April 30, 1929: Under orders from Marius Brezeanu (better known as Doctor Mirabilis), Banat Republic troops invade Transylvania, slaughtering Count Orlock and over two dozen of his vampire warlords. Doctor Mirabilis, derided by some as ‘The Despot of the Banat,’ had recently led a revolution that overthrew the rule of the German industrialist barons in […]
Author: Mike DiBaggio
What is known about superpowers and the paranormal?
Continuing in the series of articles investigating what the inhabitants of the Ascension Epoch universe actually know about the secret history and strange phenomenon of their world (part one addresses non-human civilizations), today we take a look at the nature and origin of talents and paranormal phenomena. What does science say about superpowers? What is […]
This Day in AE history: the Liberation of Pittsburgh from the Martians
April 16, 1900 – The Martian occupation of Pittsburgh is broken by a combined army of partisans and remnants of US and CS formations led by William ‘Butcher Bill’ Kernan. Refugees in the mountains around the city had been fighting a guerrilla campaign against the Martians for nearly a year after several failed attempts by […]
What is known about non-human civilizations?
#WorldbuildingWednesday is a series of articles posted every Wednesday that flesh out some aspect of the Ascension Epoch’s shared universe. One of the more subtle distinctions between the Ascension Epoch and the Primary World (i.e. our own world) is the attitudes and beliefs of the general population. Many settings that posit the existence of extraordinary […]
The King in Yellow’s New York
On #AnnotatedTuesdays, we will share a quoted passage from some public domain source that has informed some aspect of the vast cosmos that is the Ascension Epoch universe, followed by commentary on how we used it. Toward the end of the year 1920 the Government of the United States had practically completed the programme, adopted […]
When Gravitas Speaks, Men Obey
There are no familiar faces from the Irregulars or Challenger Foundation in today’s #SaturdayScenes, and it’s not from a book already published or a book in progress. Today you get to take a look at a different corner of the Ascension Epoch universe and meet, for the first time in prose, the super-soldier called Sentinel, […]
Come see us at Pottsville’s Block of Art this weekend
Shell and I will have artwork and books available for your perusal and purchase at the Block of Art in downtown Pottsville, PA this weekend. We will be at the ArtMart, located in the Greystone Restaurant. You can see the schedule of events here.
Harry Houdini: Paranormal Crime-Buster and Foe of the Supernatural
#WorldbuildingWednesday is a series of articles posted every Wednesday that flesh out some aspect of the Ascension Epoch’s shared universe. In the Ascension Epoch, Harry Houdini is less known for his talents as a magician and escape artist than as a passionate critic of metahumans and one of the early pioneers of anti-talent tactics and […]
Ambrose Bierce, ghosts, and the haunted habitats of the restless dead
On #AnnotatedTuesdays, we will share a quoted passage from some public domain source that has informed some aspect of the vast cosmos that is the Ascension Epoch universe, followed by commentary on how we used it. “Fear has no brains; it is an idiot. The dismal witness that it bears and the cowardly counsel that […]
Unglue.It
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Eric Hellman, the man behind a very interesting and noble effort in freeing creative expression from the bounds of copyright. His project, Unglue.It, is a website where authors can post “unglued” ebooks–that is, ebooks that have been released under Creative Commons licenses. Just as important, it’s a […]
