An idea to kick around

Suppose the Library of Alexandria was secretly moved to Byzantium. It was "underground." Constantine discovered this and built Hagia Sophia over it. By the time the Muslims destroyed Sophia, the library had been moved secretly again, virst to Nicea and then to its current resting place where it was revealed to Gutenberg.

So this idea would put the quest in the category of treasure-hunting. It would be Indiana Jones meets The DaVinci Code, which, in fact, is how I've often positioned it. There is a huge treasure, and the artifacts could change the way we perceive things. Those make good stories.

Should I try for something that is either more world-endangering (i.e. terrorists looking for this because it has the secret to a new weapon), or more esoteric (i.e. focusing more on arcane knowledge of alchemie)? There may be elements of each that I could work into it, but still keep Peter's role in searching for the lost library. This would play well off my former concept of the rivalry with the Aldines. Two ancient classicist cults trying to claim the world's greatest library. In the arcane mode, I could use a Nostradamus prophecy that indicates Peter would eventually rise to find the treasure. That supports the ability of The Voice to plan years in advance for the bombings that would force Peter to flee to him.

This puts the whole thing further out in the urban fantasy category - somewhat like what I did with The Props Master. I think it is a little harder to make that relevant. People find it a bit harder to relate to the magical prophecy concept than to the hardcore thriller where an ordinary guy suddenly has to do an extraordinary task.

Still, there is the idea that The Collecter/Voice particularly wants a specific scroll out of the library because of what it contains and is content to leave all the others where they are. He might want, say, a scroll called "The Wisdom of Ptolemy" that would contain all the secrets of alchemie and believe that flooding the market with all the library would adversely effect the ancient documents market.

That creates a clear danger to Maddie and Peter. Once the Voice has the one document that he wants, they are a liability and could be buried with the rest of the library. So they have to work on an escape plan for after the discovery. That's a good time to get the detective in action to save them. The old "pursuing one step behind, he catches up with htem just at the crucial moment."

What's so valuable?

Talked to Richard this week about a possiblity of smuggling silver as lead type. It would be possible, but not worthwhile. It just isn't valuable enough. Then there is using the formula to mimic silver, but again, there isn't enough difference between the value of the lements to make the work worthwhile.

The value has to come in one of three(??) areas.

• The actual monetary value of the hidden treasure, as in Hypnerotamachia Polyphilli or Templar Treasure or El Dorado.


• The value of the secret itself to the keeper, like Nicolas Flamel & The Philosopher's Stone, location of the Fountain of Youth, The Holy Grail


• The value is in the negative power of the object or its ability to control others, be used as a weapon, or change the way people believe. Examples are The Lost Ark, Atomic Bomb, Lead into Gold, DaVincia Code.

The story is about books. Possibly the greatest "book event" prior to Gutenberg was the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. Is it possible that the books of Alexandria were actually removed before Caesar's visit and that the buring was staged as a condemnation of Caesar's barbaric invasion? If so, where did the books go? The Library of Alexandria was built in the beginning of the 4th century BCE reign of Ptolemy I. It was burned in 48 BCE.

Constantinople: Built on the site of the ancient Byzantium (original construction around 671-662BCE) and was made the capital of the Roman empire by Constantine in May 330 CE. In 534CE, the Temple treasure of Jerusalem, looted by Romans in 70CE, was recaptured from Carthage and taken to Constantinope where it was deposited at the Church of St. Polyeuctus. It was eventually returned to Jerusalem.

The First Nicean Council was in 325 CE
Anthansius, Bishop of Alexandria listed the current canon in his works in 367 CE.

Questions:

22. Where did all the books go?


23. Did Gutenberg see them or know where they were and secret that information in his text?


24. Does this conflict with the treasure of The Templars?

Getting to the urgency

In order to make this work as a thriller, I have to keep Maddie and Peter on the run from the first chapter on. So this is what I have in mind and the research questions that it brings up.

Maddie & Peter escape from the hospital believing that the voice on the phone has called the police on them. They escape through the emergency room and right into the waiting clutches of the Collector (also referred to as The Voice because they never really see him and only hear him on the phone).

In reality, the police have been informed there is a bomb at the hospital. I'm thinking there actually is a bomb that blows up another glass front edifice. It could be why the police keep thurning up where Peter is, because a bomb-threat has been called in. They look at security footage and see Peter leaving the building before each one. The Voice is calling in the tip and then alerting Peter that the police are closing in. The key to the explosion pattern is that the buildings have all been built in thepast 10 years and all have a glass facade.
Glass could figure into the alchemical element as well. After all, you take sand and turn it into transparent glass. Why wouldn't you think you could transmute other elements as well?

I believe that The Voice is a wealthy donor and that each of the buildings have been something he contributed substantially to in the past 10-15 years. The buildings all have an atrium or glass facade that implodes. Ultimately it is shown that each of the glass structures was wired with an explosive when it was built.

When it is time for the mystery to be solved, The Voice cannot leave his demolitions expert at large, so he arranges to have him too close to an explosion and he is killed. No connection to the Voice is left except Peter & Maddie.

Questions:

17. Does Maddie consciously contact The Voice to keep him apprised of their location, or is she tagged with a homing device?


18. Is it beyond the imagination to make an explosive glass?


19. How does the accomplice rig the explosions?


20. How do Peter & Maddie expose The Voice and bring him to justice?


21. Is Maddie good or bad?

An answer

9. What is the formula?
   This is not the world's most elegant solution, but it works:

Lead at 1.34 g/cm³
Tin at 7.31 g/cm³
Antimony at 6.697 g/cm³
Silver at 10.49 g/cm³

(11.34*(1-x) + 7.31(1+x))/2 = 10.49
11.34-11.34x + 7.31 +7.31x = 20.98
18.65 -4.03x = 20.98
-4.03x = 2.33
x = -0.63385742

Therefore:
.7890819 cm³ Lead plus .2109181 cm³ Tin weighs the same by volume as 1 cm³ Silver

Using the same formula:
.81692871 cm³ Lead plus .18307129 cm³ Antimony also weighs the same by volume as 1 cm³ Silver.

