Cleaning streets wasn’t precisely what anyone would mistake as high-income work. Quite the contrary — he knew a number of thieves and ne’er-do-wells that, week for week, drew in a better income than he.

What his job lacked in income, however, it made up for in stability. Streets were simple business. Pick up trash, sweep and shovel. A bad day merely meant he’d perhaps fallen in the back of the mucking cart. A bad day as a thief, however, likely indicated you were now living in a tiny little room — or worse, sporting shiny, pointy accessories in your gut.

There was an unspoken courtesy he’d learned from his father to extend, one returned by those same brigands. Steam-powered vehicles were displacing horse-drawn carriages for highbrow elite executives who could afford such extravagant luxury. For the rest, real flesh and blood horse-power was still a part of life, and horses soiled the streets. Someone had to clean it up. Those ‘unsavory’ elements didn’t mess with the man who did the cleaning up, so long as he didn’t mess with them.

Harrison’s son gazed at the bustling streets as their cart bumped and heaved down the cobblestone roadway. Today was Thomas’ first day on the job with his father. He’d been babbling endlessly about it for a week. He’d worn his best coveralls, much to his mother’s chagrin. But he was enthusiastic about finally working with his father.

The old mare pulling their cart snorted at the gentle tug on her reins, obediently drawing to a stop. Sliding off the cart, Harrison reached up lift Thomas to the ground. Instead, the young boy crossed his arms and shook his head.

“I can do it myself!” he insisted, demonstrating that, while he could, he should not — by half-climbing, half-falling off the cart. The leg of his coveralls caught a rough iron corner in the ladder, slicing the fabric as he slipped the last few inches to the cobblestone. “Uh-oh.”

“Your mother’s going to have some words for us about that,” Harrison chided, lifting a youngling-sized pushbroom off the side of the cart. “But don’t you worry about that right now. Now, this area here, you just sweep it to the back of the cart, and I’ll shovel it in—“

Glass rained down from above. Harrison looked up in surprise with the rest of the pedestrians as a prize-winning watermelon of a man emerged from the broken top floor window, screaming as he flapped his flabby arms in a fruitless attempt to mimic a pigeon. And, as Harrison would think days after the fact, a watermelon slamming into the ground when thrown from a top-story window was quite similar in the sound it made on impact.

And a week after that, he’d stop to consider that the inside of the watermelon was also quite similar.

Thomas stared at the executive who’d been quite literally removed from his office. There was no hiding it from him; it had happened mere feet away from the boy. After a brief time, he held his little pushbroom up for his father to take back. Before Harrison could ask if he wanted to go home, little Thomas looked at Harrison with those sincere, young eyes, and proved once and for all that street sweeping was in his blood.

“I need a bigger broom,” the boy spoke.

The above is courtesy of Derek Jacobs at Blue Vulpine; a group of writers at the webfiction guide decided to get together, trade lots, and write each other’s stories for April 1st. Links to the other writers and exchanges can be found here; my own contribution to this project (provided for the excellent Tapestry series) can be found here; it’s entitled ‘Conversations With A Horse’.

Thanks for reading!

Meanwhile, we’re investigating the possibility of attending Steamcon this November; we’re still building up our funds for the trip, but if all goes well, we’ll be there–hopefully with a large collection of books on hand to sell and distribute!

Remember–if there’s any reason you want to get in contact with us, you can always email us at the address on our about page, or use the form on our main site. Thanks for your support!

We’re now offering the book as a free *.pdf download here; alternatively, feel free to download one act at a time–Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. If you download the book, we ask that you either consider making a small donation or purchase a physical copy–it’s only with your support that we can go on producing books and continuing Arcadia’s tale. Also, remember that the book is available under the attribution-non-commercial-share alike clause of Creative Commons–this means that you can edit it, produce fan-fiction for it, and distribute it to your hearts content, so long as you do so under the exact same clause–and give credit to the original author. Tod Wills’ artwork is available under the attribution-non-commercial-non-derivative license–which means you are free to share it, but not alter it.

Work is moving on the second book, Arcadia Snips and the Clockwork Heart; we can’t tell you much, except that Arcadia Snips will return and most probably interact with a clockwork heart. Keep an eye on this space for more information!

Finally, we appreciate the support of everyone who’s made producing–marketing–and publishing this book possible. Thanks to Tod Wills, our artist; thanks to Self Publishing, Inc, our printer; thanks to our family, our friends, and everyone who bought the book and who might buy the book in the future. Speaking of buying the book–we’re still offering printed versions for purchase, and we encourage you to buy them both as a way of having the book on hand and as supporting the production of the second book. We won’t be able to produce the second book without selling enough copies of the first; if you enjoyed the first book, please consider buying a physical copy. Thanks for your patronage!

Our sale just ended; thank you to all of you who bought books. I (Matthew) will be leaving to visit my grandparents in a few hours, and so all orders between now and New Year’s will not be shipped until January, when I return.

In other news, I just want to remind everyone that we’re still selling our book for 12$ as opposed to 15$–it’s unlikely you’ll get it before Christmas if you order now, but you’ll still save a little money. We’re also still available at Amazon.com, although we don’t see the profit from sales there–but if you want to save a bit of money on shipping, it might be your best bet. Again, if you want to support us in ways that don’t impact the wallet, please feel free to review the story so far (assuming you don’t have a copy yourself!) at either Amazon.com or the Webfiction Guide. In addition, if you’ve enjoyed the story so far, please pass the word along!

In honor of the holiday spirit, we’ll be offering Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium at a special discount until Christmas Eve–$12 for your copy, plus buy-one-get-one for any bookmarks you order. Grab a copy as a gift idea! And if you’re someone who’s already enjoyed the book, please–submit a reviews to Amazon.com or the Web Fiction Guide–or both! Remember–we can only continue to bring this story to you with your aid. Every person you tell about us helps.

We’re introducing more shipping options, for those of you who want your book faster than media mail. This is our first time shipping during the holidays, so we have no experience as to how long it will take packages to arrive. We doubt that anything shipped by media mail after Dec 11th will get there by the 25th, and even that is probably unlikely–for priority mail, I recommend ordering by at least the 15th.

In the meanwhile, work is continuing on the sequel–Arcadia Snips and the Clockwork Heart. We’re hoping to have it finished by mid to late January (though actual book prints won’t be available until much later, no doubt) so we can continue posting chapters right when this book ends. Stay tuned for more information.

On a less cheerful note, my grandfather recently passed away. He was a wonderful man, and one of the primary inspirations for both the humor and the lightheartedness of the series. He raised me as his son and inspired me to pursue writing as both a craft and an art; if it wasn’t for him, I’d probably never have shown so much as passing interest in a dangling participle. Whenever I didn’t know the definition of a word, he made me look it up–whenever I wanted to start a project, he was there to help. He taught me to think, act, and most of all, question–skills that without, I would be truly lost.

We do not bury the dead for their sake; rather, we bury them for ours. Charles Rodgers was put under the earth on November 19th, 2009. He was 81 years old. Though he has moved on, I have yet to; perhaps I never will.

In the meanwhile, I’m working on the bookmarks, doing a few book reviews, and still plugging away at the sequel (along with another project on the side).

-Robert

In other news, the chapters have been going steadily, we’re working on securing more advertisements, and I’m trying to put together a media package for anyone who wants to help us advertise (a B&W poster, for starters, along with a few other miscellaneous things – including a short story with Arcadia Snips). Any help or suggestions in this regard is greatly appreciated!

If you really enjoy the story so far, please feel free to support us by visiting our store and purchasing the full book (available now!) or a bookmark. Or make a donation! We’re not picky (really!).

-Robert