steampunk – Kristen Brand

Where are my steampunk books?

My apologies if you’ve clicked the link to buy The Ghost Machine or Clockmaker recently and found that the books have vanished from Amazon. They’re unavailable at the moment–but don’t worry, they’re not gone for good.

They’ve been picked up by a publishing company and are getting ready to be republished–yay!! I’m thrilled that they’re getting a second chance and a bigger opportunity to reach new readers. As they move closer their re-release dates, you’ll hear the news here first, and if you’re waiting to buy them, thank you in advance for your patience!

Favorite Book Quote Art

I’ve posted before about how I love making book aesthetics, but if you follow me on Twitter, you know I’ve also got a thing for throwing together images with quotes from my novels. #BookQW (Book Quote Wednesday) is my favorite hashtag. Authors posts quotes from their books based on a weekly prompt, and it’s cool to see snippets from novels and novellas of all different genres.

I’ve been doing it for a while now and have made dozens of images, some of them better than others. Here’s a roundup of my personal favorites. Continue reading Favorite Book Quote Art

Clockwork Fairies

by Cat Rambo

This is one of the greatest examples of an unsympathetic narrator that I’ve ever come across. Really, though, the story isn’t about him but his fiancé. I would gladly read an entire series starring her, but this story is complete and lovely. Try it if you like a little magic in your steampunk, or if you enjoy stories about brilliant ladies dumping dudes who aren’t good enough for them. Continue reading More Spectacular Steampunk Short Stories

Creating a Book Cover: The Ghost Machine

A good cover alone doesn’t make a good book.

I’d wager there are plenty of books out there with gorgeous covers that were quickly forgotten because the story inside didn’t live up to the captivating image on the front. But on the flip side, amazing stories go overlooked everyday because the cover is ugly or bland.

A cover has a critical job: to get readers to pick up the book.

As an indie author, I have complete control over my covers. This is great, because I won’t end up in one of those situations where the publisher chooses an inaccurate or just plain bad cover, and the author can’t do anything about it. This is also terrible, because I’m a writer, not a designer or marketer, and I don’t always know what type of cover will sell best. And I pay for the cover up front, so if the book doesn’t sell, I don’t get that money back.

What I’m trying to say is this: trying to figure out the best cover for your book can be… stressful. Continue reading Creating a Book Cover: The Ghost Machine

Book Review: Cold Stone & Ivy

You know that feeling when you finish reading a certain book? When you just have to tell everybody how awesome and amazing it was? You’re a reader, so you know what I mean

I finished Cold Stone & Ivy: The Ghost Club by H. Leighton Dickson a little while ago. I was in a bit of a reading slump beforehand, and boy, did this novel shake me out of it. Take a look:

Book Description

Jack the Ripper gave her his heart. Now he wants it back.

The year is 1888, the clockwork British Empire is crumbling and young writer Ivy Savage has literally received a heart in the post. Terrified, her father sends her north to a strange sanitarium in Lancashire where the brilliant but unpredictable “Mad Lord of Lasingstoke” makes his home. Continue reading Book Review: Cold Stone & Ivy

Spectacular Steampunk Short Stories

Interested in traveling back in time and across dimensions? Good, because I’ve got a collection of steampunk short fiction to transport you to other worlds. The steam and clockwork-powered robots in these stories range from evil to enchanting, from sentient beings to human-piloted machines of mass destruction. The one thing they all have in common is being highly entertaining.

The Mark V Eleganté by Nelson Stanley

The Mark V Eleganté is a fantastic audio short over at Gallery of Curiosities. It’s set around an insanely dangerous race of massive steampunk contraptions where the only rule is that anything goes, and stuff gets smashed up worse than when the Hulk comes to town. The main character has a memorable voice, and the narrator fits him so perfectly that I can’t imagine anyone else reading it. The story manages to be both super fun and really tragic at the same time, and you should definitely give it a listen.

If you like podcasts and steampunk in general, Gallery of Curiosities is a delightful little corner of the internet, and you won’t regret checking out the other stories they’ve published. Continue reading Spectacular Steampunk Short Stories

Tag: steampunk