Monday, September 1st, sees the publication of my fifth Steampunk adventure. Once again, it’s set in Norlandia, the fictional world I created for The Rocks of Aserol, way back in 2015.
As befits the genre, the stories have a Victorian but technological feel, with the absence of oil and electricity, the resourceful Norlandian people have found different ways to achieve the same level of society.
“The attitudes of the Victorian age show in the character’s behaviour, which grounds the otherworldliness and provides a sort of familiarity.“
At least, that’s what I’ve been told by readers of my other Steampunk novels. However you want to look at it, the reader is definitely not in Kansas anymore.
This story starts in Aserol, a town in the south of the country and takes the reader on a headlong rush northwards as it progresses.
It concerns Silas, a Watchman and the investigation of a crime. It quickly turns into so much more, as evidence of a plot to overthrow the government is uncovered.
If the curtains had only been drawn. Then none of this would have happened.
And Norlandia would be a quite different place.
When Daniel, the lamplighter, falls from his ladder, an unexpected chain of events is set in motion.
Daniel has witnessed a terrible crime through the uncurtained window. As investigations proceed, it becomes more than a simple matter of discovering who was responsible.
The very security and stability of the land are at stake.
For Silas, a Watchman in Aserol, a whole new world is revealed to him. Almost before he knows it, his life is in danger, and he is thrown headlong into a desperate race against time.
Joining a shadowy organisation dedicated to fighting those who would stop at nothing to achieve their evil ends, Silas and his newfound friends follow the evidence across a land driven by machines of steam and clockwork.
Click the picture for the Amazon sales page.
The great thing about having a ready-made world is that the geography and a lot of the technology can be used across any number of different story arcs. All that’s needed is to fit things into a coherent timeline and account for the way things change and develop.
New technology should be introduced and old ideas updated wherever possible; it’s important to make your world dynamic and realistic.
At the moment, I have novels set in two distinct periods of the country’s history.
The Horis Strongman years, as featured in The Rocks of Aserol and its sequel, A New Life in Ventis. There will be a third part of this series. At the moment, it’s called A Land of Their Own.
Then there are the Orphan Detectives books. The Sensaurum and the Lexis and The Safety of the Realm. They are set in a later time, when Horis and his exploits are recent history. Technology is further advanced, some of the things that were new in Horis’s world are now commonplace and more polished.
Murder Most Foul takes place in a time between these periods. There are some of the characters from the Orphan Detectives, but the focus is on meeting new ones, who may go on to feature in future stories.
Talking of which, as I was finishing this story, I could see that there would have to be a sequel. The good news is that I’ve already started making some notes about where it might lead.
If you want to know more, about anything to do with my writing, just drop me a comment. Until next time,
Happy reading.
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