Preview of our Kickstarter Video

In order to finance the development of the iPad application for Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus we are launching a Kickstarter project in April of this year (2012) - two months from now!

From the beginning Steampunk Holmes was intended to be a book app; an enhanced ebook for the iPad.  In fact, that was its primary channel although now we've added simple ePUB and Audiobook channels to our future release plans.

The Kickstarter project hasn't started yet but we hope you'll do us the honor of sharing this video with other Steampunk and Sherlock Holmes fans so that they learn more about the it and consider funding the Kickstarter project when it launches in April of 2012.

If you are interested in learning when the Kickstarter project launches, send an email to Richard@Monson-Haefel.com (that's me!) and we'll send you an email when the Kickstarter project launches.  We won't share you email with anyone or abuse it - we just want to keep you abreast of developments in the project moving forward.

Victoria Valentine or Grim Vickie?

Appearances can be deceiving and this character, Victoria Valentine, is far more complex than her Victorian sensibilities suggest. Is she Victoria Valentine, the most innocent and horribly wronged of women, or Grim Vickie, a woman capable of doing horribly wrong things to the innocent? You be the judge when you read, "Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus". Another fantastic character imagined by P.C. Martin and beautiful portrait rendered by Daniel Cortes.

Sherlock's Metal Gauntlets

Metal Gauntlets by Daniel Cortes

A couple of months back we showed an illustration of a battle Sherlock Holmes crew (Sherlock, Watson, and Mycroft) and Captain Nemo's Rajput warriors. In that scene Sherlock deploys another weapon of his own design, his metal gauntlets. The image above shows the technical drawings for those gauntlets which will be animated to show how they deploy from within the sleeve of his coat when needed.

"Holmes cast his revolvers aside; in the torchlight I saw the glint of my friend's steel mitts creeping up over his fists, like the scaly skin of a crocodile, with razors protruding between the knuckles, and thus armed he took his next opponent by surprise, even though the latter wielded a Katar, the dreadful Rajput triple-bladed knife, in each hand. The complex movements and lightning-quick thrusts and parries fascinated me, as though I were watching dancers in a complex choreographed display instead of a desperate battle to the death."

- Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus by P.C. Martin 

Captain Nemo, Jr.

Every story has its villains and its heros and Steampunk Holmes is no exception.  Above is the portrait sketch for the son of Captain Nemo who is one of the main characters of the story.  We learn about his lineage, love life, and political orientation and we get to see him and his Rajput warriors in battle!  It's all good fun and in keeping with Jules Verne's original vision.  Is Nemo the villain, a puppet, or is he a hero?  You'll find out when we release the final manuscript by P.C. Martin of 'Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus'.

A Portait of Lestrade

Daniel Cortes just sent me this new portrait depicting Inspector Lestrade. In our story Lestrade is not a bumbling idiot, but he's no match for Holmes either. Still, Holmes likes Lestrade and relays the following to Watson:

“We must give him some credit, Watson; he is meticulous in his pursuit of trivial facts, and though he very seldom draws correct conclusions in any save the most childishly straightforward cases, at least he saves us the trouble of having to gather every scrap of trivia for ourselves. Occasionally he has stumbled upon some vital shred of information, to which he himself attributed little or no importance, but which served to unlock an entire case for me. Yes, our dear Lestrade has his uses now and again.”

Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus by P.C. Martin

Mycroft Holmes Kicking Butt!

Art by Daniel Cortes

"Miss Holmes' appearance was that of a great biped panther, for her black fur train was thrown about her shoulders, and with her face ensconced in the same half-mask that had enveloped her in our last encounter with enemies, she was emptying the charges from two Moriarty-727 pistols into a line of armed roughs, which fast dispersed as some of their number collapsed. "

Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus by P.C. Martin

Watson Tests His Weaponized Mechanical Arm

Art by Daniel Cortes

"A certain underground tunnel, abandoned some time previously, following the inauguration of a more modern line, located at some little distance from Baker Street, at once struck me as an ideal place in which to test dangerous explosive devices, being near enough to a noisy underground construction site as to render the sounds of my practice runs quite indistinguishable from the rumbling cacophony of the latter."

-Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus by P.C. Martin