Tesla and Twain
I’ve always been fascinated by Nikola Tesla. I’ve read the legitimate biographies on him, and the conspiracy theories; everything from his days in working under Edison and with Westinghouse, to his days on the Philidelphia experiment. Over the course of this project, I’ve even gotten fairly familiar with Mr Samuel Clemens. Did you know he was the first Author to submit a typed manuscript? Though he didn’t type it himself, he dictated Life on the Mississippi in 1883.
I guess after immersing yourself in these facts long enough, you start to believe that everyone else knows them too.
It turns out that isn’t the case. The other day I was asked why we chose to these two characters, and whether or not they were contemporaneous in history by a reasonably smart and learn-ed fellow, so I can see I have some work to do in this area.
(Fund The Wardenclyffe Horror!)
Nikola Tesla and Mark Twain were fast friends from the time they met, each admiring the traits the other was famous for. Tesla was a huge fan of Twain’s writing, and likewise, Twain was a huge fan of Tesla’s scientific genius. He even volunteered to be a part of several experiments including, but not limited to: electrocution, high speed vibration, and x-rays! The picture below, taken of Mark Twain in Tesla’s lab could be considered to be the inspiration for our graphic novel, if I had to name just one.
The reason this story is so compelling in the eyes of both Chris and myself is that in one room we have two of the greatest figures of their time, tailor made to tell a bit of fiction in a way that is very plausible. On on hand we have Tesla, a figure of genuine mystery, that has been used rightly, or wrongly in a variety of fringe stories. On the other hand we have Twain, the definitive American story teller, the perfect narrator (if only you can spend hours and hours working to make all his dialog sound just right). They just go together so well. If you attach the pair to another strange event, say – an unexplained phenomena in 1908, then you really have a lot of interesting dots to connect.
I love Twains Guide to Heidelberg but his Books on Etiquette are hilarious.
Sadly he will not be talking much about etiquette as he fights against horror beyond space and time. He does talk about strong drink and it’s benefits often enough. I think you’ll appreciate the efforts we have made to tune his dialog, immensely.