Alexia’s London:
Deleted Steam & Inspiration
PEOPLE, PLACES, & PLOT: Gail's sketches of characters & fight scenes
- Catch Gail playing at casting director over on My Book, The Movie.
- The Mat Hatter interviews Alexia & Lord Maccon and also Lord Akeldama
- Character Study: Alexia Tarabotti. Download a copy of Gail's .pdf character dossier used by the Soulless Paper Doll designer, all about Alexia and her dresses, backgrounds, & facial expressions. A Very Alexia Christmas! And lastlyAlexia talks with (shockingly forward) newcomer Jane True.
- Character Study: Lord Conall Maccon, Earl of Woolsey
- Character Study: Miss Ivy Hisselpenny
- More Character Studies to follow.
FASHION: Gail's sketches of outfits & 1870's style
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Blog post all about the floating dresses described in Changeless.
DELETED BITS from Soulless
The Hypocras Club Objectives
* Attentiveness — Identify and understand the supernatural threat, assess vulnerabilities, determine potential impacts and disseminate information to our members and security partners.
* Preclusion — Detect, deter and mitigate the supernatural threat to the commonwealth.
* Precaution — Safeguard normal humans and their freedoms, and maintain critical infrastructure and intellectual advancement of the scientific community.
Alexia's Father's Journal
Ivy had always been faintly cheered by the fact that should a marriage bed ever be in her future, she could go to Alexia for an explanation of what might occur there. Sadly for Miss Hisselpenny, such an explanation was likely to contain concepts that would shock the most experienced whore down dockside, let alone a gently bred lady. Mr. Tarabotti had had very exotic interests indeed, and Alexia hadn't the experience to provide any kind of filter.
DELETED BITS from Changeless
Description of Woolsey Castle
The most scandalous thing about Woolsey Castle was not that it housed a pack of werewolves. After all, only the best counties could boast such an eccentricity. Nor was it the fact that it boasted eight flying buttresses – an architecturally immodest choice. No, the most scandalous thing about Woolsey Castle was that there was a bedroom, and sometimes several, on every single storey, even the first. The original owner was a bit of an eccentric, in the "if he had not had money he would have been called insane" kind of way. Woolsey was no castle, not really. It was instead a modern manor house made to look like a castle with stone facings, an excessive number of haphazardly applied turrets, crenellated battlements, extensive dungeons, and the aforementioned buttresses.
Scene with Lyall, Channing, and Biffy just after breaking and entering
Channing crossed his arms. "I would have been just as effective."
"Yes, but Biffy was a safer choice."
Biffy looked mildly offended.
"If he was caught it would be thought an inter-vampire plot, if you were caught it would be considered an inter-species plot."
Biffy looked less offended and nodded his agreement with Lyall's assessment.
Channing was militant. "I do not trust him!"
"Biffy?" Lyall wondered mildly.
Biffy looked pleased at the accusation.
Channing was annoyed with Lyall's obtuseness. "No, no, Lord Akeldama."
Lyall puffed air out his nostrils in annoyance. "You do not trust vampires."
"You saying you do trust them?"
Professor Lyall looked out the carriage window.
Channing had never learned the art of silence. "I am Gamma. It is my nature to question."
"You are you. It is your nature to be a prat."
Biffy gave a tiny gasp at such werewolf directness. It was most unsettling to a vampire drone.
Channing smiled. "Admit it, you sense it too. We are missing something." He looked at the drone. "Why does your master like our fiery lady Alpha so much?"
Biffy shrugged. "They are friends."
Channing ignored this reply and turned back to Professor Lyall. "You and I have dabbled in London politics long enough to know: Lord Akeldama doesn't have friends."
Professor Lyall gave his Gamma a level look. "You like her, admit it."
Biffy muttered, "Major Channing seems to like nothing but Major Channing."
Major Channing ignored this. "She's plucky. I like plucky. She's not, however, to Lord Akeldama's taste. What does he really want with her?"
"Give it a rest, would you please Channing?"
"You know something!"
Lyall glared at him. "Yes. I know the right question to ask. You are not asking it."
"Oh?"
"What have we learned on this little adventure of ours?"
Channing blinked icy blue eyes at his Beta blankly.
It was Biffy who answered. "That my master is not the only vampire to find Lady Maccon intriguing."
"Exactly." With which Professor Lyall turned once more to stare out the carriage window, apparently fascinated by the way the gas lighting flickered over the cobbled street.
COMENTARY & THOUGHTS on the World of the Parasol Protectorate
Gail's Articles & Ideas
* In Which Gail Reveals All Her Researching Secrets to J. Daniel Sawyer
* Worries Over Age Gaps in Vampire Relationships
* Where did Alexia get her name? You may well ask
* Victorian medical science
* How the Victorians described Italian food
* Some words on Victorian profanity
* In which Soulless finds its sub-genre: urbane fantasy & more urbane fantasy, coined by Carrie Vaughn
* Brief discussion of pets in fiction
* How Victorian money works
* The Curious Results of Research and Writing
* Hassocks, Tuffets & Pouffes, Oh My!
* What a Lovely Herbaceous Border
* Victorian travel times: How long would it take to get from London to Glasgow in 1874? and more on travel and the Complexities of Coaches
* Going Regimental
* All About Parasols & The Language of Parasols
* Medical Common Sense and Plain Home Talk
* The Victorian Obsession with Hair, Result: Mourning Jewelry
* All About Oxfords: Men's Shoe Style Explained
* So, how do vampires affect Victorian fashion?
* The Sillier Side of Vampires