Add the two formulas together and divide by two, the final formula is
0.803005305 cm³ Lead
0.105459050 cm³ Tin
0.091535645 cm³ Antimony
= by weight by volume of 1.0 cm³ Silver

The proportions are remarkably similar to the proportions of Lead, Tin, and Antimony found in Lead type, forged by Gutenberg.

Waking up in a hospital

Okay, so what does it feel like to wake up in a hospital?

16. Timing - explosion is on Friday night at the beginning of spring break. He wakes up "a few days" later. How many days??

I could see light. It was shining in my eyes. I tried to close them, but something was holding them open. I tried to speak, but no sound came out. In fact, there was no sound anywhere. When the light went out, I was alone in dark silence.

Ooops. I wasn't going to write this as a first person story. Here we go again, trying the same thing as a third person limited POV.

There was a light shining in Peter's eyes. Something was holding them open, so he couldn't escape the light. He tried to speak, but no sound came out. In fact, there was no sound anywhere. When the light finally faded, he was alone again in silent darkness.

Actually, I think the third person makes it a stronger passage, even through the blur of a first draft. Revision comes later.

First words

Having read through the first 240 words that I wrote, I realize that it needs to be at least twice that. Even though it should be short, it really needs to set the scene for the book. This is like world-building in the first chapter. Peter's world is libraries. I've written another 500 words just describing the library, the rare books room, and especially the grand atrium entrance of the university library. It is obvious that it has been donated by a very wealthy patron as a monument to himself.

Rough synopsis of the first three chapters

Okay, I've got a start that will get this rolling.

Scene 1: Peter Drucker is leaving the library musing over his new relationship with librarian Madeline Zane (Maddie) as his research progresses. About 20 steps from the library, there is an explosion that rips off the front entrance of the library and knocks Peter flat and unconscious.

Scene 2: Peter wakes up in hospital. His first thought is of Maddie and he tries to get himself up and out of bed to find her when she storms into the room. Instead of being glad to see him alive, she accuses him of stealing the manuscript he'd been working on. Eventually he pieces together enough to believe that someone has used Maddie to find Drucker. They leave the hospital as police pull up. The two are not paying attention and are grabbed by unknown assailants who chloroform them and shove them into a waiting car.

Scene 3: Introduce "The Collector," also known as "The Voice" since they never see him/her. Peter wakes up strapped to a chair. The shadowy figure of the collector is introduced. He wants Peter to find Gutenberg's Other Book for him, or he will do something bad to Maddie. He knows Peter has an interest in this and willpay himhandsomely for the other book. As evidence of good faith he gives Peter a manuscript.

There are a couple of fine points that make matters more complicated.

• Gutenberg's other book is not the real goal of what the collector is after. It contains a clue to a secret. Have to do some more research on this, but Gutenberg is right between Nicolas Flamel and Nostradamus. There is an alchemical secret around "the black (or white or red?) powder" that goes beyond turning base metal into gold.


• Someone else is trying to get the secret as well. In fact, Peter's family has been searching for a number of years. So he has to consult with his grandfather who is now very old.


• The police grow to suspect that Peter is involved in the library bombing. They are investigating everything he does. The heat gets turned up when Peter goes to Germany and the police find the missing library manuscript in Peter's home or car.


• The collector provides peter with $10,000 and a credit card, but when Peter visits his grandfater, he is given new identity papers by his grandfather. Maddie is released and accompanies Peter, but every so often Peter is emailed a video of her and a renewed warning.

About third person omniscient voice

So, I figured out what was wrong with my 3rd person omniscient voice. I've been head-hopping. It's like this: "Brad thought Ellen was cute. Ellen thought Brad was a nerd." In two sentences, I jumped from Brad's head to Ellen's head. Do that very often and people start getting confused about whose head they are in. Recommendation is to stay with one POV per chapter or scene. That makes sense, but also means I need to pay more attention to who is the main character at any given time and stay focused.

I've noticed that in some of the books I've been reading there is a principal POV but that it changes when you need to get a bit of info that is out of the MC's range of knowledge. I remember that in Accidental Witness, everything was from the MC's POV except a chapter at the Dunes and a substory that involved the Rep's Chief of Staff and her lover. In both of those instances, the MC was not in the scene at all, so there was no question about it being his POV. Thats probably a good form to follow.

So that covers 1st person and 3rd person limited, but what about 3rd person omniscent? To really do that, you have to not go inside anyone's head. You have to be an objective outside party that doesn't write anything they can't observe. So, instead of

"Steve hesitated a moment as he thought about all the dhildless mothers in the world, then, dismissing the thought, raised the gun and fired."

you would have:

"Steve hesitated. It was as if some inner consience had called him to abandon his mission. If so, the conscience lost the struggle. With a slight shudder, Steve raised the gun and fired."

Omniscience objectivies everything. We don't get to see inside. We use more names, more observations. Maybe even more sentences. It would be very hard to write something that maintained a high interest level, suspense, and drama. It does, however, read more like a television show. You don't get to hear the character's thoughts. You can only see them as actors and describe what you see.

Some Brewing Story Alternatives

Beginnings

• John Drucker meets his grandfather, Francis, at a bar at age 21 and discovers the "family secret."


• Johannes Gutenberg packs the forms for his typeface and flees Mainz ahead of the invading army headed to Bamberg.


