‘The Balloon Never Had a Chance’

A vintage image from the British Library shows a hot air balloon being melted by an aircraft.

British Library digitized picture from web page 203 of Hartmann the Anarchist, and so on.
Image: British Library

“Sir! Direct hit! The balloon’s canvas has been ruptured and is falling to the Earth from a height of approximately 18 kilometers. They will hit the ground in approximately one minute—unless the gentlemen have jetpacks on board, there’s no chance they’ll survive the impact.”

“Fire again, lieutenant. Let’s make certain this time.”

It’s time for one more io9 Concept Art Writing Prompt! It’s time to stretch out these fingers and seize your pencils, pens, and/or keyboard to create a little bit of brief fiction impressed by the above picture. It involves us from the everlasting treasure trove referred to as the British Library’s public domain Flickr archive, which is stuffed with basic illustrations from forgotten books of yesteryear (amongst different wonders). This time, our picture comes from an 1893 novel apparently titled Hartmann the Anarchist, and so on., by Edward Douglas Fawcett—also referred to as The Doom of the Great City.

Wikipedia says it’s a novel a few gentleman named Mr. Stanley who groups up with the titular anarchist on his airship to destroy town of London, eradicate society, and let lawlessness reign. This illustration from the guide actually makes it seem that Stanely and Hartmann achieve laying waste to town, however there’s no clue as to who the inhabitants of the balloon have been or what they have been attempting to perform.

But don’t really feel confined to recreating the plot of this bizarre previous novel, except you need to (and boy, the “etc.” within the title is simply begging for some literary exploration)! Your story may be about any highly effective airship-vs.-doomed balloon battle you need, or the occasions main as much as or after it—possibly the remainder of the balloon air drive is sneaking up from behind?

Get writing, after which go away your brief fiction within the feedback for all to take pleasure in, please! And when you’re dying to know the actual story, the British Library has you covered (for a greenback).


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#Balloon #Chance
https://gizmodo.com/the-balloon-never-had-a-chance-1847541786