Hello my lovelies, I hope you’re well! I’m very excited to announce that things are progressing well for Book Two of Hermann Gottlieb: Consulting Detective, my Newmann Victorian detective AU. I’ve written over 100 pages, and with just a few more things to lock in, I’m almost ready to start posting. I wanted to share a little WIP Wednesday snippet… nothing that spoils any of the mystery, of course, just something to set the tone. I’ll be doing more of these as I go, but without further ado, here’s a wee excerpt from chapter one…
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The following morning, the storm had not abated in the slightest. As Gottlieb fastened his Inverness cape about his shoulders, Newton stood by the window looking out and shaking his head.
“It’s an unlucky thing we have to turn out to-day,” he said distractedly. “The weather is the most savage I’ve seen.”
“This is London,” Gottlieb said dryly, fixing his top hat upon his head. “Wait a bit and you will see worse.”
At this, the doctor chuckled, then flung his gaze back over his shoulder, looking Gottlieb up and down as he did. “The rain is still coming down in droves. Your usual top hat will get blown clean off your head in this squall.”
“Yes, well, be that as it may, I do not have another,” the detective declared, accompanying the statement with a dismissive gesture of his cane. “In fact, were it not considered improper for a gentleman to be seen in public without a hat, I would never bother with it. It is an absurd societal construct, nothing more. Not to mention,” he cleared his throat and added, somewhat as an aside, “none of them suit me at all.”
“Well, that’s another one of the vast differences between us,” Newton said, fixing the taller man with a winsome grin as he donned his bowler hat and slid his index finger along the brim. “I look marvellous in a hat.”
Gottlieb sighed audibly with a muttered, “If you say so,” under his breath— although he couldn't fully deny the truth of the matter. The hat did rather suit the doctor, although Gottlieb supposed the man would most likely look comely in any accoutrement of his choosing.
“I’m certain I could find a hat to suit you,” Newton proclaimed, abandoning the window view to gather up and sling on his coat.
“Please refrain,” Gottlieb replied with no small measure of aridity. “It would be a terrible waste of time and money.”
“Well, then I suggest you hang onto your hat, my man,” Newton chuckled as they descended the stairs and stepped out into the storming street outside to hail a fortuitously-timed hansom cab that had just turned the corner and begun clomping up the muddy road.
Still one of the best animations I've ever done. Took just under a week and was equal parts fun and challenging. So here are some process passes! The full version had too many colors so I had to do some compression T0T
This is leaving out the most crucial piece of why that was a normal reality: UNIONS.
Union participation percentage is a measly 10% across all industries for the latest statistics in 2025.
Unions are the ones who could fight against the requirement for everyone and their mother to need a minimum of a bachelor's degree. they could fight for working hours to be properly compensated so that the work week was actually 40 hours or less and everything over was actually paid for.
The reality of the work place and why we work so much more for so much less is because we are not unionized. the reason europeans seem to have it so much better is because of their strong union culture.
there are solutions to these problems and we need to stop obscuring the why.
so you're telling me the fifa world cup is all men? its all men's teams? and so is the superbowl? and all the sports teams that states are known for and make copious amounts of merch for are also men's teams? and only 5 women have ever entered formula one since its inception in 1950 and only two of them were able to compete? and this is normal? its acceptable?
i grew up playing backyard soccer on the pc as a child in the early 2000s where boys and girls would play on the same team and against each other and you're telling me that's still an unrealistic fantasy that can't happen in real life?
