THE MISTY SERIES OF NEW VENICE

It might come as a shock that Aurorarama, this unashamed attempt at cashing in on one of the most glorious episodes of our history,  has finally been rescued from its deserved oblivion, fifteen years after its release, to be turned into a mini-series of six episodes to be broadcast on the Dreamstream Channel from September 17, 3 AM NVT. As it is our sacred duty to inform our readers, we publish below a few images from the first episodes - but, really, would you pay to dream of this ? 

AURORARAMAMANIA

 Dear reader- if you are still, as we are, a bit grumpy about the election of the new regent-Doge, why not try and change your mind with the “dreampunk” cult-hit Aurorarama - the (largely fictitious but tolerably entertaining) story of last year's coup that dethroned the Council of Seven and brought us our Dauphin-Doges Reginald and Geraldine Elphinstone ?  Although it was only released in paperback  format yesterday, you would be well advised  to hurry while there are some copies left on the shelves, or while it is still authorized by the new administration: one can't really say that His Most Serene Highness Ole Peterswarden's cameo presents him in a flattering auroral light. 

The Citizens of New Venice flocking in mass to take heed of Mr Valtat's last "tweet".

AND THE WINNER IS...

It is done, reader. The black and white balls of the “Unforeseen Forty-Ones” have been counted and recounted, and the winner is:

Peterswarden: the man behind the mitts

Yes, reader- Dr. Ole Peterswarden, the 51 years-old polar explorer and former Dean-Director of the Academy for Arctic Anthropology.  Some may still remember him as a close councillor of the Council of the Seven with a direct responsibility in the infamous Inuit People's Ice Palace scandal that had provoked their downfall.  Dubious as these credentials are, they were still convincing enough for the Unforeseen. 

If the victory over Pieter Van Reimerswaal is not a triumph (only 24 white balls out of forty-ones), it is still a masterpiece of networking strategy from the underdog. It would seem that his knowledge of the Inuit has been put to good use, for the Inuvik members of the College of Chance & Choice, who everyone thought supportive of the administration that has granted them civil rights, have apparently, and a bit inexplicably, swung over to the Peterswardenite side, thus causing a fatal landslide in the otherwise divided Sectors.

As we had a chance to say before, Peterswarden's platform strangely looks like a return to the old ways of the Council. It suffices to say that amongst his staunchest supporters were Simon Isbary, from the Boreal Bank, that former Council of Seven stronghold. We may expect a few changes in that direction during the months to come, though all observers agree on the fact that they would have to be cautious. The rival faction around His Most Serene Highness (if for a few days) Brentford Orsini is still a force to be reckoned with, even if the oncoming reshuffling of official positions may disorganize it.

HMSH Brentford Orsini himself had adressed his congratulations to the winner, wishing him to “remain loyal to spirit of the Seven Sleepers”, while our beloved Dauphin-Doges, whose position at the moment is not the most comfortable, have remained silent on the event.

The Wedding of the new Regent-doge with the Frozen Sea, will take place aboard the Dukedominion on the day of St-Mark, after a canalcade through the city. It promises to be a festive event.

For some.

PAPERBACK TIGER

 

It is not for us to say whether it is a coincidence, but the announced release on paperback of all-time New-Venice  “litertainment” bestseller “Aurorarama” in these hours of poletical tension, seems to be rather well-timed.

It would be not be the first time that the powers that be would use works of art to trigger, steer, or distract from the public debate, the Council of Seven’s past patronage the Cliquot’s Cub Clubbers or last year’s Elphinstone Exhibition being famous cases in point.

Accordingly, some voices are quick to denounce the fact that the novel (notoriously suspected to have been written by one of our citizens under a barely credible french-souding pen name) originates from the very close circles around the Regent-Doge, who is the transparent hero of this heady saga.  An epic of the city’s refoundation, it is, to its critics, nothing less than a work of vile propaganda for the current regime.

 

 In a brave effort to remain anonymous, “Jean-Christophe Valtat”,

and his bottle of compressed English.

Or so says, Pr Corkring, a Full-Fledged fellow at Doges College in an interview for the Arctic Illustrated News  : “ This rather bloated penny dreadful has no other purpose than to blacken the memory of the Council of Seven and of its loyal servants and to extoll the dubious merits of the Orsini clique.”

