free steampunk

If you’re into short stories and have Kindle Unlimited, I made all of these free:

Women of Zalanthas are all stories based in the game I used to write for, Armageddon MUD. The game’s still going strong, and you can find it here.

Aquila’s Ring: Aquila Nenyuk finds herself thrust into a world of scheming nobles and political power struggles. When she falls in love with Marius Tor, will he bring her happiness or heartbreak? Originally published in Shadows & Light II.

Karaluvian Fale: Impoverished noble Karaluvian Fale struggles to keep up appearances in the face of Allanaki society, which is all too ready to condemn her. When she has a chance to shape a city-wide festival, will she be able to turn the tables on the families that have mocked the Fales for so long?

Mirabai the Twice-lived: Mirabai is appointed the spiritual leader of her people, despite her extreme youth. She leads them through the decades only to be presented with an unexpected second chance in her later years.

I’ve also made the following available:

Tabat stories include:

• Narrative of a Beast’s Life: Taken from his home village, the centaur Fino is enslaved and shipped to a new land, where he must learn to cope with the trainer determined to break him. This short story originally appeared in Realms of Fantasy.
• Events at Fort Plentitude: An exiled soldier tries to wait out a winter in a fort beleaguered by fox-spirits and winter demons. Originally appeared in Weird Tales under editor Ann VanderMeer.
• How Dogs Came to the New Continent is a short story pulled from the events of the novel Hearts of Tabat, told in the form of a meandering historical paper that teases out more behind the oppression of Beasts and their emerging political struggle.

Her Windowed Eyes, Her Chambered Heart is steampunk horror based on an episode of the old Wild Wild West TV series. Pinkerton agents Artemus West and Elspeth Sorehs have been chasing their prey across the country. When they finally catch up with him near the outskirts of the Cascades, though, they realize he’s gone to ground in a mysterious house that once belonged to his mother, a famous inventor. What secrets hidden in the house will they discover””and how will the house protect its returned son?

Grandmother is space opera with an older female protagonist. Space pirate Phoenix, now retired, finds herself facing an unlikely opponent. Will she and her lover Gareth be able to survive the deadly scheme set up to destroy them and the planet Phoenix rules?

Elsewhere, Within, Elsewhen: On a distant planet, David struggles to overcome his husband’s betrayal, only to encounter an unlikely sympathizer in the form of one of the planet’s native inhabitants. But are its intentions truly benign?

Like these and want me to make other stories available? Review these or drop me a line in the comments!

This is the short story that I read from at Norwescon this year; many thank yous to the people who turned out to listen on the last day of the con when many of us were tired and hungover and ready to go home and gorge on Easter candy.

This is part of the Altered America steampunk series, even though it takes place on the European continent. If you’re curious about the others in the series they fall in this chronological order:

Clockwork Fairies
Laurel Finch, Laurel Finch, Where Do You Wander?
Her Windowed Eyes, Her Chambered Heart
Snakes on a Train
Rappacini’s Crow
Rare Pears and Greengages (contained in Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight)

There will be more; I’m finishing up another Artemus and Elspeth story, this time set in Matamoros, Mexico, which should go up next month. I’m also collecting these in an ebook that will go out free to Patreon subscribers within the next two months.

As always, I’m releasing this for free due to the support of my Patreon followers; please check out Patreon if you want to help fund creators doing what they (and you) love best.

So here you are:

Web of Blood and Iron

The Hotel Gevaudan put manservants and maids up in their own rooms, one attic below the hotel staff: housekeepers, valets, clerks, kitchen help. The manager lived on-site as well, his family taking up half the floor below that. I’d heard his children more than once playing blind man’s bluff and squeak piggy squeak in the back stairwells.

I wouldn’t have minded a room to myself, but instead I had a cot in his Lordship’s suite, down on the third floor. I was lying there enjoying the Cannes sounds of birds and street bustle and funeral rumble of the trains and reading when I heard the door fumbled open and Lord Albert lurch in.

Alive for another day.