• John Drucker explains to Madeline Zane the importance of the rare book she has brought to him just before an explosion rocks the building. John flees with the manuscript chased by Madeline, who thinks he has stolen it and set the library on fire.


• John Drucker is merrily chatting up Maddie as she goes to get the manuscript he wants, only to find a dead body in the vault. John becomes a suspect because the manuscript is missing.


• We start exploring the relationships that John has with his mother and with Maddie as reason for why he is so obsessed with a supposed mystery.

Approaches/Genre

• Intellectual puzzle in which everything is about telling the story of each piece of the puzzle and then pulling it all together at the end.


• Thriller in which John is on the run from the first chapter and we have to keep backing up to get the full story.


• Literary piece that is all about the relationships that are cemented or fal apart because of themystery obsession.


• Historical fiction all set in 1430-1468 about Gutenberg.


• Urban fantasy in which John Drucker is Gutenberg who is still alive because he is an alchemist, a la Nicolas Flamel.


• Mystery in which John Drucker, detective, is called in to solve a series of crimes surrounding libraries and uncovers the Gutenberg mystery at the same time.

Voice

• 3rd person omnipotent - best for 1, 3, 4. Would also work for 2.


• 3rd person limited - only follow John with possible telling of things he knows about. That would work for 2,3,5,6.


• 1st person narrative, best for 2,5,6.


• Narrator who tells story with self-reference. For example, told by a different character - Maddie, Grandpa, or best friend.

I rather like the last idea, but I've very little in the way of referents for it. I'm finally beginning to understand what P.R. meant when he said he could work for a year on a book just trying to get the right voice. I'm going to do a little research on P.O.V. and voice. I'm sure there is lots of info on it. I need a refresher course.

• Here's another possible opening: John Drucker is twenty steps away from the library - leaving it - when a bomb goes off throwing him to the ground, knocked unconscious. When he wakes up in the hospital, Madeline is sitting beside his bed. Rather than sympathy, however, she wants to know what he's done with the manuscript he stole before the bomb went off. Only problem is that he didn't take it.

Notes on the Gutenberg Bible

From the intro to the Octavo edition of the Gutenberg Bible (electronic PDF of the Library of Congress-owned Gutenberg), by Janet Ing Freeman,c2003.

• ...and near the end of his life, securing a handsome pension from the Archbishop of Mainz as a reward for his "agreeable and willing service," a phrase often interpreted as a reference to his having printed The Bible.


• Paper was imported from Northern Italy.


• The compositors worked from a manuscript copy of the Bible, carefully "casting off" to ensure that the printed text would flow correctly from page to page.


• Quires of five signatures were gathered and folded before binding. [That would mean 20 pages that had to be pulled in coordination, so the signatures would be (20,1/2,19) (18,3/4,17) (16,5/6,15) (14,7/8,13) (12,9/10,11)]


• Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (later Pope Pius II) referred to as Silvius, wrote some people told him 158 copies had been finished and others said the total was 180. Buyers had been found for all the copies beore the volumes were completed.


• An 8-page rubric was printed.


• Fust sued Gutenberg for repayment, claiming that some of the funds provided for "the work of the books" or "the work to their common profit" had been diverted by Gutenberg to other (unspecified) projects. The court decreed that Gutenberg was obliged to repay with interest any money given by Fust and not spent on their joint undertaking.


• Gutenberg's earlier and slightly larger textura type never appeared in works by Fust or Schoeffer. It is most likely that this type was, in fact, never present in the bible workshop, and that the Latin grammars and other ephemeral works printed with it were produced in a seperate shop directly under Gutenberg's control.


• The type seems to have left Mainz and around 1460 was used for another folio Latin Bible, printed some 150 miles away in Bamberg. [Is this whhere Gutenberg went in exile?]

The clue

The key to the mystery translates from German to English as follows:

"My secret I have cast in the Black River and only he who knows the shallows may find it."

I have to get a German translation that holds the double meaning of "cast." I suppose it could be in Latin. I've asked Gary to help. If I can't find "cast," I'll have to use "hidden."

Then I've got to deal with Venice. I wonder what I should see in Venice and what contribution it will make to the story.

Some answers

10. Dieter von Isenburg 1460-1461
    Adolf II von Nassau 1461-1475
    Dieter von Isenburg restored 1475-1482


11. The Mainzer Feud 1460-1463
    400 killed on 28 October 1462 and 400 more exiled, including Gutenberg.
    In 1465 Gutenberg was appointed to the court of Archbishop Adolf and given his pension.
    2/3/1468 (or sometime prior to that) Gutenberg dies in Mainz.

By the timelines, it seems that gutenberg was a loyalist to the reforming Dieter and not to Adolf. He was exiled briefly after the invasion, but within four years had returned to court. Perhaps he had something to do with the reinstatement of Dieter into favor as Adolf's heir? And where did he go during exile?

Question:

15. Where did Gutenberg go during the term of his exile in 1461?

Characters proposed

• MC: Last name Drucker. Some possible family names include John and Peter. I'm also fond of Francis (i or e?). Drucker is German for "printer." John and Peter are after Gutenberg and Schoeffer. Francis would come from Francesco Griffo, the typographer who invented Italic for Aldus Manutius and was then cheated out of his patent.
  
  Drucker is in early to mid-40s. He has attended school to become a librarian, but when he went to school it was at the beginning of the DTP revolution in the mid-80s. He grabbed hold of the technology because of his familiarity with printing. Still, he is an avid researcher in printing & publishing and he knows of the mystery of Gutenberg's other book.


• Love Interest: A librarian in her mid-30s. she is curator of the rare books section at a University where Drucker is lecturing and doing research. There remains a question regarding whether she is one of the good guys or one of the bad guys. she takes boks more seriously than people. She may begin in an antigonistic relationshipwith Drucker.


