W O R D S COMING SOON: Excerpts from The Vacuist, or, the Empty Vessel The Vacuist is a novel, set in Germany in the 1650s, which concerns the invention of the air pump by Otto von Guericke, and how the pump was brought to Würzburg by Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn, who loaned it to Father Gaspar Schott and the Jesuits of Würzburg University, so that they could attempt to prove whether or not it was possible to create a true vacuum. More specifically, the novel describes the life of a [fictional] student of Schott's, who believes that he could use the vacuum to gain infinite creative power. The novel consists of this student's confessions, written by him many years after the facts he relates. My "conceit" is that his confessions were translated into English in the early 18th Century and are now being published for the modern reader. In writing, I have attempted to emulate the form and style of DANIEL DEFOE. Completion is expected in a few years.