One of the most enjoyable aspects of writing steampunk is the opportunity to use real historical people as characters. Among those featured in my novel Fidelio’s Automata are Antoine and Medora Vallambrosa, a.k.a. the Marquis and Marquise de Mores. They were a “power couple” of the 19th Century, notable figures in the history of my […]
When I was growing up in North Dakota, we had long, harsh winters, lasting at least five months. On Halloween night, we often wore our parkas as we went trick or treating on snow-packed sidewalks. By Christmas, the snow drifts would be high and sparkle in the moonlight, as the days get really short when […]
On this day in history in 1889, North and South Dakota were created. Formerly they were a single territory called Dakota, but the residents had a knock-down drag-out fight about the location of the capital city. Originally it was at Yankton, way down by Omaha. Northerners hated Nebraska so they moved it up the Missouri […]