• Antagonist 1: A rival for the discovery of J.G.'s secret. Possibly a vormer friend or partner who believes Drucker is holding out on him. There may be a long-standing rival faction of which the antagonist 1 is a member.


• Antagonist 2: This is a legal authority either in the U.S. or Germany or Italy that believes Drucker has stolen a valuable artifact, or set fire to the library, or murdered someone. This authority is drawn in to the Gutenberg unwillingly and may need to temporarily ally him/herself with either Drucker or Antagonist 1.


• Antagonist 3: This is a wealthy patron of the arts who "collects" rare objects and once he has set his eyes on one will do anything necessary to get it for himself. He probably owns a number of extremely rare manuscripts and incunabula.


• Family of Drucker


• Grandfather who has been a mentor of Drucker and initiated him into the Gutenberg mystery. He is an old printer with ink in his veins.


• Mother who is of questionable loyalties. She forbade contact between Drucker and his grandfater after her husband died (was killed?) in a printing accident. The father was a serious hunter after the Gutenberg secret.


• Stepfather? Who might be a part of Antagonist 3's cadre, sent to keep an eye on Drucker and his grandfather.


• Drucker's sister? who could be used to pressure Drucker to release the secret when he finally discovers it.

More questions

10. Who are the two Archbishops in question?


11. What is the timeline for the invasion?


12. From where did Archbishop 2 come?


13. Where/when did J.G. meet the Archbishop? In Strassborg? Contracting the printing of indulgences?


14. How does the timeline of the invasion coincide with the printing of The Bible and Fust's lawsuit against J.G.?

The Politics of Mainz

So here is the setup in Mainz. It is an archbishopric, similar to what Salzburg was in Austria, but much more important. An Archbishop set his sights on Mainz and went to war to drive the incumbent out. It was this latter Archbishop of Mainz that awarded Gutenberg his pension. Therefore, we must assume that Gutenberg provided his service to this Archbishop, possibly before the war. However, the printing of The Bible was done seven years before the second archbishop invaded.

Some answers

4. What was Gutenberg doing in the second shop that earned him the gratitude of the future prince of Mainz?


1. It is possible that Gutenberg discovered that he could not apply enough heat and pressure to the base elements to reach the density of gold, but that he could mix an alloy of the same elements that looked like silver


2. Even though he could have made a silver-like alloy, would that be adequate? It seems more likely that he was hiding something "in plain sight." So the queston remains as to whether he was hiding something in the type or in the text.

What do we know about The Black River?

It has long been one of the references to printing, like printing being referred to as "a black art." It refers to the rivers of ink made up by rows of type on a page. When you tilt the page and look down the rows of type, the characters blur and you see only the rivers. But since the shapes of the characters all vary and some are tall while others have either vertical or horizontal elements, or long "below the line" elements, the rows do not appear to be solid black. They have darker and lighter areas. The most intensely black area is at the baseline, since every letter in the western world and most other character forms touches it. The darker area near the deepest black is referred to as "the channel." The gradually lighter areas that lie above and below the channel are "the shallows." The completely white space that lies between the rivers is the shore. German "black type" (Gothic Textura) is very sonsistent with a broad deep channel, very narrow shallows and pretty much no shores. But even within this dark area, it is possible to see different values of light and dark. It would be possible to manipulate this pattern with very subtle changes in the design of the type.

Gutenberg cast characters in two different sizes. It seemed to be an economy thing to switch from the first, larger size, to the second type that was used for the 42-line Bible. As it was, the Gutenberg Bible was two volumes of 600 pages each. Some bindings have split it into three volumes.

There were other things that Gutenberg employed in printing The Bible. He used a variation on a wine press of a crew-type as his press. He also formulated an ink out of boiled linseed oil and lampblack. The depth and permanency of that ink has not been surprassed. He printed nearly 200 copies, one-third of which were on calfskin vellum. It seems likely that page and paper size were determined by a mathematical process to decide the optimum size to be cut from a calf's hide.

Of the extant copies, I have seen the one at the Library of Congress, the two in the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany, and the two at the British National Library. I have the digital copy of the Library of Congress copy that John Warnock's Oxford edition produced.

Some Answers

2. What are the weights of the three metals and of gold?


1. Lead = 19.3g/cm³


2. Tin =7.31g/cm³


3. Antimony = 6.697g/cm³


4. Gold = 19.3g/cm³


5. Silver = 10.49g/cm³


3. If Gutenberg got the proportions right, could he have hidden gold in the alloy? or discovered another alloy or mixture of elements that mimicked gold?


1. No. Gold was the heaviest metal known at the time. You couldn't get an alloy that weighted as much per cm³


2. Yes. Could discover a mixture that mimicked silver.

Some questions

Okay, so here are the questions so far:

1. What was the proportion in the alloy?


2. What are the weights of the 3 m3tals and of gold?


3. If Gutenberg got the proportions right, could he have


• hidden gold in the alloy?


• discovered another alloy or mixture of elements that mimicked gold?


4. What was Gutenberg doing in the second shop that earned him the gratitude of the future prince of Mainz?


5. What did Gutenberg cast in the Black River?

I theorize that Gutenberg used his talent in both metalurgy and alchemy (and also perhaps in printing) to hide something from or for the new prelate. This something has remained hidden, in plain sight, to this very day. it is of such value that even today one might start a war to get it.

6. What was hidden?


7. How much is known about it? and by whom?


8. How much of present-day Mainz was there when Gutenberg was? Is there a different city where it is hidden?


9. What is the formula?

Regarding the subject of density & weight by volume, Archimedes made the discovery in Syracuse c200BC. It was the origin of "Eureka!"

• When an object is placed in water it appears to be lighter.


