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I've recently read Sam Stone's _Zombies at Tiffany's_, which is basically a harmless light [1] novella with zombies, a certain amount of steampunk to provide the heroine with a portable machinegun for zombie murder, and any number of anachronisms in speech, set during the American Civil War. I did wonder about this, though:

"Martin had discovered a way to boil a kettle by generating power from steam. He used a mini boiler fire in which he burned a piece of coal. This created steam that in turn ran a small engine, 'not unlike trains', Martin had explained, and it warmed the water."

Martin is certainly ingenious but I think there may be some optimisation work possible.

[1] Very light; "now they discover the secret hidden airship chamber on the top floor of Tiffany's and they escape" light, a plot twist worth of Fanthorpe in a hurry.

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There are 11 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

I'm pretty sure Americans don't understand kettles.

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That was my first thought.

My second thought was that, hang on, some Americans still have stovetop kettles because of their feeble electricity - if you have a stovetop kettle isn't it even _more_ obvious how to make fire into tea?

My third thought is that, hang on, I've met Sam Stone and she's British. (From her Wikipedia page I gather there are three sequel novellas; I'm not sure the premise admits of extension, although (since the protag is "Kat"), "Kat on a hot tin airship" isn't a bad title and explains some of the detail of the airship...)

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And then we can use the steam engine to turn a dynamo, which drives the electric heating coils.

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Seems entirely reas... wait, what? [sigh]

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But wait, I haven't told you about the high-pressure turbopump and hydroelectric generator yet!

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Ah, now it's making a lot more sense. Everyone knows that adding complexity increases efficiency in the world of steampunk!

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That might be a Thog-worthy quote :-)

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Good idea! I've sent it in. Mind you, it's not as obviously hilarious as most Thoggery.

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Given that footnote, does this post require a spoiler warning? [grin]

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I think I can live with spoiling this particular masterpiece.

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Seems fair.

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damerell

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