I wrote “The Duke, The Dauphin, and the Dirigible” originally for an anthology that was doing Steampunk riffs off of literary masterpieces. I didn’t get into the book, but this story was too good to just throw in the trunk–at least in my opinion. So, when Mocha Memoirs decided to release a new collection of my stories, I included it in the mix.

I have loved Mark Twain‘s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from a very young age. I always thought he was a much more compelling character than Tom Sawyer. When I was doing my student teaching, creating lesson plans for this book was a dream come true.

So, when I saw the submission call, I immediately thought of a story continuing the adventures of Huck when he returns to Hannibal after the trip down the river.

When brainstorming how to do that, the characters of the Duke of Bridgewater and the King of France came to mind. These disreputable conmen cause a lot of trouble for Huck on the river trip, and in my story, they do the same.

One of my favorite things about the book is the colloquial tone of the speech. Recreating this was really fun.

With the help of Becky Thatcher and her father, the Judge, Huck manages to save the day–and get the girl.

I started reading it again last night, and I absolutely love this story. I hope you do too.

By E. W. Kemble (1861–1933) – (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1854602)