The Doges’ entourage has been quick to refute this allegation, through Gabriel d’Allier, the current Prime-Preceptor for the Dauphin-Doges, who answered our queries through pneumatic post. “ I seem to remember than Pr. Corkring is a literature teacher. His first degree reading is a sad indictment of the current trend in Higher Education. It is well known books worthy of that name has four levels of meaning, and he did himself justice by picking the most blatantly vulgar one.”

As to the recurring rumours according to which he would  himself be the author of “Aurorarama”, Mr d’Allier dismissed them unambiguously  as “fiction.” 

However, as a gesture to appease these “futile debates”, the Cultural Council of the Commonwealth has announced that “Aurorarama” will be only available from May one – two weeks after the results of the poll.

TURBINE SLED NEW TREND IN TRANSPORTATION ?

 

The Coanda Sled: New Trand in Transportation or... hot air?

Unrivaled sensations of this year's Council of Custom and Commerce Machines & Motors Market in Machinery Hall, the new turbine-powered sleds by Coanda seem bound to become all the rage in ground transportation. If it is doubtful that they are going to replace the propelled sled used by Subtle Army and the Jitneys Taxsleighs of the city, they could well supersede the Champagne Sleds on the Kingnes Speed Ring Rink and, beyond that, could well make their mark as a personal leisure vehicle outside the City Limits for all amateurs of speed. Their downside is that they tend to warm your backside a bit: even a bit too much, some say. 

  

The Champagne Sled: losing its fizz ?  

As every year, other vehicles have tried to contest the rule of the Bollee Sled as a family vehicle, but they have failed to impress the onlookers the way the Coanda did. 

The Debesse Sled: put on ice ?

Never say Nivert, but...

FRESH PAINT

Underlined in everyone's agenda  tonight is the grand opening of the Elphinstone Exhibition at the Arctic Academy Of Arts. Paintings and Engravings by the two Elphinstones, Samuel and his son Ebenezer, will be displayed there until January, 21, 1907 AB.  

Especially awaited is the original of the famous “Elphinstone map”, etched by Samuel in 1907 BB, and which has been kindly lent by the Regent-Doge to the Academy. The show also features less known, but equally dazzling works, such as “The Seven Sleepers dream” which represents a magnificent, if somewhat fantastic, view of Central Canal.

You're not dreaming:  it's The Seven Sleepers' Dream, by Samuel Elphinstone

From Ebenezer, there will mostly paintings, depicting scenes of the New Venetian everyday life such as his famous White Night in Frislandia:

 

 It is going to make your day: White Night in Frislandia,

Unfortunately, his masterpiece, the endless Myriorama of the Frozen Sea, cannot be showcased because of a lack of space to accomodate its 24 gigantic panels. 

Of course, some of our most sharp-tongued citizens have promptly remarked upon the fact that Elphinstone is the name of our current Dauphin-Doges, and that Samuel and Ebenezer are respectively their grand-grandfather and grandfather. 

These critics go as far as presuming that this "coincidence" may explain the considerable ballyhoo surrounding the exhibition. And one of them even added that he was waiting impatiently for a retrospective of the Dauphin-Doges' father, the infamous Edward “Endlessex” Elphinstone, once the unrivaled leading man of the Circus Of Carnal Knowledge. 

People can be mean sometimes.

ICE CASTLE HAUNTED?

At last... although scheduled to be finished on November 1,  it took  fifteen days more for this year's Ice palace to be open to the public. 

Security reasons were alleged, but rumors have it that reports of ghost sightings by the building workers are the real cause behind the delay. Little has transpired as to what the sightings were (“probably the bottom of a gin bottle” as a member  of the new Boreal Beedle Brigade dismissively put it) but there has been hushed talk about a very-well dressed, monocled specter.
 Could this be linked to the discovery, last summer, of the corpse of a man with stab wounds and his back entirely skinned ? The body had remained buried under the melted remnants of the previous castle, probably since the events of the spring, and, to this day, his identity remains a mystery, or some say, a well-kept state secret.
If such rumours will attract or  scare visitors remains to be seen. Personally, I cannot imagine a New Venetian winter without a visit to the castle. And if I'm ever to see ghosts, they should be those of Christmases past.

New Ice Castle: not crystal-clear.