Aphelion

Jolly good stuff, I say . . .

Mr. Ward has given us a delightful, tongue-in-cheek steampunk story wherein Lord Auldsworthy is gently coerced into sharing his new toy with his family and household staff -- all of whom know more about it than he does.

The language and setting are wonderful; indeed, the language is part of the setting. Great fun to read.

The only thing I found that seemed incorrect was a mention of a "Turkey carpet," and I can't even be sure the author didn't mean "Turkish carpet." The apparent mistake may have actually been an example of an archaic usage. Maybe Mr. Ward will tell us.

Those of us old enough to remember when the first personal computers became available (IBM, Apple II, Commodore 64, and lesser brands) will recognize the tropes about how useful the machine would be for things like ... storing and organizing recipes! Of course, it would be years (if not decades) before models with good color displays durable enough to "live" in a kitchen and small enough to not get in the way would appear... and even now, how many people REALLY use their computers for stuff like that? (They might PRINT a recipe downloaded from the internet and take the hard-copy to the kitchen, but would not normally have the computer IN the kitchen.)

Even now, a Blackberry or smartphone or tablet PC with miscellaneous apps and office-software equivalents MIGHT be close to what marketing types were touting back in the late 70s in terms of portability and general utility...but more likely just gets used for Facebook / Twitter and Angry Birds.