We bought a new and bigger pond liner a few weeks back. Then we decided to dig deeper and widen the pond. We took all of the fish out and put them in a big black bathtub. My step-son Graham went on a mammoth digging mission. The surplus earth was displaced around the fence perimeters and more rock wall for the plant boundary etc. This I did with the wheelbarrow as graham filled it with soil.

Eventually, we were able to lay the new pond liner refill and then put the fish back in their new home. Graham went and bought two new Ghost Carp adding to the nineteen fish we already had. We sat down and decided that next year, we'll get a mini digger and some railway sleepers and make the pond double the size it is now. That way the Koi, Ghost and Israeli Carp will grow even bigger.

The frogs and newts have come back within days. They seem to approve. My wife and I move the small table and chairs and stare down at the fish. It is becoming rather therapeutic. 

All Hail The Eyeballs in the Sky!

I remember reading a British cartoon strip. I think it was in the Daily Mirror and I was working at the Royal Mail in London. I would often read various newspaper funnies. One such strip was the Eyeballs in the Sky. It was an off-shoot story of The Perishers and was by Maurice Dodds and Dennis Collins.

The Perishers cartoon strip had four children who had this old dog called Boot. When the family went on holiday Boot stayed back at the house. One of the dog’s little delights was to wonder to the garden rock pool and stare down through the still water at the pond life that lived below. The crab creatures would stare up at Boot and wonder. All these tiny living things could see was Boot’s eyes and nose. Eyes that peered down from Heaven. Consequently, this society of crabs fashioned a religion around the phenomenal appearance of the Eyeballs in the Sky. Religious crabs preached that there was life beyond the Pooliverse, etc. There were also scientist crabs who tried to discredit the Eyeballs in the Sky as being non-existent. The stories became on going with loads of splendid innuendo jokes. How so many stories could be invented from Boot the dog staring into the rock pool was an absolute delight.

I never wanted The Perishers to come back from holiday. Like the little crabs, “All hail the divine Eyeballs in the Sky.” Boot the dog would cause all sorts of mayhem and deep philosophy among the tiny creatures and walk off with his own oblivious thoughts. Usually leaving upheaval of biblical proportions in the rock pool.

The Diary of an Unknown Aviator - Elliot White Springs

I read this book many years ago. I found it in an old book shop. It was an orange cover at the top with a picture of a WWI aircraft. The account, as I can remember, was of an unknown American pilot. I remember it was poignant and sad towards the end. I presume the writer (aviator) never survived the harsh WWI and the memoirs were then published in later years by a friend. I remember that the writer seemed to be under some stress as he gave an account of the casualty rate. I also remember a justifiable resentment at the conflict and a sense that he would not make it through the entire campaign of the air. He seemed to have an understanding of the terrible odds stacked against him and many like himself. You are actually touching a condemned man's inner being. There is an inevitable sadness about this biographical account. You are reading a condemned man's inner thoughts and it was rather sad in many parts because you know what is going to happen and the anonymous writer knows too. His thoughts are up close and very personal and immensely sad from the readers perspective. This is worth reading. Even if you can only do it once, I would advise reading this sad memoir.