As you can see above, the cover mockup for Antarctic Honeymoon has been updated. I’ll need to get a photo-realistic image of the Endeavor to replace the AI image on the cover. Anyone know a good spaceship designer?
I modified the blurb for Antarctic Honeymoon – see it here.
Found out some about the wives of some of the historical characters in the current story. George Kunz was married to Sophia. Charles Tiffany, founder of Tiffany’s Jewelry, was married to Harriet. J.P. Morgan, who funded a lot of Kunz’s collecting and explorations, was married to Francis who went by ‘Fanny’.
Delmonico’s restaurant in New York City was the epitome of fine dining in 1891. The most famous location at 56 Beaver Street, informally called the Citidel, was closed while Bill, Eleanor and Mirim were visiting Tiffany’s. Instead there were only two locations, one at 22 Broad Street that served the financial district, and one at 5th Avenue and 26th Street. Even though J.P. Morgan was hosting the dinner, I figured it was an evening affair and, with two locations, one specifically serving the financial district, the 5th and 26th location was more likely to be the fine dining version. Besides, I could find a picture of it.
I also discovered that this Delmonico’s location is right across the street from Madison Square Park, one of the oldest public parks in New York City. At this time the original Madison Square Gardens, a converted depot of the New York & Harlem Railroad, was on the other side of the park from Delmonico’s.
Major Regdar wants the Arun Marines to have firearms in addition to their boarding swords and instead of the cranky and easily damaged coil guns they now carry. To facilitate that they talk to Thomas Grey Bennett, husband of Hannah Jane Winchester, who has been president of Winchester Repeating Arms Company since 1890… Not very long. Thing is, Thomas had been working for Winchester for years and was instrumental in growing the company, especially overseas. This will be interesting. Browning recognized the potential of a gas-powered semiauto weapon when he designed a shotgun using such a mechanism in 1898. He asked Winchester for royalties instead of a single payment for the patent. They refused and that broke the Winchester-Browning relationship until after WW I. What’s going to happen when Browning designs a semi-auto mechanism, or even a machine gun, for the Arun Marines?
The Maxim gun was the top-of-the-line machine gun of the time, and its direct descentant is being used in the current Russia-Ukraine war. It was water-cooled and too heavy and bulky for even an Arun Troll to handle like an assault rifle. But Colt was working with Browning on a gas-operated machine gun.
I’ve commissioned a map of Galveston for Mirim for the WIN. I’ll let y’all know how that comes out.
Chapters this week:
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – completed
Dinner Plans
Winchester Repeating Arms
Coltsville
Dinner at Delmonico’s – partial