Abandoning the promising career before her, Ida runs off to join the circus. Although she feels more sure of herself in her new persona, she never really makes friends at her new job. When Duffy Holloway shows up poking around, Ida is reluctant and suspicious. She quickly finds herself caught up in trouble with Duffy and a rollercoaster adventure begins. Read More »

The setting of Terminal World is the far future of Earth, when the protections of the atmosphere have failed, and humanity builds a huge tower called Spearpoint that reaches towards the heavens. It was built so long ago, people speculate on its purpose. At the very top, in the Celestial Realms, live the angels. Read More »

Retribution Falls uses the archetype of a rag-tag group of lovable, rogue adventurers and takes the reader on a journey in more ways than one. I felt as though I was constantly reevaluating everything I encountered in this story as I read. I thought it was going to be a straightforward steampunk adventure, but Wooding challenges the reader in various ways.
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The crew of the Ketty Jay returns for more adventures in The Iron Jackal where their captain, Darian Frey will be forced to face his checkered past head on and a ruthless supernatural threat bent on killing him. Frey is hired by a thief and street rat named Ashua to steal an ancient and valuable artifact. After some twists and turns and lots of things blowing up, Frey contracts a curse from the object, an ancient sword. He is told that he will die horribly when the Iron Jackal comes for him if he doesn’t take the object back where it belongs. Read More »

In Dawn’s Early Light, Eliza and Wellington are on their way to the Americas, where they will meet up with agents from the Office of the Supernatural and Metaphysical. Along the way, they cannot seem to stay out of trouble. When they liaison with their counterparts, they think they are on a simple mission to explore shipwrecks along the coast of the Carolinas, but what they find is much more involved. The participation of a secret organization, an egotistical inventor, and several assassins keep this intrepid duo hopping. Read More »

Lady Verity Hart has quite the reputation, but it is not the one her father was hoping for. Her penchant for tinkering and what is deemed to be unladylike behavior, has her father, Earl of Carlisle, threatening to lock her away in an asylum. Although her inventions have brought fame and great fortune to her family, and are life-changing for others, her father’s wrath forces her to let her brother take credit for her creations. Read More »

Nickie Nick is reeling from a tragic loss. It is the worst pain she has ever felt in her seventeen years, and it has put her out of commission for a month. Her street friends stop by to check on her, but she just cannot get out of bed. Her governess, Fanny, is about at wit’s end. She finally threatens to tell Nickie’s parents that she roams the streets at night fighting vampires if Nickie will not get up and start to live again. Fanny’s own story of past loss helps Nickie realize her life is not over and she agrees to visit her friends. Read More »

O. M. Grey’s The Zombies of Mesmer,

Nicole Knickerbocker Hawthorn or Nickie Nick, barely makes it home on time for her Debutante ball. She’s been out with the homeless children who she considers her friends. They have nobody else to care for them so she takes it upon herself to see they are fed and warm. This would cause quite the scandal if society found out. The only one who knows is Nickie’s governess Fanny. Fanny is the one who got her the boy’s clothes that she hides behind when she goes out. Read More »

Arthur Tudor was once a king of England. Being a vampire for a few hundred years has made him a jaded individual, always looking for a way to rekindle the love he once had with Catherine but never finding it. He thought of women as things to be used and abused. Victorian England also sets the pace on how women are treated. Read More »

Maia is an 18 year old half-Elf, half-Goblin prince, although anyone would be hard-pressed to say that he lives a princely life. To cement a political alliance, his Goblin mother had been married to an Elven Emperor and it was a marriage unwanted and unwelcomed by both. When the Emperor learned his wife was pregnant, both mother and child were exiled to a far-away estate, where they lived in more squalor than plenty. As he was the fourth son, there was no hope of succession, so a Read More »

There is a special place in my heart for children’s books-they are so often the beginning of a life-long love affair with the written word and I gladly say that Professor Whiskerton Presents Steampunk ABC has a place on my bookshelf.

