BRASS Stacks 2: Tobermory by Saki

For our second BRASS Stacks, we are featuring one of the greatest short story writers of the pre-War years, H.H. Munro, who wrote as Saki. This brilliant journalist-turned-short story writer was one of the great wits of the Edwardian age. Orphaned at age 2, Munro was raised by his grandmother and a household of puritanical aunts. (In both his comic … Read More

BRASS Episode 20: The End of the Affair

As news of the approaching catastrophe spreads, our friends seek escape, while high above the melee, Lord Whitestone attempts a difficult negotiation. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Back in the Stacks

Even more than Victorian history, the world of BRASS is inspired by the fiction of the 19th and early 20th century. Literary creations like the Phantom of the Opera and Sherlock Holmes rub shoulders with Tesla and Oscar Wilde in our story, creating a mash-up of fiction, history and alternative history which samples from each. This period was the flowering … Read More

Is This The End of Our Heroes?

Season Two of BRASS, like Season One, ends on a cliffhanger, as despite the heroic efforts of the family and their allies Ponder Wright and Lord Whitestone, the Crime Minister’s plans are carried through to their cataclysmic conclusion. How could the Brass family possibly survive such destruction? One of the primary inspirations of BRASS were the classic radio adventure serials … Read More

BRASS at Brass Screw!

We were honored to again be invited to give a BRASS presentation at the Brass Screw Confederacy. Held in beautiful Port Townsend, one of the few extant Victorian ports in the world, it’s a long weekend of performers, panels, music acts, carnival acts, and a lot of convivial activities. From its beginnings seven years ago the Brass Screw has been … Read More

BRASS Episode 19: War On All Fronts

Ponder and Cyril have a conversation, unwanted guests are rather insistent, and Lord Whitestone performs an aeronautical feat. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS

Steampunk Primer: Why Dirigibles, Anyway?

One of the iconic images of Steampunk is the dirigible airship, either rigid (a zeppelin), rounded (a blimp) or some imaginative variant. Along with top hats and corsets, these inflatable aircraft are part of the basic vocabulary of alternative 19th centuries—and that includes in BRASS, where the family returns to London in Episode 1 aboard such a ship, and are … Read More

Costermongers or Costermob?

Is there a word more redolent of the bustle and hustle of a Victorian London street than “costermonger?” In the popular imagination, these barrow-sellers of fruits and vegetables (among other items) are “cheery chirpy Cockney chappie” figures, best known for singing and dancing about in colorful rags and scenic grime in films like Mary Poppins and Oliver. But the truth … Read More

BRASS Episode 18: Apples and Coppers

Lord Whitestone makes a purchase, the Brasses contemplate more extreme measures and Ponder Wright visits a street fair. Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS