Dr. Prometheus' Steampunk Symphonies (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798350765472)

Welcome, dear readers. I, Nigel Prometheus, esteemed Doctor of Arts both physical and metaphysical, invite you to find a comfortable spot on your Chesterfield and crack open the leaves of this volume. But be wary of the uncanny, as you're paging through. If you should perchance catch a tune floating on the air, as you wade through the words, it is likely just me, standing nearby, turning the handle of my gramophone. Indeed, it could be that. Or, alternatively, it could be that the stories herein have music all their own. Do you like music, dear readers? I confess I do, and that is why I have assembled this, my symphony of stories. Five movements in all, each one as marvelous and musical as the last.

"Dark Aether" by D.L. White

A demolition crew and their steampowered automatons must tread carefully as they tear down an old abandoned house, since it sits on top of a very precious, powerful, and perhaps sinister, energy substance called dark aether. Told partially in diary entries, in the tradition of Victorian epistolary novels, read along with one of the workers, as he discovers there is more to fear in this house than just unstable aether.

"Mr. Beatty's New and Novel Parlor Organ" by Debra Robic

In 1882, when young Victoria plays her first hesitant notes on Mr. Beatty's marvelous parlor organ, she awakens an abiding enchantment. Over seven decades, tended by a timeless technician in a bowler hat, the instrument weaves a magic thread that connects all who encounter it. A luminous tale for every reader who has ever believed that hope can be passed down like an heirloom-and that music may heal the world, one heart at a time.

"The War Within the World" by James Kenneth Rogers

In this gripping continuation of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, a Russian exile named Volodya stalks the fog-choked streets of post-invasion London and discovers that the fallen Martian invaders left behind something far more powerful than their invincible killing machines. Driven by revolutionary obsession and a hunger for power that transcends politics, he will stop at nothing to unlock what the Martians truly were-and what they left behind.

"Mr. Brosseav's Funeral" by Chad Olson

An airship ride billed as the final send off for famous inventor, Zenophile Brosseav, takes a wild turn, when the dead inventor himself sabotages the flight and sets it on course for destruction. Racing against time, the four people in cabin 49, all with a secret connection to the deceased, must band together to save themselves and the rest of the passengers aboard before Mr. Brosseav's funeral becomes their own.

"Crater of Imperfection" by Eric Nilles

In a world where vanity is king and blemish-free bodies are the law of the land, a simple man who's been torn away from the woman he loves and sentenced to a life of internment teams up with a band of innovative outcasts searching for a path to re-enter society. He soon discovers their risky plan could cause him to lose his very soul. Will Richard Verily ever make it back to his beloved Margaret and the life he once knew?