• As the object is lowered into the water, the level rises in the tank. That is, the object displaces a volume of water equal to its own volume below the surface.


• Finally, the great synthesis - the weight of water displaced is equal to the weight loss of the object. This is crucial and not obvious. It means that if Archimedes weighed 175 pounds and carefully stepped into a tub filled to the brim, he would spill over, say, 165 pounds of water. His apparent weight in the tub, then would be 175-165 or 10 pounds. That is, his weight loss would be 165 pounds.

The bouyant force on the object is equal to the weight of the displaced fluid.

Gold = 19,300kg/m³
Lead = 11,340kg/m³
Antimony = 6,697kg/m³
Tin = 7,310kg/m³

The known elements & weights at the time of Gutenberg were:
Copper (9000BCE) 8.92g/cm³
Gold (6000BCE) 19.3g/cm³
Lead (7000BCE) 11.34g/cm³
Silver (5000BCE) 10.49g/cm³
Iron (5000BCE 7.84g/cm³
Carbon (3750BCE 2.26g/cm³
Tin (3500BCE) 7.31g/cm³
Sulfur (2000BCE) 1.96g/cm³
Mercury (2000BCE) 13.5g/cm³
Zinc (1000BCE) 7.14g/cm³
Arsenic (800CE) 5.72g/cm³
Antimony (800CE) 6.697g/cm³
Bismuth(800CE) 9.78g/cm³

At the time of Gutenberg, gold was the heaviest substance known and equal weight of an alloy by volume would not be possible.
It might be possible to solve a formula for an alloy that equaled the weight and volume of silver. Using the weight of each element, 11.34x+7.31x+6.697x=10.49; 25.347x=10.49; x=0.41386
In other words, proportions of the following when mixed to an alloy would equal the weight and volume of silver:
4.693 cm³ Lead
3.025 cm³ Tin
2.772 cm³ Antimony
Equal to 10.49 cm^3> Silver

I'm sure there is still something missing, but it should come out to the proportion of three base elements mixed together to equal the weight/volume of silver. But it is silver, not gold. Is that the great discovery?

Gutenberg's Other Book

I'm catching up on entering notes that I've been writing in a paper *gasp* journal. I'm backdating to when I wrote the notes.

So - Gutenberg printed the Bible in Mainz Germany about 1455. It was a long process. He invented movable type, which isn't to say that others hadn't also invented it. But most remarkable about the invention was a dimensionally stable alloy. He combined lead, tin, and antimony. Lead and tin both contract when they cool from liquid molten metal to the solid state. Antimony is one of those rare elements that expands as it cools. Gutenberg figured out the ratios that would make the expansion of the antimony counteract the contraction of thelead and tin. I'd like to know those proportions. Gutenberg used lead because it was cheap & molded easily. But it was too soft to withstand the pressure of the press. So he added tin to harden the alloy.

I wonder what the weights of the metals are. Is there a correlation between what this alloy weighs and what gold weighs? I think that gutenberg was working the mathematics, not just experimenting with the physical elements. That would mean that the formula could have taken the form of an algebraic equation.

Oh yes, the formula. Gutenberg was an alchemist. The mixture of lead, tin, and antimony was common among the alchemists attempting to turn lead into gold, or base metal into rare metal. He had set himself up to teach two young men the art of metal working in Strasbourg some years earlier. The brother of one sued him according to court records for not letting him inherit his brother's share.

When he was in the process of printing The bible in Mainz, Gutenberg borrowed heavily from one Johan Fust. Fust sued Gutenberg just before The Bible was finished because Gutenberg had skimmed off some of the loaned money for a private operation. Fust wanted a piece of that action as well. When Gutenberg refused to share the second operation with Fust, the courts awarded the entire Bible printing operation to fust. Peter Schoeffer was awarded the Bible contract and was elevated to master printer from Gutenberg's journeyman. By all the evidence of the works that came from the Schoeffer/Fust operation, Schoefer was probably a better printer than Gutenberg anyway. But what we don't know is exactly what gutenberg was doing in the second shop, even though there were reportedly some other books that were produced.

Writers, writers everywhere

I'm sitting here looking at the upcoming season of writers conferences and thinking. I've also joined Twitter (wayzgoose) and Facebook (Nathan Everett) and I've been shopping for friends. (Also joined MySpace, but haven't done any of that yet.)

So, what I realize is that writers want to talk to other writers. We want someone who understands. Someone should feel the pain. And, of course, we have a fount of wisdom and advice to share with others who are about to make the same mistake we are have.

But I don't see a lot of writers talking to readers.

In fact, among many, I see a bit of a disdain toward people who only read books and don't write them themselves. If they really understood literature, surely they would write it. We relish being the misunderstood artist. How can we be sufficiently depressed to keep slashing at ourselves with a ballpoint pen if there is no one to misunderstand us.

If I were creating a new community (which I am), I would want to bring writers face-to-face (or comment to comment) with the people who want to read great books. If I were a reader (which I am), I would want to tell the writer--before the book is published--that the book needs more scenery, character, plot, or porn--whatever. And if I were a writer (which I am), I would want someone other than my family and friends who have a vested interest in my success to read my work and tell me that it really is as great as my family and friends have told me and that they can't wait to buy it.

And if I could put the two together (which I will), I would depend on the readers to tell me which books I should publish and which I should avoid at all costs. I think I would trust those readers more than any agent or editor trying to guess what the market will buy.

So, my partners and I have created Long Tale Press, a place where readers and writers can come together, and where we will take the advice of the readers as to whether the book should be published. If you are a reader (or a writer), visit us. Soft launch is coming in July with the grand opening in November. Sign up now.

Final synopsis for Four Faces of Carles

After struggling with too much verbosity in my synopsis, I finally wrote one that I really like. We'll see, of course, how well the judges like it in the PNWA competition. We'll see.

