Some time ago, Gentle Reader, a dear friend gifted me with a teapot carrier AKA carriage cozy. At first, when I saw it I was confused. Why would she give me one of those 1950’s hair dryer cases? Then I opened it up and inside was a perfectly nested teapot! I thought, “My my my, […]
Aug172015
Teapot Carrier AKA the Carriage Cozy: Transporting Tea (Victorians On the Go)
Jul102015
Alternate Historical Names for Clothing in the Victorian Era
1811 ~ Alternate Historical Names for Clothing Togs ~ Clothes Articles or Inexpressibles ~ Underthings, sometimes Breeches Farting crackers or Galligaskins ~ Breeches Buntlings ~ Petticoats Fallalls ~ Ornaments, chiefly woman’s, such as ribands, necklaces, etc. India wipe ~ A silk handkerchief Specked whiper ~ A coloured handkerchief Knuckle-dabd, or knuckle-confounders ~ Ruffles Brogue ~ […]
Mar232015
Primrose’s Packing List for Fashionable Victorian Dirigible Travel
One of my favorite early scenes of the Custard Protocol series in Prudence is when Primrose and all her trunks come on board the Spotted Custard. If was fun to write and it was really fun to research. I adore books about how people traveled in the past, possibly because I do so much traveling […]
Mar62015
Anglicization: In Which We Revisit the Ladybird Problem
My dear Gentle Reader, This is not a topic I get asked about much anymore but just in case I’m hit with a number of the Very Curious after reading a Parasolverse book, I am going to address a delicate subject here and now… Anglicization or should I say? Anglicisation Right, so you may or […]
Aug292011
World Building: How Gail Built the Parasolverse by Explaining History Backwards
This is a reboot of a blog I did back in September of 2009 when I was first launching Soulless into the world. I’m an archaeologist & I’m constantly distressed by history. Back in my days as a practicing archaeologist, I was constantly distressed by history. This was, as you may well imagine, professionally terribly […]
Apr292011
In Which Your Intrepid Author Takes A Balloon Ride In The Interests Of Research
Details for Writers of the Floating Persuasion So as you may have guessed (ore read), Gentle Reader, from the time frame, my characters don’t float by dirigible they float by balloon instead. So I decided for my birthday I’d recruit five friends and go up in a balloon to see what it was really like. […]