Shovel the coal and stoke the boilers as nine steam punk authors
explore islands of mystery and adventure across the seven seas.
The Clockwork Seer by Katherine Cowley: On an island of oddities, a young clairvoyant
struggles for normalcy, but deadly automatons have other plans.
Sindisiwe by Scott E. Tarbet: A slave girl in Zanzibar escapes a beating when
a stranger in the marketplace proves her past is more than just a fairy tale.
Stand and Deliver by TC Phillips: Neither shackles, slave labor, nor the island’s
deadliest inhabitants will prevent these brothers from meting out justice to
their father’s murderers.
Island Walker by C. R. Simper: Kit digs her treasures out of trash heaps, but the
theft of her invention leads to discoveries money can’t buy.
A Mind Prone to Wander by Danielle E. Shipley: Beyond a locked door lies Rowan Charles’
death or his sanity, and the survival or extinction of his people.
Curio Cay by Sarah E. Seeley: The future of humanity rests in the hands of
three time-traveling scientists battling biomechanical creatures in the
Jurassic past.
The Mysterious Island of
Chester Morrison by Kin Law: Dodging her chaperone,
a debutante stumbles into adventure and romance at the World’s Fair.
Revolutionary by John M. Olsen: A dirigible captain goes down with his ship, and
wakes to find himself a captive of a sky-dwelling civilization.
The Steel Inside by Gail B. Williams: Darkness lurks in Sarah’s forgotten past, kept
hidden by those who claim to be her devoted husband and loyal servants.
Purchace your copy here:
Amazon Kindle USA:
http://www.amazon.com/Steel-Bone-Nine-Steampunk-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00YQRAIIC
Amazon Kindle UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steel-Bone-Nine-Steampunk-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00YQRAIIC
Katherine Cowley
Katherine Cowley wrote her first story at the age of five, a
retelling of the Icarus myth titled “The Turtle That Got Too Close to the Sun.” She
has worked as a documentary film producer, a radio producer, and a college
professor. She now devotes herself to writing steampunk, fantasy, and science
fiction. Cowley’s short stories and essays have been published and won awards
in the Locutorium, the BYU Studies
Personal Essay Contest, the Meeting of the Myths, Four Centuries of Mormon
Stories, and the Mormon Lit Blitz. You can also read her stories online at katherinecowley.com.
Katherine loves European chocolate, the history of science, and
steampunk fashion. She has lived in the United States, Brazil, and Finland, and
currently resides in Arizona with her husband and two daughters.
Scott E. Tarbet
Scott E. Tarbet writes what fires his imagination: the broad
umbrella of speculative fiction. He is especially intrigued by how human beings
react to and interact with science, technology, and other magics.
Educator, chef, professional opera singer, and Steampunk craftsman,
with a long list of short stories and other works to his credit, he makes his
home in the splendor of the Utah mountains with his wife and best friend,
Jewels.
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TC Phillips
TC Phillips hails from tropical central Queensland in Australia,
where he currently lives with his loving wife, three young children, a spoilt
cat, and an overactive imagination. An avid reader from a young age, he has
held a long-standing attraction for the written word and is excited to make his
own contributions to the vibrant and ever shifting world of storytelling.
Holding degrees in both Theatre Studies and Education, he is also currently
completing his Master of Arts (writing) through Swinburne University of
Technology.
C. R. Simper
C. R. Simper is an Arizona native who graduated from Arizona State
University with a degree in Purchasing and Logistics Management. She married
another Arizona native in 1991 and is now the stay-at-home mom of three
daughters and one son.
Simper has written in multiple genres over the past three decades.
She has found that writing maintains a sense of order in her life. Her first
published story, “The Journey of Inspector Roux” appeared in Terra Mechanica: a
Steampunk Anthology (2014), another Xchyler publication.
Danielle E.
Shipley
Danielle E. Shipley's first novelettes told the everyday
misadventures of wacky kids like herself. Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to
them all, half of her characters were actually closeted elves, dwarves,
fairies, or some combination thereof. When it all came to light, Danielle did
the sensible thing: packed up and moved to Fantasy Land, where daily rent is
the low, low price of her heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, firstborn child,
sanity, and words; lots of them.
Shipley has also been known to spend short bursts of time in the
real-life Chicago area with the parents who home-schooled her and the two
little sisters who keep her humble. When she's not living the highs and lows of
writing, publishing, and all that authorial jazz, she's probably blogging about
it at EverOnWord.wordpress.com.
This is her third appearance in a Xchyler anthology, following the
paranormal "Two Spoons" in Legends
and Lore, and "Reality As We Know It" in fantasy collection The Toll of Another Bell. Other
publications include Inspired (a
novel), and a series of fairy-tale retelling mash-ups, The Wilderhark Tales.
Sarah E. Seeley
Through two wonderful mentored research experiences, Sarah E. Seeley
had the opportunity to work with dead sauropods and ancient odonates while
acquiring her undergraduate degree in geology from Brigham Young University.
She hopes to study more dead things in the future and contribute to scientific
discussions about what makes life on Earth so amazing. In the meantime, she
explores the bright side of being human by writing dark fiction.
