Turn-of-the-Century Toughs is a cycle of historical fantasy
series by Dusk Peterson about disreputable men on the margins of society,
and the men and women who love them. The novels are set in an imaginary
version of Maryland and other Mid-Atlantic states between the 1880s and
the 1910s. One of the series in the cycle,
Waterman, combines elements
of the 1910s with retrofuturistic imagery from the 1960s.
Updated October 2012.
CONTENTS
Currently the cycle consists of the following series:
The Eternal Dungeon, a historical fantasy series set in a land where the psychologists wield whips. In a cool, dark cavern, guarded by men and by vows, lies a dungeon where prisoners fearfully await the inevitable. The inevitable will be replaced by the unexpected.
Life Prison, a historical fantasy series about male desire and determination in Victorian prisons. They are imprisoned until death, and their lives cannot get worse . . . or so they think. But when an unlikely alliance forms against their captors, the reformers risk losing what little comforts they possess.
Commando, a historical fantasy series that imagines what the South African Boer War could have been like if it had been fought on American soil. The nautical nation is backed by the military might of an empire. The mountainous republic is populated by farmers and shopkeepers, and it has no standing army. The nautical nation is about to make the mistake of attacking the mountainous republic.
Michael's House, a historical fantasy series set in a Progressive Era slum. In a world where temples are dying and sacred theaters have been replaced by brothels, what will happen when a hard-headed businessman joins forces with an idealist?
Waterman,
a historical fantasy series and retrofuture series inspired by the Chesapeake
Bay oyster wars, boarding school rivalries in British public schools in
the 1910s, and 1960s visions of things to come. How can a youth from a
bay island boarding school survive when he is sent to a futuristic prison?
Commando research. Blog entries by the author on research trips around Maryland. (Some of the entries are marked "Life Prison research," because the two series overlap in location. "Triad" is the earlier name for the Commando series.)
Waterman
research. Earlier entries are labelled "Prison City research."
Larger version of the Midcoast nations map (277 KB).
Larger version of the Mip City map (1.32 MB).
Larger version of the Compassion Prison map (283 KB).
Larger version of the Vovimian capital map (1.45 MB).
The Midcoast nations are as follows:
Yclau. Technologically advanced, the Queendom of Yclau espouses ideals of egalitarianism and encourages humane treatment of commoners and criminals. It is the birthplace of various reform movements. However, Yclau struggles with class divisions that are reflected in its punitive justice system. Yclau folk are believers in eternal rebirth, a concept that foreigners find puzzling.
Vovim. Considered the epitome of barbaric violence and ignorance by its neighbors, the Kingdom of Vovim is a multiracial home for various cultures who are united by their love of the gods and their devotion to the arts, especially theater. Vovim is located to the north and west of Yclau. Its ancient system of government finds itself under strain at the beginning of the cycle, leading to social upheavals.
The Dozen Landsteads: Originally the most politically advanced of the Midcoast nations, the Dozen Landsteads finds itself being overshadowed by Vovim and Yclau. Religiously and ethnically, the Landsteaders are identical to the Yclau, but the Landsteaders remain stubbornly traditional, holding to a centuries-old system of ranking masters, liegemen, and servants. The official name of the bay-oriented nation is "The Alliance of the Dozen Landsteads," for the individual landsteads refuse to centralize their political power, other than through a high law that tries to settle differences between the leaders of the Landsteads. As a result, the Dozen Landsteads' greatest conflicts are usually internal . . . but that will change as pressure builds at the nation's western border.
Mip. This tiny, egalitarian nation – north of Yclau, south and east of Vovim, and west of the Dozen Landsteads – has long been the battleground for Vovimian and Yclau troops who try to control it. As a result, Vovimian and Yclau culture play a strong role in this land. Virtually ignored is Mip's native tribe, which is on the verge of extinction. However, the poor people of the Magisterial Republic of Mip take heart from the tales of the tribe's struggle to free itself from its oppressors.
Akbar. Located to the east of the Dozen Landsteads and Vovim,
but usually not counted as part of the Midcoast nations, Akbar plays a
cameo role in the first novel of Waterman.
In Turn-of-the-Century Toughs, the period in our world between 1880 and 1912 is spread out to cover just under a century. A later series in the cycle, Waterman, combines elements of the 1910s with retrofuturistic imagery from the 1960s.
In the United States of America, the first two decades of the twentieth century are referred to as the Progressive Era. In England, the same period is called the Edwardian Era. In both countries and in other English-speaking countries, this period and the two decades preceding it was a time of intense interest in social reform. The social reformers sometimes looked to the past for inspiration and sometimes strove to depart from the past through new technologies and through changes in social structure. This era of social reform would climax in World War One, when traditional values eroded in trench warfare.
Turn-of-the-Century Toughs takes the social concerns and outward
appearance of the late Victorian and Edwardian Eras and applies them to
events in a different world.
Islanders and Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay. Bibliography for Waterman and Commando.
Masculinity, Crime, and Everyday Life in Victorian and Edwardian Times. Bibliography for all of the series in the Turn-of-the-Century Toughs cycle.
Retrofuture: Visions of the Future, 1945-1975. Bibliography for Waterman.
Index page for all the bibliographies.
This
text, or a variation on it, was originally published at duskpeterson.com
as part of the novel cycle Turn-of-the-Century Toughs. Copyright ©
2006-2012 Dusk Peterson. Some rights reserved. The text is licensed under
a Creative Commons
Attribution Noncommercial License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0).
You may freely print, post, e-mail, share, or otherwise distribute the
text for noncommercial purposes, provided that you include this paragraph.
The author's policies on
derivative works and fan works are available online (duskpeterson.com/copyright.htm).
Cover designs: Dusk Peterson. Permission is granted for the reposting
and reprinting of the banners, cover arts, and story summaries for the
purposes of providing information on the books. Please link to duskpeterson.com
if possible.
