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AC/A-cylinder
–audio cylinder. A small metal tube used to store music and other electronic data.
accrual card
–card given out by banks to extend credit to customers, which is then accounted for and paid every month to avoid interest charges.
aether
–slang for airwaves, usually applied to telephone, telegraph and video communications not broadcast over private channels.
aethernet
–term for the international network of logic engines that share government, education, personal and commercial information using the same protocols.
Albert’s fangs
–a curse seen as taking the late Prince Consort’s name in vein… er, vain.
aristocrat
–collective term for vampires and werewolves, particularly those of noble birth.
box
–television.
Britme
–electronic service provided by Britannia Telephone and Telegraph where people can leave a voice recording for the person they’re trying to reach via stationary line or rotary.
bubonic betty
–human who injects aristocrat hormones to gain enhanced senses, strength and speed.
cobbleside
–above ground.
courtesan
–human woman employed by the aristocracy to breed half-bloods. These women are plague carriers, their blood rich with the Prometheus protein necessary to full-term healthy pregnancies.
digigram
–electronic text-based message sent between wireless devices and logic engines.
digital processing machine
–device that scans and transmits documents’ digital files.
fang me
–being fanged means being used for food by an aristocrat–a practice beneath most halvies.
job
–to hit or get violent with. Associated with the violence often attached to halvie occupations. “He really did a job on that human.” “She jobbed
halvie
–a half-blood. Half vampire/were and half human.
hatters
–derived from “mad as a hatter”. Slang for crazy, insane.
horror show
–illegal spectacle at which vampires or weres consume a human or halvie victim for the audience’s titillation.
huey
–slang for human.
logic engine/log en
–electronic device that stores and processes information, and allows for many kinds of digital communication over the aethernet.
meat
–goblin term for anything warm-blooded, and therefore edible.
merk
–short for “merkin”, formerly a genital wig used by prostitutes. Now a human slang term for a cute but promiscuous girl.
Met
–name given to the Metropolitan Underground Railway.
mice
–derogatory goblin slang for humans. As mice and rats don’t cohabit, neither do the plagued and humans.
motor carriage
–transportation. Modern carriages propelled by an engine rather than horses.
motorrad
–a two wheeled vehicle similar to a bicycle but with an engine, bigger frame and thicker wheels. In America they are called “motorcycles”.
pay post
–receptacle for money in exchange for a place to park a motor- or horse-driven carriage. The proceeds go towards paying government expenses.
peeler
–slang for a Scotland Yard officer, taken from the name of the founder of the police force, Robert Peel.
plague
–responsible for the Prometheus mutation that made vamps a
nd weres and goblins. Also the term the goblins use to describe a group of themselves. The London plague
is used to refer to all the goblins in London.
privacy box
–tall red box that affords the user privacy to make a wireless call or anything else that strikes his/her fancy.
radiarange
–counter-top oven
that cooks food using non-ionising microwave radiation.
rotary
–portable wireless telephone. Has a rotary dial.
rut
vulgar, but slightly more polite than “fuck”.
tango
–halvie slang for a fight.
underside
–underground.
VC
–video cylinder. A cylinder used to record and play back video, such as f
ilms.
ContentsYersinia
–from
Yersinia pestis
–the bubonic plague. The name of the goblin city.
CHAPTER 1: BATTLE NOT WITH MONSTERS LEST YOU BECOME ONE
CHAPTER 2: ALL HAIL THEIR QUEEN
CHAPTER 3: NOR WIT ENOUGH TO RUN AWAY
CHAPTER 4: OUT, OUT, DAMN SPOT
CHAPTER 5: DESPAIR IS OFTEN ONLY THE PAINFUL EAGERNESS OF UNFED HOPE
CHAPTER 6: KNOW THYSELF; KNOW THINE ENEMY
CHAPTER 7: THE WEIRD SISTERS, HAND IN HAND
CHAPTER 8: DANGERS BRING FEARS, AND FEARS MORE DANGERS BRING
CHAPTER 9: THE SECRET OF FREEDOM IS COURAGE
CHAPTER 10: BE WARY THEN; BEST SAFETY LIES IN FEAR
CHAPTER 11: WE ARE ALL FORMED OF FRAILTY AND ERROR
CHAPTER 12: THE SOUL IS HEALED BY BEING WITH CHILDREN
CHAPTER 13: CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER
CHAPTER 14: ALL CRUELTY SPRINGS FROM WEAKNESS
CHAPTER 15: THERE IS NO GREATER EVIL THAN ANARCHY
CHAPTER 16: THE TRUTH IS INCONTROVERTIBLE
CHAPTER 17: CONFESSION IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL
CHAPTER 18: FIDELITY IS THE SISTER OF JUSTICE
CHAPTER 19: LIVE WITH WOLVES AND YOU LEARN HOW TO HOWL
CHAPTER 20: STONE WALLS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE
CHAPTER 21: LEST HIMSELF ROB THE PRISON OF ITS PREY
CHAPTER 22: SUCCESS IS NOT FINAL
CHAPTER 23: FEAR MAKES US FEEL OUR HUMANITY
CHAPTER 24: THOSE WHO DO NOT REMEMBER THE PAST ARE CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT
CHAPTER 25: EVERY NEW BEGINNING COMES FROM SOME OTHER BEGINNING’S END
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2013 by Kathryn Smith
Map by Don Higgins
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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ISBN 978-0-316-21535-0