THE FOUR FACES OF CARLES

Time: October 1969-June 1970
Place: Indianapolis, Indiana and Keswick, England

Twenty-year-old WAYNE Hamel is the student technical director for the Indianapolis City University Players, counting on a career in professional theatre. With his talent for organizing crews and complex productions along with his undeniable skill at fabricating realistic and functional props, he stands a good chance of fulfilling his dream – if he can stay in school and avoid the draft. Near the peak of the Viet Nam War, that could prove difficult if he keeps falling asleep in Dr. REBECCA Allen’s Cultural Anthropology class. But the research project he agrees to in order to keep his full-time student status will plunge WAYNE headlong into a power struggle within one of the world’s oldest and most powerful covens.

WAYNE’s girlfriend – JUDITH Harmon – engages in a test of wills and ritual magic with REBECCA to capitalize on the oblivious WAYNE’s prodigious skills as a toolmaker. But when WAYNE’s recluse Uncle BERT gets into the act – initiating WAYNE into his own secret society and endowing him with an ancient knife reputed to be one of the sacred relics of a forgotten cult – WAYNE is confused, bemused, and ready to laugh it all off as an elaborate hoax. It is not until WAYNE confides in LISSA, the donut lady, that she becomes his guide and exposes the very real possibility that he has both the skill and the power to heal the soul of Coven Carles. Gradually WAYNE learns to embrace his heritage and use his devotion to the three women to rescue the coven from a final lapse into degradation.

As WAYNE prepares a production of Hamlet for a tour of England’s Lakes District, he deals with the tensions between his love for JUDITH and his growing infatuation with REBECCA. Both subtly instruct WAYNE in the craft without knowing that LISSA is manipulating him behind the scenes. But is LISSA friend or foe? Is it she or BAN, the power-hungry high priest of Coven Carles, who is responsible for the repeated break-ins of the theatre scene shop and apparent sabotage of the tour?

When the show finally gets to England, WAYNE is constantly thrown into trance memories implanted by LISSA, causing him to relive the story of the first Vagabond Priest of Coven Carles. These memory trances become so disruptive and frightening that WAYNE flees from the stabilizing influence of REBECCA and JUDITH, narrowly escaping entrapment by BAN. While wandering the moors near Keswick, WAYNE falls into a river where LISSA awaits to complete his initiation and send him on the last leg of his journey to save the coven.

The great stone circle, Carles Castlerigg, is lit by fire when WAYNE arrives during the Midsummer Eve ritual. His first sight is of REBECCA, locked in combat with the renegade high priest BAN. He charges the circle, brandishing the knife that his uncle gave him, burning a hole in the protective charms around the ritual. Only as he stands ready to strike down the high priest do REBECCA and JUDITH realize he is wielding the athamé, the sacred knife of the coven – the Fourth Face of Carles.

At last WAYNE is ready to reconcile the two halves of his life – theatre and magic – and take his place as a Vagabond Priest and guardian of the Four Faces of Carles.

New discoveries for GoB

Well, as I was gardening this morning (a rare task to find me engaged in) I thought of a couple more clues as to what has to happen in Gutenberg's Other Book. MC Geoff Hart has always been told his father was killed in a printing accident. But Geoff's grandfather, Francis Allen Hart, tells Geoff it was no accident. While pressuring Francis to tell them where the secret of Gutenberg's alchemy is hidden, they killed Geoff's father. Francis became a recluse thereafter and didn't tell anyone about it. Geoff doesn't meet him until he is in college.

It turns out that it is Geoff's stepfather that encourages Geoff to meet with the old man. Roy Kennedy (the stepfather) believes the old man will tell Geoff the secret and Roy (who is an Aldine) will be able to convince Geoff to tell him.

Complete first draft synopsis of "The Four Faces of Carles"

The Four Faces of Carles
By Nathan Everett
Synopsis
Time: October 1969-June 1970.
Genre: Occult Fantasy
October: Theatre major WAYNE Hamel wakes up in Dr. REBECCA Allen’s cultural anthropology class at Indianapolis City University to discover that all the rest of the students have been dismissed and he is alone with the hard-as-nails professor. After listening to his story, REBECCA agrees to switch WAYNE to independent study on condition that he complete a 50 page paper by the end of the term. He rushes out of class to meet British transfer student and fencing master JUDITH Harmon, his new love interest. She is very interested in his research assignment and agrees to a first date with WAYNE for the cast party of Hamlet.

Halloween: WAYNE and JUDITH go on their third date in a week for a Halloween costume party. JUDITH feigns drunkenness and WAYNE takes her home. When they part, JUDITH breaks into the library to plant research notes she knows WAYNE will find and include in his report for REBECCA. While there, she witnesses REBECCA go to the roof of the building to conduct the Samhain ritual. JUDITH escapes, setting off the alarms. REBECCA sees her run away, but doesn’t know who it is.

December: REBECCA declares WAYNE’s paper to be based on a fraud. She passes him because he did honest work, but recognizes at once that the materials he based the paper on were planted. She gets the message that was left in the source documents for her. The task she has sworn to undertake could be fatal. WAYNE and JUDITH, now blossoming in romance go to Christmas dinner and exchange gifts. He gives her a sword that he has made. She gives him her necklace, a star with her name-sign on it. JUDITH decides not to return to England yet.

Over Christmas break, Wayne visits his Uncle BERT, a former spy now retired in West Virginia. Bert initiates Wayne into the craft and gives him a name, a Book of Shadows, and a knife that is an ancient tool of power. Somewhat bemused by his BERT’s secrecy, WAYNE still agrees to study the writings and keep them secret.

