mstdn.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A general-purpose Mastodon server with a 500 character limit. All languages are welcome.

Administered by:

Server stats:

8.8K
active users

#AChristmasCarol

0 posts0 participants0 posts today

"In the beginning [ #CharlesDickens'] publishers at the time, Chapman and Hall, did not have confidence in the plot of the story and due to the decline in sales for Dickens current novel, Martin Chuzzlewit. This meant that Dickens had to essentially self-publish, at great detriment to his bank account, leading to serious financial worries . . . Further worry came from the fact that Dickens had entrusted the illustrations of the novella to his great friend John Leech and whilst he knew that the end result would be just as he desired, it would not be cheap. #AChristmasCarol was an instant success and sold out in next to no time. However, despite the success, the production values of the novella were extremely high . . . Dickens, however, kept the price of the novella low to buy at just five shillings which meant that the six-thousand copies that were sold as a first edition only resulted in two-hundred and thirty pounds for the author."

- Grace E. Turton, Real Life Meets Fiction in A Christmas Carol historythroughfiction.com/blog #history #publishing #WritingCommunity

History Through FictionReal Life Meets Fiction in A Christmas Carol — History Through FictionGrace E. Turton explores how Charles Dickens' novella, "A Christmas Carol," serves as a social commentary on Victorian society's treatment of the poor. Inspired by Dickens' own experiences and observations, the novella highlights themes of poverty, family, and morality. Despite initial pub

𝗞𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗸𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗔 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗸𝗿𝗶𝗷𝗴𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘂𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲

De kerstklassieker A Christmas Carol krijgt een nieuwe remake. Dat meldt de Amerikaanse entertainmentwebsite Deadline.

rtl.nl/boulevard/artikel/55134

RTL Boulevard · Kerstklassieker A Christmas Carol krijgt nieuwe remakeDe kerstklassieker A Christmas Carol krijgt een nieuwe remake. Dat meldt de Amerikaanse entertainmentwebsite Deadline.
Continued thread

#TimeTravelAuthors 06/07 Saturday excerpt #Focus
#TimeTravelingGhost Part 10

The ghost and the boy walked through the waking streets of London, threading their way through the bustle of people getting ready for the day. Periodically, they heard shouts of Merry Christmas and other holiday salutations.

Ghost led the way through poor back-alley streets, past mean penny-a-day inns and crowded tenements. But she never hesitated. As long as she focused, he knew where the Cratchits lived. Arriving at a run-down house, the Ghost stopped.

“What’s your name, boy?” Ghost asked. It seemed silly to keep calling him “boy.”

“David, sir, if it pleases you, sir. David Copperfield.”

Ghost nodded, not being well-read. He didn’t recognize the name. She knew enough ghost lore to know the story “A Christmas Carol,” but there were no ghosts in “David Copperfield.”

“This is what you do, David. Knock on the door and say you have a message from Mr. Scrooge. Say he has had a change of heart, and a generous present will soon arrive. Lastly, say that Mr. Scrooge could not pay you to deliver the message, but he was sure the Cratchits would share a meal with you. You can add that line, ‘I’m so hungry,’ if you like. You do it very well. It would melt a heart of stone.”

“And you, sir. Surely you won’t run off now. I shall sorely miss you if you do.” David grabbed at Ghost’s hands, but it was like trying to catch the morning mist.

“I must; I have someone to find,” Ghost said and closed her eyes, imagining a new place and time. A woman’s name popped into her head. “I will visit her.”

Q: Who did Ghost think of, i.e., where shall we go next?

Continued thread

#TimeTravelAuthors 06/01 Tell us about your story
#TimeTravelingGhost Part 8

Ghost drifted out of Scrooge’s house, where she hadn’t felt welcome, and sat on the steps in the grim pre-dawn light. As the light grew stronger, a ragged, dirty boy sat down beside her. Silence stretched between them until the boy tentatively began talking.

“Sir—if you please, sir—are you quite deceased?” the boy inquired, tugging his threadbare cap.

