Philomena Sparks and The Curse of the Big Ben

By M.C. Olmo

This story is set in London, during Victorian times, with a fantasy twist that shifts from past to present. It starts when an old Victorian object shows up at the British Museum and Mr. Higgings, the Curator, believes the item is closely connected to his nephew's great grandfather, Mr. Charles Dewhurst Jr. This man and his father had owned a tailoring shop in London, during the 1850's, and they became popular because of their unique clothing designs. To keep up with the demand, Charles created a sewing machine shaped as a woman. She carried a secret inside her delicate machinery, so Charles had to go through extremes to protect her from jealousy and greed. Philomena was born right before the casting of the Big Ben. She has a connection with the belfry, which makes some people think it may be cursed. Follow Mr. Higgings's amazing and beautifully illustrated story as he retells it to his young nephew, Matthew.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.C. Olmo
• Release date: Mar 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301089925

M.C. Olmo

Marielba Cancel Olmo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and grew up in the town of Río Piedras. She has taught English, Science and Spanish, and has worked as writer and translator. She lived in England for three years while pursuing a PhD in English Literature, where she received an ORS (Overseas Research Student Award), and then moved to Barcelona for a year. She returned to Puerto Rico in 1999, where she currently resides. She has written many poems and short stories for several publications. The World Within (2011) is her first novel. The book has won three Honorable Mentions: the Green Book Festival in San Francisco (May 2012), the Halloween Book Festival (October 2012), and the New England Book Festival (December 2012). Philomena Sparks and The Curse of the Big Ben is her second novel. It won a Honorable Mention at the London Book Festival (2013) and a Runner-Up place in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy category at the Sharp Writ Book Awards (2013). Email: [e-mail]

Book preview

Philomena Sparks and The Curse of the Big Ben

By

M. C. Olmo

© 2013 Marielba Cancel Olmo

Smashwords Edition

© 2013 Marielba Cancel Olmo

Illustrations Copyright © 2013 Adriana Rosario

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address BMH 304 Interamericana St. University Gardens, San Juan Puerto Rico 00927.

The characters and events in this book are fictitious, with the exception of the Big Ben itself and Edmund Beckett Denison. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Cover illustration credit: Dreamstime.com; Steampunk

Steampunk Five to Twelve © Yorkberlin

Smashwords License Statement 
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Foreword

Philomena Sparks was born from a dream I once had. The dream was very surreal, and it ran through like a theatre play where I was a single spectator sitting in the middle of the stage. That’s why, when I first started writing, I thought the plot could work out as a play, but I changed my mind afterwards and decided to write a short novel instead. Also, I wanted to complement the story with illustrations, and that’s when I hired the very talented Adriana Rosario. Her collaboration is extraordinary. I did not tell her about my dream though. I just gave her the first rough draft of the book and let her draw her favorite scenes in her own style. I did not interfere with style elements at all; I only told her I wanted them in drawn in pencil. What you will see is the result of her own artistic interpretation of that first draft. Two of her drawings had to be placed sideways in the printed version of this book. Placing them straight would have compromised their artistic value. Besides that, there are a few slight differences between the printed version and this one. They were necessary for the formatting process. As for me, I have only written down the story of Philomena as loyally as possible, without altering much the way it was originally manifested in the oneiric realm.

Before closing off, I’d like to wholeheartedly thank all of you Kickstarter pledgers who helped with the funding of this book. You made the dream in this book become a reality in print. The list of names is long, but you know who you are, and bear in mind you played an essential part in the making of this book. I sincerely hope you enjoy it.

Marielba

Long Live the Queen

Chapter I

Mr. Lloyd Higgings worked as Curator of Artefacts at the British Museum. He was a tall, slender man in his mid-thirties and he loved his job. Each day he would spend long hours studying and classifying different objects that lay scattered over a white cotton cloth. This cloth covered a long wide table, set specially for him. Sometimes he would turn on the alarm of the small GE radio cassette player he had in his office, and today was one of those days he had to, not because he wanted to break the deep silence that enveloped him, but because today was Thursday. He had to pick up his nine-year-old nephew from school on Thursdays. His sister would then pick the boy up at the museum after getting out of work. Mr. Higgings did not mind, though. He was fond of his nephew, Matthew, a lively and intelligent kid. Mr. Higgings looked over his shoulder and glanced at his favorite old redwood clock hanging on the wall. It read 2:30 p.m. The alarm went off with an annoying buzz and Mr. Higgings turned around in his swivel chair to set the small radio off. It was time to take the tube to Warwick Avenue, the closest station to Paddington Green Primary School, where Matthew greeted his uncle at 3:00 p.m. That was the time when the school day was over, and all the kids ran outside to catch the bus or greet their parents.

Mr. Higgings usually waited for Matthew at the front gate on Crompton Street. Since he got there before the place became infested with cars, buses, and the typical noisiness of the school’s busy area, he took some time to absorb the surroundings. It was a crisp October afternoon. The signs of autumn were visible across the street, with many recently fallen tree leaves that ranged in all hues of colors, anywhere between yellow and brown-orange. A couple of magpies were yapping on a tree nearby, and the wind blew with a chilly feeling that stuck on Mr. Higgings‘s hands and ears.

The school bell rang, disrupting Mr. Higgings’s peaceful pondering and almost instantly; the