February: WAYNE and JUDITH finish setting lights for the winter performance and find a spot in the costume closet to make out. While there, they witness a break-in and flee. WAYNE reads in BERT’s book and has a dream. Waking, he finds JUDITH and they go to the theatre to find out officially about the break-in. The theatre director warns them of dire consequences if drugs are found in or around the theatre.

Disturbed by what he has been reading and unable to sleep, WAYNE stops at his favorite late-night haunt, Donut World, where the waitress LISSA become his confidant about what he has been reading.

Strike night horseplay after the show ends with JUDITH asking WAYNE to come to England with her for spring break. WAYNE readily agrees, but at the cast party they are told that their production of Hamlet has been chosen for summer performances in England. WAYNE receives a message from an Ouija Board game to Beware Litha. His friends say the board has a lisp and it is LISSA he is being warned against. He turns down a disappointed JUDITH’s invitation for spring break because he will only be able to afford one trip to England.

March (Equinox): WAYNE takes JUDITH to the airport and discovers REBECCA is on the same flight. JUDITH avoids her. In England, REBECCA goes to Carles Castlerigg stone circle to perform the summoning spell to gather together the four sacred tools of the coven which have not been seen together since World War II (25 years earlier). This is the task that REBECCA has taken on that is to prove so dangerous. JUDITH joins REBECCA in the circle as a coven sister without revealing her identity. Together they raise the power and perform the summoning. Back in Indiana, WAYNE decides to experiment with the spells in BERT’s book and raises a small tornado. BERT shows up to quell it.

April: Acting as a campus delivery-boy, WAYNE delivers a package to REBECCA that is Iäpetus, the sacred staff of Carles. It has come to her from a dying friend who wanted to place it in her hands. WAYNE agrees to carry some boxes for REBECCA’s evening class and to pick them up after class. As they talk, REBECCA reveals that she must return to England in June. WAYNE invites her to join the cast of Hamlet for their tour. When she goes to an after-rehearsal outing to meet the director of the show, she comes face-to-face with JUDITH for the first time and recognizes her as a sister from Cobhan Carles. Tensions between the two women are electric and each accuses the other of recklessness.

WAYNE works on new props for the touring production of Hamlet and we discover how important it is to him that the craftsmanship of the props make them exact reproductions of historic items. He tests the throwing of Hamlet’s knife when JUDITH walks in. She demonstrates how to throw a knife while offering a veiled threat to WAYNE if he doesn’t watch his step in their relationship. Rehearsals are not going well, complicated by the fact that WAYNE must do a mimed love scene with REBECCA. There are obvious conflicts between WAYNE, JUDITH, and REBECCA.

May: There has been another break-in in the theatre. REBECCA decides to scry the perpetrator using evidence she has found. She goes to her rooftop sanctuary to perform the ritual, but is interrupted by a knife thrown into her circle. She is unable to catch the perpetrator before she has been locked onto the rooftop. WAYNE, in the meantime, decides that he will use his new-found power to place a ward around the building to prevent further break-ins. Rebecca has to fight against it to leave the building.

Rehearsals at last are going well, so the cast calls for a party day at Brown County Park. Things have been rocky between JUDITH and WAYNE as she spends more time with CHUCK, the actor playing Hamlet. WAYNE offers to give REBECCA a lift to the park. Once there, they encounter JUDITH and CHUCK rehearsing a knife-throwing scene. It serves to heighten the animosity between REBECCA and JUDITH, which WAYNE mistakenly assumes is over him. REBECCA cuts WAYNE a walking stick for their trip to England and WAYNE offers to repair the charred handle on REBECCA’s knife. She agrees.

June: The night before they leave for England, WAYNE arrives to repair REBECCA’s knife. When the job is finished, they take REBECCA’s ritual items to the scene shop to pack them in the crate of props. WAYNE includes his own walking stick in the crate. They kiss, flooding WAYNE with confusion. WAYNE and JUDITH decide to stay up all night before they leave and go to the school park to lay out blankets on the turf. They interrupt a dark ritual in the park and are chased out. A mysterious blade has been thrown at them which WAYNE recognizes as a missing saw blade from the shop. It has been decorated with symbols and WAYNE spends the rest of the night sleeping on the crated props to protect them.

The rest of the book (part 2 of the synopsis) all takes place over about two weeks in June in and around the village of Keswick in northern England, ending at summer solstice.

June 3, the cast arrives in Keswick. Props and costumes are held up in customs. WAYNE and REBECCA are sent back to London to get the crate out of customs. They get back to the theatre in Keswick 45 minutes before show time to find a disaster. WAYNE enlists JUDITH’s help to get the show up. They open on time. After the show WAYNE and JUDITH, with friends GAIL and GLENN go out for a walk to smoke a joint. WAYNE falls into a trance sleep and JUDITH abandons him. WAYNE has a dream. (content to determine what happens next. May be guided by Lissa.) GLENN gets him back to hotel and Rebecca wakes him from the trance.

June 11, the cast starts a four-night run at Ambleside. The theatre has better lighting, but the ropes holding up the batons are a tangled rat’s nest and there is only one dressing room for the forty performers. The knife-throwing scene having failed at Keswick, WAYNE has sharpened the blade and warns CHUCK to be careful with it. During the performance, CHUCK’s throw goes wild and severs a rope, dropping a heavily loaded baton and catching REBECCA on the back. Dr. MCBRIDE arrives and JUDITH identifies him as the high priest of Cobhan Carles. He claims the knife that was used on stage was Creus, the Athame of the circle. They both deny it and say it was a prop. When REBECCA sleeps under the painkiller, MCBRIDE suggests to JUDITH that they let REBECCA finish her task and then wrest the power of the tools from her together.

