Healing the Thames: a Steampunk tale

 I am writing a steampunk novel. One complaint about steampunk is that it is racist: it is solely about whites. This was a valid complaint. Then I read about the Zulu king Cetshwayo's trip to London in 1882. He was received with some respect and even got to meet Queen Victoria.  This, I thought, was the perfect base for a steampunk story. So I introduced a fictional ambassador from a fictional African kingdom. 

But steampunk is more than an 'alternative universe' story. It needs a touch of the supernatural.  My answer was to introduce deities for rivers and hills. The Thames at that time was heavily polluted. Its deity was suffering. So I invented a campaign by the ambassador to heal the Thames. I have reached 60,000 words so I still have a long way to go.  

The African king Cetshwayo in London

In August 1882, the Zulu king Cetshwayo came to London. The British had deposed him from his rightful status as Zulu king and forced him into exile. He came to London hoping to petition the British government against his continued exile and the threatened incorporation of KwaZulu territory into the white settler colony of Natal.   

This report (in 'Black Victorians - Black Victoriana', edited by Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina) fascinated me. I knew there was a story in there. But did I have the skill to write about the Zulu king? I eventually decided that I did not, and instead devised a story about a visit by a young prince from a fictional West African country. That resulted in a novella. But the situation, a royal visitor from a port country exploring London, had great potential. I am presently writing a sequel, and am drafting notes for a third story set in the Great War.