Lisa Falkenstern takes the little details from an exciting genre and lovingly crafts an adorable tale of two industrious mice and their endeavor to create something amazing from everyday household items. Read More »

**Though no spoilers of events that happen in this section of the serial novel will be given in this review, please be aware that references will be made to previous sections.**

The Kraken King and the Greatest Adventure, the exciting conclusion to the entertaining serial novel, begins with Zenobia at Ariq’s bedside, waiting for him to wake up during his recuperation from the two arrows he had been shot with while protecting her during their escape for the Empress’s guards. In her very-welcome conversation with her brother, Archimedes, Zenobi confirms her love for Ariq right before he awakens. Read More »

The superb The Kraken King and the Empress’s Eyes, part seven of the serial novel, begins with Zenobia’s longer-than-usual letter to her brother, describing the sights she witnessed upon her entry into the Living City and her feelings and fears in regards to Ariq. Unlike her letter, Zenobia finds herself displeased with her current story, and in a bit of a bad mood because of it. While discussing future plans with Mara, an airship arrives, bringing Lady Nagomachi, captain of the empress’s Imperial Guard, there to “replace” a few of the Empress’s Eyes (her spying machines). Read More »

**Though no spoilers of events that happen in this section of the serial novel will be given in this review, please be aware that references will be made to previous sections.**

In part six of the Kraken King serial novel, Zenobia and Ariq make their way to the Red City so Ariq may petition the Empress to resist attacking his country, and to prevent further escalation of war. In order to enter the city from outside, visitors must wear the required gas masks to ensure that if they have been infected with the zombie disease they will not spread it to those who live within the city. Read More »

**Though no spoilers of events that happen in this section of the serial novel will be given in this review, please be aware that references will be made to previous sections.**

With Zenobia and Ariq separated in the plan to get Ariq to give up the location of the devastating Skybreaker machine, both do their best to escape their respective situations. Ariq determines he must get back to Zenobia, whom he refers to as his wife, but she worries that since she was moved from an airship to an iron ship (a boat), Ariq will have no idea where to look for her. Read More »

**Though no spoilers of events that happen in this section of the serial novel will be given in this review, please be aware that references will be made to previous sections.**

Part four of the serial novel begins with Zenobia and Ariq having come to more of an understanding of one another on their way to deliver Helene, Zenobia’s friend, to her husband, an ambassador. Zenobia marvels at the wonders of the Red City and its surroundings as the airship makes its approach. Read More »

**Though no spoilers of events that happen in this section of the serial novel will be given in this review, please be aware that references will be made to previous sections.**

After their arrival in the town of the smuggler’s den that will serve as their base while Ariq and his men search the surrounding area for clues about the marauders, Ariq pays a visit to the Twins, a very unusual pair of siblings whose description will be best appreciated when read personally rather than mentioned here. Read More »

**Though no spoilers of events that happen in this section of the serial novel will be given in this review, please be aware that references will be made to previous sections.**

Still smarting over the comments Mara told her she overheard between Ariq and his brother, Taka, in part two of the Kraken King, Zenobia continues to give Ariq a bit of a cold shoulder. Unfortunately, since the pregnant Helene really wishes to get to her husband in the Red City as quickly as possible, Zenobia decides to approach Ariq to see what other arrangements can be made to get the two women to the other side of Australia sooner rather than later. Read More »

Zenobia Fox (an assumed name to conceal her identities as both an author and an heiress who seems to get kidnapped frequently), sets out on a trip with her longtime, friend, Helene, now married to an ambassador. Viewing the journey as an adventure she can use as fodder for her next Lady Lynx story, Zenobia feels secure on the airship, especially given the presence of her bodyguards-in-disguise, Mara and Cooper. Read More »

Evelyn Stone walked out on Gavin MacRae three years ago in an attempt to protect her heart from his hero complex. However, when he “kidnaps” her in order to help an injured woman upon his ship, Evie has a tough time putting aside all of her feelings for him. But she will do what she has to in order to save her patient. Mac reveals that the patient is his wife, but someone does not want the secrets that she carries revealed. Mac and Evie work together in order to find out who the spy is. As they work together, some of the old flame rekindles and they must decide whether to explore it or walk away again. Read More »