It's been a while since I posted something for Steampunk Thursday. The reason for today's post is because yesterday I discovered that my first Pax Britannia novel, Unnatural History*, is published in Hungary this week by Chameleon Comix!
The title of the Hungarian edition translates at The Galapagos Formula, which sounds intriguing.
* Unnatural History currently has 299 reviews on Amazon, with a 3.9 average.
Anyone who has read my work for a while, particularly my gamebooks, will know that I have a bit of a thing for cephalopods.
I have always been fascinated by these highly intelligent, boneless mollusks, starting with legends of giant squid. In fact, I even have a print of a giant cephalopod on my wall. I based this image from my map of Neverland on the self-same print.
I should warn you that there are minor spoilers ahead...
There is a Giant Octopus in Bloodbones, the Abyssal Horror in Stormslayer shares some features with a giant cephalopod, there's the Terrorsquid in NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, and a Kraken in Beowulf Beastslayer.
One of my books - Doctor Who: Night of the Kraken - even has a cephalopod in the title. And there are squid or octopus-like creatures in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire, and RONIN 47. And that's just the gamebooks.
Something very much like a giant squid gets a fair bit of screen time in the second Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia novel Leviathan Rising, and there is a fantastic illustration of a Kraken in Heorot - Roleplaying in the World of Beowulf Beastslayer.
Will there be octopuses and giant squid in future books? Undoubtedly!
Unbelievably, my very first published novel, the Warhammer short story collection The Dead and the Damned, is 20 years old today! What's more, it is still available to buy from the Black Library as an eBook.
The Warhammer universe explodes with adventure and sudden violence as Badenov's Band, rogues and brigands all, take on all comers as they roam the Old World. Led by their raven-haired commander Torben Badenov, whose lust for glory is only surpassed by his ferocity in battle, the motley gang roams the wretched towns and haunted forests fighting until every last unholy creature they encounter joins the dead or the damned.
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NewCon Press are having a sale, which means you can get hold of a signed hardback copy of the Steampunk International anthology, for less than the price of the paperback!
My own contribtuion to Steampunk International was a new Ulysses Quicksilver short story, entitled Reckless Engineering, which remains the last Pax Britannia story published to date.
Following a break-in at the top secret Whitehall facility known as 'Think Tank', agent of the crown Ulysses Quicksilver and his trusty manservant Nimrod set off in pursuit of the perpetrator. It is a chase that will take them from the railway sheds of London to the dockyards of Bristol, and an encounter with a long-dead engineering genius.
Happy International Steampunk Day!
Having been a part of the UK Steampunk scene for several years, from the late Noughties to the mid 2010s, I have not produced as much Steampunk fiction in recent years.
That said, both Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! have some Steampunk trappings, while The Wicked Wizard of Oz features elements of the genre's slightly younger cousin Dieselpunk.
You can still read my Pax Britannia series, courtesy of Abaddon Books, and the first novel, Unnatural History, is only 99p on Kindle at present.
In other news, I can't believe I missed World Dracula Day on 26th May! Bizarrely, I was utterly absorbed finishing a new supplement for 'TWAS the RPG on that day. But have no fear, I will be ready for it next year! After all, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire will be out by then.
Speaking of which, here's a never-before-seen piece of art from the adventure, by the gamebook's illustrator, Hauke Kock.
Rewind several decades, to the time of the Second Great War, to Darmstadt. The Nazis are battling the steampunk empire of Magna Britannia, cooking up necrotic super-soldiers in the gothic towers of Castle Frankenstein.
In the forests outside the castle, other forces are gathering. Ulysses’ father is there, proving that dashing good looks and a talent for swashbuckling adventures run in the family, and wondering why his British masters have partnered him with weakling scientist Dr. Jekyll. The ladies of the Monstrous Regiment are also there to help, but there may be other gothic monsters in the hills...
“Jonathan Green gets mileage out of his monsters, with big action set-pieces that read like things we’d like to see in a rip-roaring summer movie.” - SFX Magazine
I had a lot of fun, riffing off the works of Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Stan Lee et al, and I think that comes through in the novel, which is the longest** Ulysses Quicksilver adventure in terms of page count.
If you've yet to read it yourself, the good news is that Anno Frankenstein is is in Rebellion Publishing's January ‘Time Travel’ eBook sale. The eBook is available worldwide, until the end of the month, for only 99p! However, please not that this discounted price is only valid on the Rebellion Publishing webshop.
So what are you waiting for? Why not download it today?
* Yes, you read that right. Ten. Years.
** If I'm remembering that rightly. If not, it's probably Human Nature.
Twelve years ago I wrote a festive-themed Ulysses Quicksilver short story, which was published with my third Pax Britannia novel Human Nature.
Christmas Past, as the story was called, featured a murder mystery set in Oxford, or at least the Pax Britannia universe version of the City of Dreaming Spires.
You can still read Christmas Past, as it appears in the Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus Vol. 1, which is still on sale from Amazon.
