This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.

Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of IHeart Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky.

Listener discretion advised.

Hi, this is Dana Schwartz, and just one quick personal note before we begin, if you are listening to this episode on its release day,

next Tuesday, May 19th is the release of my newest book, The Arcane Arts. It's called The Arcane

Arts. It's by pseudonym, Nome de Plume, S.D. Coverly. Because I co-wrote this book with my friend Dan Frye. We alternated

perspectives. I wrote The Female Point of View. He wrote The Male Point of View. We went back and

forth. It's a very fun novel. It is about a elite graduate school, a murder mystery, a secret

society, sexy forbidden magic. It is slightly sexier. So if you are a

younger reader, this is not the book for you, but adult readers. I really think you will enjoy

the arcane arts. I definitely enjoyed writing it. And after today's episode, there will be a preview

of the audiobook of the arcane Arts. So you can just listen,

see if you think it's something you'll like. Thank you so much for your support and letting me be

a writer for a living, which means the world to me. Let's jump into today's episode.

One evening, sweating in the early summer heat of the French countryside, Emily D'Schatley was observing the fire in the estate's massive iron furnace.

By her side was Voltaire, her lover, collaborator, and full-time

house guest. This was not a romantic outing for the couple while they gazed into the fire. Instead,

they were attempting to recreate the experiments of the Dutch scientist Peter von Muchenbrook

to discern the nature of fire, although perhaps that was their idea of a date night.

The two had instructed the Iron Master to melt various metals. They took notes as hundreds of pounds of

lead and iron transformed before their eyes. For Voltaire, their experiment clearly proved

Newton's theory that fire was matter and therefore subject to gravity.

...