An All-New Kyoto Steampunk Story!

by Lillian Csernica on January 25, 2019

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I am delighted to announce the release of Next Stop on the #13, the fourth steampunk anthology featuring stories by the authors of Clockwork Alchemy.

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In The Badger Epidemic, Dr. Harrington is forced to ride a train bound for Osaka through a region afflicted by a cholera epidemic. The Japanese workers needed for building the railways and telegraph lines believe the cholera is spread by the new technology from the West. The British officials insist Dr. Harrington ride the train and prove the superstition is nonsense.

What awaits Dr. Harrington out in the darkness on those lonely train tracks is a danger even greater than the threat of cholera itself.

Join us for Clockwork Alchemy 2019. Get your copy of Next Stop on the #13 and have it autographed by the authors of each story, including the master of alternate history, Harry Turtledove!

 

#AtoZBlogChallenge B is for Bakemono

by Lillian Csernica on April 2, 2018

japanesemythology.wordpress.com

Bakemono are the group of yokai (monsters) in Japanese mythology who are shapeshifters and tricksters. Foremost among them are the mujina (badger), the tanuki (raccoon-dog), and the kitsune (fox spirit). Also holding noteworthy rank among the bakemono is the nekomata, the split-tailed cat who can assume the form of a beautiful woman.

In Putting On Airs (Thirty Days Later), there’s a surprisingly large cat terrorizing the dogs in Dr. Harrington’s neighborhood. With the help of the monks of Kiyomizudera, Madelaine builds a trap meant to catch what she suspects is the real cause of all the trouble.

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In the second story of this pair, Blown Sky High, Constance is in charge of a garden party held in conjunction with the Blue Dragon Festival at Kiyomizudera. The party celebrates the Blue Dragon, an avatar of Kannon, Goddess of Mercy.  The party features Madelaine’s origami paper dragons and a wondrous clockwork dragon that adds just the right touch to the party’s symbolic rejoicing.