Everything came together ahead of schedule and like clockwork for Yuletide Miracle, so I decided to release it on Kindle a few weeks earlier than anticipated. It's available for free until May 1st, so grab it in the next few days.
It's had a rather strange road to publication, but then my best stories often do. I wrote it for Carina Press's Christmas steampunk anthology back in early 2011, knowing it probably wouldn't have much of a chance without romance. To my surprise, the Carina team loved it, and while it didn't fit the anthology itself, they signed it for solo publication.
I hadn't planned on including it as part of The Steam Clock Legacy series--it's set in that universe, but it arguably works better as a standalone tale. So when my editor suggested I find a place for it in the series, I knew I'd have to write a couple more books first (you'll realise why when you read it). Unfortunately, Carina decided to discontinue the series in order to focus on my regular science fiction instead, which left Yuletide Miracle homeless.
Rather than seek out another publisher half way through the series, I chose to retain complete control, to make sure the subsequent books reached my readers exactly the way I intended. And here it is, after a two-year delay, with all its Victorian holiday magic intact, for your enjoyment:
http://amzn.to/ZImUOr
By day, London's Steam Emporium is a bustling Christmas market, an all-ages toyshop full of technological marvels. By night, its volunteers assemble--a ragtag community of wounded servicemen and women--under the tallest Christmas tree in Europe. They are the empire's forgotten heroes, fallen on hard times.
But this year they have an exciting addition: old Red Mulqueen, newly arrived from abroad, has fighting spirit and the most extraordinary clockwork leg. He is here on a mysterious mission, and is wanted by the Leviacrum, Britain's tyrannical authority.
Red's plans take a turn, however, when he saves the life of a troubled young schoolboy, Edmond Reardon, and becomes the object of the lad's incorrigible curiosity. They strike up an unexpected friendship. But when danger descends on the emporium, Red, Edmond and their veteran friends must band together to fight for what matters most during Christmas--each other.
A Steam Clock Legacy novella.
27,000 words
Read the first chapter here!
Buy your copy on Kindle here!
