Fiendish Schemes by K W Jeter
K.W. Jeter is the man who coined the term Steampunk and wrote a couple of the first steam genre books with Morlock Night the sequel to The Time Machine and Infernal Devices which introduced the hapless hero George Dower, bumbling son of a brilliant inventor. Jeter pulls a lot of his style from the fiction of the Victorian era and mixes a dry black humorous tone into the bleak and downtrodden reluctant life of poor George who again is pulled into events beyond his ken. K.W. Back in the day wrote some of the more edgy and experimental of the Cyberpunk and SF genre and its so great to see his work back out there. Morlock Night and Infernal Devices are both available from Angry Robot Books and hold up fictionally not steeped in nineties media references.
Here is a link to an excerpt from Tor.com and the synopsis from publishers weekley...
Hapless hero George Dower is swept up in plots and schemes beyond his ken in this rollicking sequel to the steampunk classic Infernal Devices. Broke and living in an isolated rural village, George has done his best to avoid the world that has been transformed by his father’s incredible inventions. Unfortunately, the world hasn’t forgotten about him. Hamuel Stonebrake, senior vicar in a church dedicated to spreading Christianity to whales, wants George to help him find the Vox Universalis, a legendary universal translator machine built by George’s dad. Soon George is caught between Prime Minister Agatha “Iron Lady” Fletcher, who is “more steam engine than woman,” and a ruthless cabal of wealthy London steam barons, “ferric sex” entrepreneurs, and stock speculators. Jeter’s vision of a Victorian world transformed by steam power is fascinating and funny, populated by ambulatory lighthouses, grain-disdaining meatpunks, anarchist coalpunks, and depraved “fex” addicts obsessed with “valve girls.” He thoroughly entertains readers with brilliant speculation and a charmingly reluctant hero. (Oct.)
The Osiris Curse by Paul Crilley
Jumping from Mr Jeter to one of the current steampunk writers makes a good bit of thematic sense. The Adventures of Tweed and Nightingale are for me a bit of a YA version of my favorite current steampunk series starring Burton and Swinburne that lose little in being reworked for a younger but no less sophisticated audience.
Here is the synopsis from Pry books...
When Nikola Tesla is murdered and blueprints for his super weapons are stolen, Tweed and Nightingale are drawn into a global cat and mouse chase with his killers. What's more, it seems that the people who shot Nikola Tesla are the same people responsible for Octavia's mother's disappearance. As the two cases intertwine, Tweed and Nightingale's investigations lead them to a murdered archeologist and a secret society called The Hermetic Order of Osiris. Fleeing the cult's wrath, they go undercover on the luxury airship, The Albion, setting out on her maiden voyage to Tutankhamen's View, a five star hotel built in the hollowed-out and refurbished Great Pyramid of Giza.
In Egypt, the duo begin to unravel the terrible truth behind Tesla's death, a secret so earth-shattering that if revealed it would mean rewriting the entire history of the world. But if the cult's plans aren't stopped, Britain may lose the future.
The N Body Problem by Tony Burgess
Tony Burgess has a history for writing distinctly different zombie novels and this one seems to continue the trend. The premise here us that to keep the living safe from the zombie threat the undead are exiled into space... its a cracked concept but the novel synopsis sounds just too great and creepy that I have to give this a try.... and I do so love the ChiZine editors choices of what to publish...
In the end, the zombie apocalypse was nothing more than a waste disposal problem. Burn them in giant ovens? Bad optics. Bury them in landfill sites? The first attempt created acres of twitching, roiling mud. The acceptable answer is to jettison the millions of immortal automatons into orbit. Soon Earth’s near space is a mesh of bodies interfering with the sunlight and having an effect on our minds that we never saw coming. aggressive hypochondria, rampant depressive disorders, irresistible suicidal thought—resulting in teenage suicide cults, who want nothing more than to orbit the Earth as living dead. Life on Earth has slowly become not worth living. and death is no longer an escape.
Here too is a link to the publishers website...
Wonderbook edited and written by Jeff Vandermeer
Jeff Vandermeer is a champion for Weird fiction both writing it and promoting it along with teaching fiction writing to teens and kids and inspiring modern writers to explore the outer reaches of their imagination. This is a book I knew I have to have; it is a collection of thoughts interviews essays and articles on the craft of writing from many of the writers I love these days. This book includes writing prompts, inspiration artwork, and everything except the bit where you put your but in the chair and do the work... that is all on you but this seems just the kind of thing that may put me on the path to actually writing again.
Here is a link to an excerpt from Tor .com
(I ordered one of these and it actually showed up early so I do have it in my greedy hands already and it is a pretty gorgeous thing....
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