Most books I write I have an initial idea and I run with it and see where the characters take me. That way the story that comes out is often as much a surprise to me as the reader. It was like that with the Misfits initially - I knew that I wanted to start with the Battle of Britain but had nothing else planned, beyond hitting some of the most famous battles of the air war, like Malta.How far in advance do you plan things for the series?
Well, I knew that a fighter aircraft with half decent performance could not be steam-powered, so I really just considered alternatives. Springs seemed obvious as a technology with immense potential that could easily have been developed for centuries and which (hint hint) might have been a contributing factor for internal combustion engines not being adopted to the extent they have been in our world.Where did you get the idea for the spring-based technology setting? That was certainly an original "-punk" idea and one that put me in mind of how Tony Jones can build scenarios around lesser-known technology paths.
Well, there's a long and complicated answer involving social change driven by steam- and spring-powered agriculture and industry making society richer and less work-focussed, which in turn enables culture and education and makes people more satisfied with their rulers... but the short answer is that Prussia and the Kaiser is more "steampunk-ish"!What's the reason behind replacing the Nazis with kaisereich-focused Prussia?
It was Tsar Nicolas's decision to change the name from Russia to sound less like Prussia when the war broke out. I guess he thought that Rus still sounded too much like it and went with Muscovy.Why is it called the Kingdom of Muscovy, not the Kingdom of Rus'?
