Magical Sails: A Nikola Tesla Story

By Maya C.S and Vladimir Mancic

This great historical-scientific adventure begins with the fact that Tesla’s childhood is in danger because the Evil Fairy Gromlina plans to use Tesla's inventions to control and then rule the world. A boy Luka, a little girl Lana, and the guardian-fairy Angelina take a stand against Gromlina’s evil – and they will have the help of a fairy-robot Viloid.

During their journey through the scientist’s childhood (in Smiljan) and Tesla’s career (in Paris, New York, Chicago, and Niagara Falls), our heroes learn again about good and evil, whether enemies can be on the same side, and about the importance of forgiveness… Magical Sails: A Nikola Tesla Story is a book that opens the world of scientific inspiration to all generations.

Through this extraordinary story about Tesla, the reader witnesses the scientist’s triumph at the great World’s Fair in Chicago, discovers his laboratory in New York, stands at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 19th century, and fights the great waterfalls of Niagara.

The many colorful illustrations evoke these moments and make them real and unique.

By the close of this book, we are reminded how important childhood is in forming a future adult life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 28, 2024
• ISBN: 9798889105213

Maya C.S

Maya C.S (Maya Cvetković Sotirov) was born in Serbia (1980), where she finished the Lyceum (natural sciences and mathematics). She graduated and got her Master’s degree at the University of Philosophy in Niš, at the department for Serbian language and literature. She is a licensed professor of Serbian language and literature. During several years of work experience in high schools, she advocated for modern methods and an interdisciplinary methodical approach to teaching, which can also be seen in her books today. She is a member of the Association of Writers of Serbia. She writes and creates content for children. She has published several books: The French Adventure [Француска авантура] (2018, 2020), The Boy and the Fairy [Дечак и вила] (2020), The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Plant a Tree [Дечак који није желео да посади дрво] (2020); Snow White and the Snowflake-Heart [Снегурочка и срце од пахуље] (2020), The Girl who Met Pinocchio [Девојчица која је упознала Пинокија] (2021) and The Book with Glued Covers / The Book that Didn’t Want to Be Read [Књига слепљених корица / Књига која није желела да буде читана] (2019, 2021)59.The books The Boy and the Fairy and The French Adventure have received several awards. The French Adventure came to life during the time the author lived in France with her family, in the cities of Clermont-Ferrand and Troyes: the narrative on the spirit of research, the atmosphere of travels through history, science, and fairy magic is deepened in her new books as well. 59. E-book editions: Snow White and the Snowflake-Heart (2020), The Girl Who Met Pinocchio (2021), and The Book with Glued Covers / The Book That Didn’t Want to Be Read (2019, 2021).

Book preview

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Copyright © Maya C.S 2024

Illustrated by Vladimir Mancic

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

C.S, Maya

Magical Sails

ISBN 9798889105190 (Paperback)

ISBN 9798889105206 (Hardback)

ISBN 9798889105213 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023924640

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

To my son Luka, cousin Lana and to my family, to the creators of my never-ending inspiration.

Special thanks to my team:

Vladimir Mancic—illustrator

Jelena Vitezovic (translator)—Serbian-English translation of the book Magical Sails

Chris Prickett—the proofreading of the Serbian-English translation of the book

Institute for Children’s Literature (Belgrade, Serbia)—for professional support

Tesla Science Foundation USA—for recognition, Tesla Spirit Award 2022 for the best children book about Tesla.

Table of Contents

As a child, I believed that it was Tesla who invented the electric current…

Good Evening, Mister Tesla!

Grandpa’s Magical Ship

Viloid

Viloid, the Bore

Eiffel, Where Are We?

New York Trembles

Chicago and the Magic Light Fair

The Power of Niagara Falls

The Egg of Columbus in the Laboratory of Evil

In Grandma and Grandpa’s Red-Roofed House

Historical Guidelines to Help You on Your Way Through the Book

Research Spirit and Danger

Animals, Interesting Objects and the First Inventing Ideas

The Cat

Nikola Tesla’s Learning and Education

Work and Research Activities

The Current War

The World’s Fair—Expo

The Chicago Expo in 1893

The Egg of Columbus

The Eiffel Tower and the Paris World’s Fair in 1889

Mark Twain

Niagara Falls

Tesla’s Transformer

Note on the Author

Literature and Sources

I was fascinated by a description of Niagara Falls I had perused, and pictured in my imagination a big wheel run by the falls. I told my uncle that I would go to America and carry out this scheme. Thirty years later, I was able to see my ideas carried out at Niagara and marveled at the unfathomable mystery of the mind.*

Nikola Tesla

* Nikola Tesla, My inventions—Autobiographical notes (Belgrade: Nova skola, 2011), 61.

As a child, I believed that it was Tesla who invented the electric current…

How did Tesla invent the electric current? I asked my grandpa.

Tesla didn’t invent the electric current. He created the conditions for the current to reach even the most remote corners of the world, he answered, laughing, and put three illustrations on the table: a carriage, a fast train and an airplane.

Imagine you’re riding in a carriage. How many days would it take you to reach the next city? he asked.

I don’t know, two, perhaps.

And with a fast train? he continued.

The time it would take me to watch a cartoon.

What would you rather travel with: a carriage or a train?

A train. I laughed.

Why?

It is quicker and safer, if it’s raining or snowing outside. Excited, I listed all my reasons to use a train.

Well, you see, before Tesla, the current traveled by carriage, and then it boarded a train thanks to him.

I looked at him in awe.

Grandpa continued to explain.

And in order for the current to be able to travel with a fast train, the train needs a fast railroad and everything that sets it in motion.

Oh, I get it! The only thing I don’t understand is how the current managed to sit down on one of the seats.

My conclusion puzzled my grandpa, who then understood that his picturesque story about Tesla’s life and work should wait for a couple more years (especially the part he hadn’t told me about, the plane), until his five-year-old granddaughter (that would be me) grew up.

* * *

I will try to explain, in short, what Grandpa tried to depict with those illustrations. Before Tesla’s idea on the application of alternating current, the largest cities of Europe and the United States (at the beginning of the 20th century) used to use direct current. At that time, power transmission was very expensive and demanding. And then Tesla came along, with an elaborate alternating current system that could be delivered even to the most remote corners of the earth. And here we come to Grandpa’s illustrations: in his story, direct current was the carriage which used to transport passengers across the known roads of Europe and the USA, and alternating current was the fast train. But it was still not being used. It existed only as a concept, merely an idea on paper. Now, let us imagine a scientist who advocates for the replacement of the old transportation system with a new one: he wants to replace the known roads and the slow carriages with a fast railway, which is yet to be constructed. How much determination and knowledge was needed to replace the direct current system with the alternating current system? Once we grasp the sheer scope of that undertaking, we will understand who Tesla was.

We still have the illustration of the plane: how can we explain Tesla’s ideas with an aircraft? Easily! After the alternating current system was accepted in the highest scientific circles, Tesla began to consider a new transmission system which would become free and available to all. This exceptional system is like an airplane, because it doesn’t use the highway, and it isn’t connected to wires and rails. They say that the research that Tesla conducted at that time on the system of wireless energy transmission and transformers is the foundation of the world we live in today.

In order for us to be able to understand our reality and Tesla’s vision, the big steps he made,