Alongside Mary Shelley and H. G. Wells, Jules Verne stands as one of the three founders of Science Fiction, and while you surely know him from some of his most famous titles, such as Around the World in 80 Days, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and The Mysterious Island, not to mention Around the Moon or Five Weeks in a Balloon, we aren't going to talk about any of these—phenomenal though they are. No, we are here to talk about another Jules V

Categories of literature do not share the limitations of human genetics. The wide range of literature we ascribe to Science Fiction is so vast that it can hardly be winnowed down to any set of parents, nor does it need to be. While all humans are bound by a strict genetic limit of one father and one mother, Science Fiction has grown and developed from multiple fathers and mothers. However, general consensus regarding the ancestry of Science Fiction is that it had predominantl

Long before Richard Nixon started the “War on Drugs” back in the 1970's (and a hearty congratulations to drugs for winning that war), there was another war on drugs that produced no better results—two wars, in fact, and not in name only, but actual wars. Before we dive into the real Lee Ho Fook's and how all this ties into the fictional opium den featured in Grayhound, we need to know where it all started. The First War on Drugs The first historical war on drugs is a sad disp

Southwark Cathedral sits on the southern bank of the Thames in what is now the heart of London, but it did not begin in the heart of London. Though it is not as famous as Notre Dame of Paris, nor as tall as the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, nor as instantly recognizable as Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow (technically named "The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat"), Southwark Cathedral plays an important role in the Callahan Chronicles. Fortunatel

For those of you who have already doved—dove—dived—diven?—plunged headlong into Grayhound, the third book in the Callahan Chronicles, I doubt many of you expected to meet the Spanish Inquisition. No one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition, do they? As a Protestant Christian, I grew up reading stories of the first Reformers, many of whom were hunted, persecuted, or even murdered by the Catholic Church—men like Jan Hus, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, Ulrich Zwingli, and John

It is no surprise that the longest running hospital in the world was founded in honor of the Great Physician. Though Christian history is not without conflict, Christianity has a longstanding history of care for the sick, the poor, and the oppressed. The Hôtel Dieu is no exception to either, and has its own long history of both conflict and care. In fact, the Hôtel Dieu in Paris is but one of many French hospitals founded by the Catholic Church, created to offer Christian cha

In my last blog, I discussed Prefect Henri-Auguste Lozé and the Student Riots of 1893. My readers will be far more familiar with Lozé than Lépine, having seen Lozé several times in the Callahan Chronicles up to this point, and, if they have read Grayound , will at least know the name of Louis Lépine, who is briefly introduced. In reality, the opposite is true. Lozé is hardly known, and despite a long career of faithful service to France, is remembered mostly due to his bungl

The Prefect, The Model, and the Student During the summer of 1893, what started as a small protest in Paris nearly became a revolution. When I first learned of these facts—quite by accident, as it is rare to find them mentioned in any ordinary history book—they fascinated me so entirely that it became the primary nail on which I hung the starting date of the Callahan Chronicles . Though the story twisted in ways I never expected, the reason the Callahan Chronicles begin in 18

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Hotel Cecil on far left and Savoy 2nd from left. The 3rd building is likely the Red Cross Headquarters. Have you ever stayed in a hotel?...

While Sherlock Holmes is by far the world's most famous detective in literature, the world's most famous detective agency is without...

In my previous blog post, I discussed the reality of black Confederates, and why mainstream historians appear so reluctant to admit their...

Since the end of what is commonly called the American Civil War, history of the war and its causes has become nearly impossible to...

Robert Ledru is barely a footnote in my novel, Gray Matter . His name is thrown out as a warning by the lawyer, Jean-Michel D'Barbareau,...

A handsome Hansom Cab with a handsome Hansom driver, circa 1880's. You might think that cars, trucks, and vans would have no place in the...

Le Havre Carte de Visite (Postcard of Le Havre, 19th century) One of the most prominent locations in Gray Matter, the sequel to Grayscale...

When one is asked to name the most important inventions since the beginning of creation, the wheel is certainly at the top of the list,...

Perhaps smartphones and Artificial Intelligence aren't the best starting point for a blog on trains, but here we are. Take a moment to...

Perhaps Sherlock Holmes is not the most expected starting place for discussing a book about Judas Iscariot, but The Doomed Disciple owes much to Holmes' methods. In light of this fact, I thought it best to present an overview of these methods here, as a pastiche, recorded by his faithful chronicler, John Watson. This is the final of four such articles, focused on Judas Iscariot. In the first three, Holmes discusses the validity of the gospels, Joseph of Arimathaea, and Simon

Perhaps Sherlock Holmes is not the most expected starting place for discussing a book about Judas Iscariot, but The Doomed Disciple owes much to Holmes' methods. In light of this fact, I thought it best to present an overview of these methods here, as a pastiche, recorded by his faithful chronicler, John Watson. This is the third of four such articles. In the first, Holmes is seen discussing the gospels themselves, and in the next three articles, Holmes discusses three of th