Seeley's independently published works include Maladaptive Bind and Blood
Oath: An Orc Love Story. Sarah's short story "Peradventure"
appears in Xchyler Publishing's Legends
and Lore: An Anthology of Mythic Proportions. Another short story,
"Driveless," appears in Leading
Edge Magazine Issue #66. You can learn more about Sarah on her writing blog
at www.SlithersOfThought.com
Kin Law
Living in the bustle of NYC, Kin is constantly reminded he is a
child of two worlds. Originally from Hong Kong, he's traveled both
geographically and socially, working in many professions including movie
projection and line cooking. He has degrees in Media and Culinary Arts, and a
great love of Philosophy. As for fiction, his favorite authors are Douglas
Adams, Hemmingway, and Chuck Pahlaniuk.
Today, Kin is a culinary copywriter, intent on furthering his
novelist career. He loves his fiancée, his cat Zoe, Scotch, bacon and coffee.
Addressing himself in the third person makes him chuckle.
John M. Olsen
John M. Olsen has been creating things his whole life through a
mixture of technical and creative processes, whether building family, stories,
art, software, woodworking or anything else. He has dreams of becoming a
Renaissance man and loves to learn new things to add to his store of randomly
accessible information (otherwise known as irrelevant trivia). Writing is one
of his loves, inspired by having read most of his father’s extensive fantasy
and science fiction collection in his teen years.
He builds high-end simulation software, and has contributed chapters
to several books on computer graphics and game design, as well as publishing
fiction in multiple genres.
He lives in Utah with his wife and five children, some of whom are
old enough to have moved out and back in. Together they have also raised three
nieces and a nephew, and are minions of their benevolent cat overlord.
Gail B. Williams
Gail Williams lives in her own private dungeon populated with all
the weird and the wonderful she can imagine. Some of it’s very weird, and the
odd bits and pieces are a bit wonderful. With a vivid imagination fuelled by a
near death experience at the age of three, there was really no other choice for
Gail than to write, something she’s been doing for as long as she can remember.
She’s tried not doing it, but it never works for long, her brain gets itchy if
she hasn’t written anything for a couple of days. Gail is English by birth, but
lives in Swansea, Wales, married a Welshman and they have two fantastic
children. They live with the world’s most imperious and demanding cat. An asset
management specialist by day, a freelance editor and keen writer of an evening
and weekend, she really needs to learn to sleep. To find out more see www.gailbwilliams.com
James Ng
James Ng
(pronounced Ing) was born in Hong Kong, where he spent most of his childhood
drawing monsters and robots, making his own elaborate cardboard toys, and
playing soccer. Ever since, he has been on the move between Hong Kong,
Vancouver, Chicago and New York. His travels have greatly influenced him,
allowing him to combine Eastern and Western cultures in his artwork.
Currently James is enjoying the freedom of being a freelance concept
artist and illustrator. After a sunny summer in Vancouver, and traveling to
London, and then to New York for an award show and exhibition, he is back in
his home of Hong Kong to continue his career.
Read and Excerpt:
As the promised giant slayers await conveyance to their enemy’s castle, Rowan reflects on
the events that led to this fateful hour…
I’ve seen enough of the clockwork roc in recent years to imagine its first appearance—from
the way the sunlight will have glinted off its feathers of golden metal, to the strength and
precision of its massive talons clamped over the wall’s edge, to the unsettling look in its
glassy eyes when its blade-sharp beak dropped the scroll at the feet of the man who had
made himself Skycastle’s king. Though I remember nothing of the first reading of the scroll’s
message, it’s since then been repeated so often that I could recite it word for word.
People of land, it read, it has reached my ears that you have killed the giant Opher,
Lord of Gold. This is a great loss to me, as he was my beloved brother and my only true
companion. I demand compensation. You will therefore relinquish to me, on the first day of
the new year, two young women from among your number, each twenty years of age.
Transportation to my castle will arrive to fetch them from “your” shore of the Clouded Sea.
The young women will remain with me until the year’s end, after which time, I conditionally
vow, I will arrange to have them returned to you. Should you refuse to comply with my
wishes, you will find the consequences most unpleasant.
. . . Unless you are a particularly morbid people, fond of death, in which case I shall
forever wonder whether my revenge was technically successful.
Yours in all seriousness,
Griffon, Lord of Wings
Only two women, the people thought. Only for a year. Not a huge catastrophe, as
such things go. For the long-term well-being of the city as a whole, it seemed a negligible
price to pay. And so the clockwork roc bore the pair of brave volunteers away, leaving
Skycastle in peace to await their return. But when the roc came again, it came alone,
carrying nothing but a second scroll.
People of land, I regret to inform you that the young women you graciously lent me
are dead. Lest you mistake me, let me make clear that my regret—and, in all candor, my
frustration—has less to do with their deaths in and of themselves, and more to do with the
fact that they died for sheer stupidity.
As the expiration of my guests has occurred prior to that of the full length of their
stay (one year) as agreed upon between “your” castle and mine, you will send a replacement
pair to fulfill our contract. The terms are unchanged: two young women, aged twenty,
travel-ready on the Clouded Sea’s shore on the first of the year, to be returned (conditionally)
on the year’s last day, else your entire city shall suffer my severe disappointment.
Yours, with sympathies,
Griffon, Lord of Wings
Grieved, outraged, and horrified, the people wasted no time in rebuilding their
broken ships as best they could. Though they lacked the supply of lifting gas necessary to
make the ships airworthy, the vessels could still navigate a sea of clouds. In short order, they
launched to locate the giant’s castle and put an end to his terrorization. But search though
they might, the Lord of Wings’ home could not be found, leaving Skycastle little choice but
to give up another pair of young women.
And another, the following year.
And another, the year after that.
June 28
June 29
June 30
July 1
July 2
July 3
July 4
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