REBECCA has feverish dreams and awakes to find WAYNE caring for her. In an effort to patch things up between them, JUDITH shows up for an early outing with WAYNE to the lake. On the lake, WAYNE slips into a trance again and JUDITH wakes him by pouring wine down his throat. Recognizing that JUDITH did not have a corkscrew, WAYNE dives into the lake and swims away. He avoids contact with both JUDITH and REBECCA, believing they have been using him for some sinister end of their own.

Solstice: In the market, WAYNE rescues an old woman from a runaway lorie. She places a small leather pouch in his hands with the instructions to give it to REBECCA. WAYNE now believes the conspiracy extends to a great part of the village and determines to go completely undercover. Arriving early at the show tent, he sabotages the light board so the final show has to be canceled. While in the tent, however, he meets MCBRIDE, who has stolen the prop knife from the crate. He tells WAYNE that he has been used by both REBECCA and JUDITH in a private power struggle they are having over control of the tools of power. He tries to get WAYNE to hand over the pouch he has received, but the act triggers a deja vu experience for WAYNE and he escapes from MCBRIDE.

After the show has been canceled, with no sign of WAYNE, REBECCA and JUDITH finally meet together. JUDITH tells REBECCA that her mission has been to protect REBECCA and that MCBRIDE is in the midst of trying to use both of them to grab all the power. They promise to act together to prevent his success and to protect WAYNE, whom they have realized may hold the key. At that point they see the witch’s fire bloom from Skiddaw and realize that they have been called to the circle by someone else.

Back at the hotel, WAYNE waits until he sees GLENN’s light come on, then shoots a note through the window asking him to bring his suitcase to Walla Crag. He has misjudged the position of the windows, however, and the note comes through REBECCA’s window. She quickly packs WAYNE’s suitcase and rushes off to meet him at the rendezvous.

WAYNE is about to flee when he sees REBECCA, but she pleads with him to let her explain. The discussion is heated and when he accuses her of using sex to control him she slaps him. Something inside snaps and WAYNE fully enters another character. He flees, grabs his knife and robe from the suitcase and begins climbing the crag. REBECCA pleads with him to come down before he falls, but he manages the escape, dropping the leather pouch to REBECCA before he disappears into the night.

WAYNE stumbles off into the night and in his delirium he stumbles and slides into a river. Scrambling to get out and dry, WAYNE hears a female laugh from the river. He is enticed into the water and swims with LISSA who continues to instruct him on what he will have to do in order to truly believe in his magic. When he awakes from sleeping by the water, he dresses in his black robe. Holding his tools and the sacred knife of Carles, he climbs the hill toward the firelight at the top.

In the circle, the gathered priestesses of the circles that comprise Cobhan Carles challenge MCBRIDE’s right to call the gathering. He declares that he has the right because he can and no one else in the circle can. JUDITH releases REBECCA from her partnership and REBECCA faces off with MCBRIDE to raise fire from the Cauldron. The explosion that she creates knocks all of them back. MCBRIDE takes the opportunity to grab REBECCA and force her to the altar where he threatens to kill her if she refuses to help him forge a new Athame for the circle. Skilled in self-defense, REBECCA forces MCBRIDE backward and over the altar stone. When they land, the knife is shaken out of MCBRIDE’s grip and is launched across the circle.

When WAYNE reaches the top of the hill he sees REBECCA being threatened by MCBRIDE and charges to her aid. He is caught in the wards of the circle and can only watch helplessly as the knife dislodged from MCBRIDE’s hand sails directly toward him. In a last burst of effort, he moves his staff between himself and the knife, blocking the blade and bursting into flames as he breaks through the wards. Flinging off his robe he launches himself toward MCBRIDE with his own knife raised. He is stopped by REBECCA and JUDITH who declare that it is not their way, then realize that the knife WAYNE is brandishing is the missing Face of Carles. MCBRIDE is expelled and WAYNE joins REBECCA as a vagabond priest to complete the solstice ritual and scry in the great cauldron.

WAYNE realizes that REBECCA has become caught in the infinite possibilities of the future and in a supreme effort lifts the cauldron from the fire and smashes it against the altar, thus releasing REBECCA from the trance. In the steam that rises from the broken cauldron, they see LISSA materialize to congratulate them all on their task well-done. She always likes a theatrical entrance.

The next day, WAYNE is unsure how much of the previous night has actually occurred. He boards the bus and sits with JUDITH as they head off to tour Edinborough. On the way, JUDITH points out her own cottage and repeats her invitation for WAYNE to stay in England for a few extra weeks with her before returning to school in the fall. WAYNE agrees. After all, he’d really like to stay for Lugnasad (August 4).

The next big project

Well, Steven George has been written and I have been working on doing a nicely produced print version as a thank you to those dozen or so people who were instrumental to me in getting it done. I'm thinking of how to revise and pitch it, or possibly publish it in a download friendly version on-line. I'll figure this out eventually.

But now I am in the process of scoping out my next novel, and I am very excited. Tentatively titled "Gutenberg's Other Book" it has the kind of exciting discovery elements of "The Davinci Code" or "National Treasure," set in the unlikely space of the printing industry and specifically antiquarian books. This is a space I know intimately. I have taught print history and typography. I have published journals and corporate materials. I was one of the first adopters of Desktop Publishing technology and taught the whole electronic technology and color production route for major corporations across the country. I've filed half a dozen patents (which are slowly issuing) over the past ten years for computer typography and layout technologies. Now I'm going to set a novel in that milieu. I think this will be fun.

I'll have bits and pieces of material posted here over the next few months, though I expect that in November I will not blog this novel. It will be much longer, for one thing (estimating 110,000 words) and I have high hopes of putting this in the hands of a publisher for real. Nonetheless, I will solicit your input as I go, and interested reviewers will be placed on a list for special peaks inside. LMK.