Poem: "The Steamsmith"
This poem came out of the November 1, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a detailed character prompt from marina_bonomi who also sponsored this poem.
"The Steamsmith" is steampunk, and features an odd form of alchemical science; the physics, biology, and other parameters in this setting differ considerably from those in our consensus reality. I've ( Read more... )
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Do I see another series in the making? ;-)
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Well, I can think of at least two options:
1) Give it to meeksp as a prompt for Story Sketches.
2) Show it to your husband.
>>Do I see another series in the making? ;-) <<
Yep. I figured that as soon as I read the description in your prompt, and then "The Four Humours" emerged later, so there are two poems in this setting to start with.
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He's not really into steampunk illustration *but* he'll definitely paint a portrait of Maryam for me (and I'll pass it on, of course).
She's been in my mind for a while and 'Maryam' is my user name on a steampunk site I occasionally visit.
You gave me a start with her hairdo,I hadn't put it in the prompt but that's exactly how I visualize it.
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He's not really into steampunk illustration *but* he'll definitely paint a portrait of Maryam for me (and I'll pass it on, of course). <<
*happydance* I look forward to seeing that. I really admire his art.
>>She's been in my mind for a while and 'Maryam' is my user name on a steampunk site I occasionally visit.<<
That is so cool. Also, if you're familiar with steampunk, you can help me get a handle on this genre. It's something I've read on occasion, but very rarely written.
>>You gave me a start with her hairdo,I hadn't put it in the prompt but that's exactly how I visualize it.<<
Yay! I think the hairdo is a riff off of some traditional African ones that involve metal rings or other doodads. You still see it over here with things like beads on the ends of braids.
Maryam is loud for a character. I think her life has made her assertive and it just carries over. Most of my characters don't 'notice' me or interact with me directly, though there are always a few who ( ... )
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I really appreciate you looking over this for me. Don't worry too much about speed -- marina_bonomi can be a very fast pounce on sponsoring things. Ideally I try to do any necessary proofreading before I post a poem, but it's not always possible given the way several of my sponsors watch the fishbowl like eager cats. But that's okay; people are also tolerant about me going back to revise things that I've posted. Crowdfunding often involves open-source, in-view editing.
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*wink* "It's science, Jim, but not as we know it."
That is, it can be studied rationally, experimented with, and replicated. It has laws and patterns which can be discovered and described. From what I've seen, I think they understand the four main elements pretty well, but they have only a partial grasp of aether so far. They know some common molecules, but nowhere near all of them yet and are still figuring out which is made of what and how many. So we're at the exciting part of their industrial and scientific revolution...
>>And yes, Maryam is certainly a character who demands one's attention. In the best way, of course.<<
... and there's a smart black gal applying a whetstone to the cutting edge of it. Won't this be fun?I've noticed that Maryam is an interesting blend of quiet and conforming vs. flashy and individualistic. She's a black woman in a field dominated by white men, so she stands out; she tends to dress and act like ( ... )
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Aye, she is that -- infuriatingly Competent, even, in the opinion of many other folks in that culture. She's living proof that some of their dearly held beliefs about human nature are bollocks. When you're living in an industrial revolution with a newish faith that science is Good And Right, black sheep and white crows can be tremendously discomfiting. Small minds can rip a muscle trying to accommodate such things, and that's painful. She is so skilled and so useful, they can't afford to ignore her. She doesn't try to demand acclaim or reach outside her skills, just insists that people give credit where credit is due and won't accept anything less.
>>And yeah, "Science" really stays the same. It's just being used here to study a Universe different from ours.<*nod* I'll have to do some poking around, but I suspect that the philosophical ( ... )
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