“Yeah, it sucks.”

“If it wouldn’t trouble you greatly, sir, I should like to hear your story. I expect I shall be dead soon myself, what with the hunger and all.”

“Sure. Then I’ll take you someplace where there’s food—Bob Cratchit’s house.”

There’s an author who writes silly things, and she wanted to write a story for a prompt (#WSS366). #HEAVEN knows why! So, she made a “Lass” who... (Let me cut that short.) Anyway, she killed the Lass most cruelly. Then she found another prompt for time travel stories (#TimeTravelAuthors) and had the Lass summon me. I think I’m a kind of ghost, but not really. (Frankly, it makes little sense.) The ghost can time travel and is named “Time Traveling Ghost.” (That’s me.) “Ghost,” for short. Only Author (that’s her name in the story) hasn’t told Ghost how to time travel. All Ghost wants is to get revenge on the people who killed Lass (Poe and Time Manager—TM for short). The—

The boy raised a hand. “You believe the strangest things, sir,” said the boy, wide-eyed. “But I dare say the world is full of such strangeness, if only one’s stomach weren’t growling too loud to hear it.”

Jeckle, who perched below them on Scrooge’s steps, added, “She sure does, don’t she, Boy? Let’s EAT!”

Heckle, sitting next to Jeckle, screeched, “Chow down. Chow down. Get yer feed bag!”

#MicroFiction #NMPrompts #NMTTA #AChristmasCarol #CharlesDickens #pastiche #DavidCopperfield #HeckleAndJeckle #Crow #Corvid #Plushies @ShadowPlay @plush_bot

Continued thread

#TimeTravelAuthors May 31 Author choice
#TimeTravelingGhost Part 7 (Long)

The word “Goodbye” resounded like a pen’s ultimate declaration, and Ghost found herself in a dark room smelling of mildew. In front of her was a moth-eaten four-poster bed with a figure struggling to arise.

“Have you come to call upon me as well?” inquired the figure, an old gentleman whose nightgown hung on him like a shroud, his cap askew, and blankets heaped around him. “I assure you, good spirit, I am a reformed soul. Pray, tell me, who are you?”

“Time Traveling Ghost, and who might you be?” Ghost took the chance to look around. She found herself in a bedroom furnished only by the bed and a writing desk with a lone bowl, a spoon handle protruding from it. Underfoot was a threadbare carpet with an incongruous holly leaf and three red berries scattered on it.

“Ebenezer Scrooge!” came the astonished reply. “But I was given to understand — most solemnly — that there would be three spirits, and three alone. What business have you here?”

“I think it’s a joke by Author.” Ghost said, as perplexed as Scrooge at the turn of events. She cast her eyes about and spotted Heckle and Jeckle in the corner. “Damn, just my luck they would come along,” she muttered so low Scrooge couldn’t make out the words.

The elder blinked at him, befuddled. “I know not this Arthur of whom you speak, nor have I an appetite for riddles at this hour. The cock has not crowed, and come dawn I am beset by more tasks than I can bear. Go your way, sir, and take your visions with you.”

“I don’t suppose you’d spare me a farthing for a morning cup of coffee?” Ghost asked. “As you say, it’s rather early.”

“Not a farthing, nay, not a penny, ill-begotten beggar!” Scrooge cried, waving his arms as if to banish a vapour. “Begone, figment conjured by the tyrannies of undigested mustard!”

“Changed man,” Jeckle croaked, “Not.”

“Coffee? You’re a ghost,” Heckle screeched. “Hey buddy, can you spare me a dime?”

Scrooge pivoted to where the voices came from. “And what ill-begotten jesters are these? Vile emanations of prunes left too long to stew. Begone, thou late-born fragment of muddled sleep! Coffee indeed! Brazen haunt, seek you an almshouse, not my abode.” And with that, he dove under the covers.

#MicroFiction #NMPrompts #NMTTA
#AChristmasCarol #CharlesDickens #pastiche
#HeckleAndJeckle