Tale of Two Cities - chapters 1 & 2 You'll need to know a few things, like...
What's a blunderbuss?
This, this is a blunderbuss.
This is Chuck.
Who was Mrs. Southcott?
She was an English spiritualist.
What was the Cock-Lane Ghost?
One of the first ever psychic scams. Read about it. You'll find MANY different versions on the web.
This is the issue of Spin-Off that I need two bloody pages from...here's the Sock thing from Stasia which I thought was very helpful. Check out Pandora and Last.fm
And in both the "any publicity is good publicity" and the "I've never heard of an idea so dangerous it couldn't be talked about" departments: the Librarians have lost their minds! Anyone remember Are You There God? It's Me Margaret? Anyone? Anyone?
And if you have the travel bug:
West Coast Folks. East Coast Folks.
Fun!
And don't forget: WWMDFK?
(What Would Madame DeFarge Knit?)
Think on't.
Thanks to our readers Michael Sirois and Kara Shalinberg.
And, finally:
Spinneret's cogent and I think important note on "Screw":