Cindy Vallar's Blog - Posts Tagged "nikola-tesla"

Corsair and the Sky Pirates by Mark Piggott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Inspired by the writings of Jules Verne and having discovered a new source of power, Nikola Tesla collaborates with the author to create new machines that combine imagination and science. Within two decades the course of human history has changed and it pits Tesla against Thomas Edison. Tesla wishes to make life easier for the common man. Edison craves wealth and power. Theirs is a struggle that leads to many confrontations, one of which takes place over the English Channel in 1907.

Corsair, one of several infamous pirates who work for Tesla, and John Kreusi, Edison’s number two man, both seek the same thing. A pure and large fragment of Uriel, remnants of a comet that provide constant heat that never dies and have allowed the two inventors to create innovations that allow people to travel by air, land, and sea. Kreusi also knows a terrible secret about Uriel, and he’s determined to acquire this larger power source no matter the cost. If he succeeds, his boss and the powerful people who work with him can finally achieve the maniacal scheme that will lead to world domination.

The odds may be against Corsair and his sky pirates, but they always have several unexpected tricks up their sleeves. These come in handy when they drop in on the Zeppelin Valiant, where their nemesis has set a trap. They manage to evade the trap and gain the plunder they come for, as well as a few items (including a Hollerith Thinking Machine) that turn out to have unexpected dividends once they return to Tesla’s secret base in an Icelandic volcano. Both the pirates and the enemy know this encounter aboard the pride of the White Star fleet is but the first engagement in an ever-escalating game of high stakes and deadly consequences.

This steampunk adventure has an intriguing cast of characters. The enemy includes such historical personages as Edison, Wilhelm Röntgen, Mata Hari, the Pinkertons, and Marjorie Meriweather Post. The sky pirates are unique individuals with singular talents, including a blind navigator, a female spy who blends into any background, a garage mechanic turned engineer with a penchant for taking Verne’s ideas and making them a reality, and an Apache warrior. They also have an assortment of colleagues who have made their mark on history, like Sam Cody, Pancho Villa, and Geronimo. Filled with unexpected twists, betrayal, and nail-biting danger, Corsair and the Sky Pirates visits Egyptian pyramids, French caves, and the desert of the American southwest in a race to acquire what may be the only surviving pure remnant of a comet that has the potential to enrich or destroy the world. The questions are who will triumph and what will happen next?

(Review originally appeared at Pirates and Privateers: http://www.cindyvallar.com/adult-scif...)



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