"Never Mind The Nonsense..."

A few posts back, after relating my saga of the speed-writing and last-minute-submitting of "Worm Herding" to Pill Hill Press, I stepped back and reflected on some of their other open submission calls.

One that intrigued me was called "CONQUEST THROUGH DETERMINATION," which will be a compilation of stories in the steampunk genre. If you don't know what steampunk is, don't worry...I didn't either at first. In a nutshell, it's a story set in the late 1800s (the era of steam) that includes some sort of futuristic contraption that runs on steam. The grandaddy of them all is the Nautilus, the fantastic submarine of Jules Verne's 20,00 Leagues Under The Sea.

I really wanted to write something. But the deadline was less than two weeks away. I pondered and pondered, but couldn't come up with even a story idea. I considered reaching out to my friend and past co-conspirator Bill with the thought that we could bounce ideas back and forth and come up with complementary tales...sort of, Around The World In 80 Days, told from two different perspectives.

Actually, I did try reaching out to Bill, but we couldn't connect.

And then...inspiration!

I took the "punk" in steampunk literarlly, and crafted a piece about London's first punk string quartet, who were all the rage in 1879.

Since it's just over 3,000 words, it's too long for this space. But I have posted the entire thing on my "In Progress Stuff" page. It's not due until Monday; if you have any feedback -- especially any typos -- please share it in the comments. 

So without any further ado....

Never Mind The Nonsense, Here’s The Sex Truncheons!