Homunculus/Lord Kelvins Machine (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: James P. Blaylock
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Work: Novels
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—alternate history
- Time of Work: The 1870s
- Setting: England, principally London
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction, Alternate history
- Subjects: Folkloric or magical people, Nineteenth century, England or English people, Time travel, London, Mad scientists, Zombies or living dead, Hot air balloons, blimps, or dirigibles, Aliens, space, Asteroids, comets, or meteors
- Locales: London, England
The Plot
Homunculus begins with a mysterious dirigible being sighted over London, piloted by an equally mysterious man named Birdlip. Dr. Langston St. Ives, a professor out of favor with the Royal Academy because of his unorthodox ideas, has constructed a spacecraft, for which he needs the services of a toymaker, William Keeble, who apparently has created a perpetual motion machine. St. Ives has elicited the help of Bill Kraken, a former assistant to Sebastian Owlesby, a deceased scientist who seems to have had some connection with the dirigible now belonging to...
[The entire page is 1389 words long]
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