Dear readers, tonight with us is one of everyone’s favourite Dickens’ characters – talking about 19th century London, steam engines, time travel, and dinosaurs.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

I grew up poor out on the Moors of Kent with my sister and her husband Joe Gargary, the local blacksmith and to whom I apprenticed under. I was raised by hand by my sister, and I do mean a mean one. Luckily, a generous benefactor intervened and sent me off to London to become a gentleman.

Did you have any favourite toys as a child? Any cherished memories?

I played at knaves with Uncle Joe, and we’d often race to see who could eat our buttered bread first each morning, and the times we’d work together at his forge, but I gave all that up when I was offered a chance to become a gentleman in London, a choice that I sometimes think back upon in regret.

What do you do now?

I am a gentleman of the city, you see. My duties are to my wealth and to my name. I’m seeking a parliamentary seat, and for that, I’ve called upon the London’s own vigilante, The Orphan, for his assistance. I wish to ally myself with him.

What can you tell us about your latest adventure?

Well, I should have known, chaps, that involving myself with Mr. Twist would inevitably wrap me up in one of his mad schemes to save the city when creatures – extinct creatures, mind you – arrive without invitation or provocation.

What did you first think when you first met Oliver Twist?

I had high hopes for a partnership with Twist, I hoped to help him, but as we dove deeper down this latest adventure, we soon found ourselves outmatched and in over our heads as time unraveled before our eyes and people and creatures from different times found themselves thrust in our company.

What was the scariest thing in your adventures?

Being hunted by a living dinosaur was certainly not high on my list of expectations when I teamed up with Twist, but I appreciated being vindicated in my theory that the Megalosaurus in question was bipedal in nature, rather than squat on all fours like the statue recreations depict at the Crystal Palace

What is the best thing about it?

What’s a little excitement? There certainly isn’t anything like this on the Moors. I may be eaten by a dinosaur, but I will have lived!

Tell us a little about your friends.

There’s my friend Herbert Pocket, who has been with me since I moved to London, we let a room together, though I must say, it’s gotten overly crowded in there lately. Then there’s my peculiar acquaintance Mr. Wemmick, who’s eclectic style and a certain rare object he owns may come in handy in a pinch. And then there are my new acquaintances, Oliver Twist, Dodger (I don’t think she likes me) and the charming Stella, whom I’d like to know better.

Any romantic involvement?

Among the strange people and creatures we’ve encountered, I’ve become somewhat enamored with the beautiful and mysterious Stella Havisham who hails from University Hall in New York. However, solving our current time crisis may mean severing our connection.

Whom (or what) do you really hate?

I don’t hate anyone, in fact, I can even empathize with our adversary — there may even be a part of me that wishes for them to succeed . . .

What’s your favourite drink, colour, and relaxing pastime?

I tend to find myself in the company of my good friend, Pocket at our club, The Finches of the Grove, or in our apartment, playing at American style pool. A good drink and fine food completes the life of a gentleman in good company. But sometimes, I just wish I was back home in the Moors, playing knaves with my uncle.

What does the future hold for you?

The future, I hope, remains unwritten, though I have endless expectations.

Can you share a secret with us, which you’ve never told anyone else?

I may have helped a certain someone in their plans, thereby creating the very obstacles we’re trying to overcome. The possibility that I may have done so is eating my soul and threatening both my friendship with Oliver Twist and my nascent relationship with the beautiful Stella.

Brent A. Harris is a two-time alternate history Sidewise Award finalist. He writes of time-traveling astronaut dinosaurs, misunderstood orcs, conflicted AIs, and a universe where Dickens meets steampunk. When not harried behind a keyboard chugging caffeine, Brent enjoys nerdy stuff like board games, DnD, and arguing why there’s still hope for Marvel movies. He holds a Masters in Creative Writing and Film from National University because the school liked his writing enough to pay for his degree. As part of a military family, he’s traveled the world and lived in four different countries yet still can’t speak a second language. Heck, the guy can hardly write in English. He currently lives abroad with a broad and a brood in Okinawa, Japan.

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