The Evolving Ethos of Phineas Fielding

By: J. Gerard Kohle

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

"Less than free lives our loveObstructed on all sides,A plant pining for above,Such darkness it abides,Twisting with the throes of fateRound boulders big and small,Forced to wind, wend, and wait,Ever upward---enduring all.The struggle lifts the passion,Pushing fortitude (not vice),Virtue pays the ransom,Freeing love from lust to life.A life of love is the endTo which all men should strive,And so we must contort and bendWhilst this plant will thrive.For one day the Sun will shine,And patience prove its worth,And flowers sprout on the vine,And true love will be truth."The world is different, but war is the same. And the noble and nefarious Steam Pirates seek a method to change both to bring about an era of enforced arbitrated peace. They need a weaponized machine to paralyze with fear the often aggressive Former Roman Provinces of Europa. Only one honest man, Phineas Fielding, genius, alliterator, and heir to the Vespasian Monarchy, can build it for them. Will he do what he must so he can be free to reunite with the love of his life? Will he trample his ethics, change them, or hold true in the face of dire consequences and moral quandaries?