#book secrets

Labyrinth’s Archivist (Book Secrets): Hypatia

Remember when I said that the Great Archive in the Labyrinth’s Archivist grew out of the Great Library of Alexandria? Here is one very concrete example to show that this wasn’t just via inspiration.

Yes, the Library of Alexandria inspired the Great Archive but I wanted to hint at a more concrete connection. That hint came in the form of Azulea’s mother’s name – Hypatia.

Hypatia really…

The Book Blogger Test

So, I thought that I would come back and I would lighten it up with a nice tag. I haven’t been tagged to do this, I think, but I saw Sam from RiverMoose-Readsdo this a few months ago and I have wanted to do this for a while. Make sure you check Sam out as well because little does she know that she is one of the reasons I came back because her post are amazing and it really inspired me to come…

Notes from my time writing “Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn” and fun tidbits

Middle East Steampunk does not run on coal.

Coal-powered steampunk is something that I think (opinion here) would exist in Western countries where coal is more prevalent.  Granted, Persia at the time of our book would (and does) have massive coal reserves, but that isn’t the way the society and culture developed.  Not…

Notes from my time writing “Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn” and fun tidbits.

Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles.

Baba Ali receives a puzzle box from a mysterious mechanical falcon.I’ve read about puzzle boxes and secret boxes and this sounded like something great to include. However, the only one I’ve seen was “Lemarchand’s Box” from the Hellraiser movies. Yeah, not going to use that as a…

Baba Ali Research – Tahtib: Egyptian Stick Fighting

In the draft “Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn,” Baba Ali carries a carved wooden stick from his grandfather. We were looking to have Ali to have a means to protect him and although he did have a khanjar, using a blade seemed too violent for the character. I didn’t want readers to fall into the assumption that he would know and use staff fighting. In part, because most people would think of Robin…