The Clockwork Monk

A little bit ago, I got chatting on twitter with editor Rayne Hall, and she said she was putting together a Steampunk anthology. Hmm…Steampunk, I said. I’ve always wanted to write Steampunk, I said.

Do it, she said. And send it to me.

So I did.

Which isn’t actually as crazy as it sounds. Rayne’s been more responsible than just about anyone else for broadening my horizons as a writer. It started over vampires, which, okay, wasn’t much of a stretch for me. (See Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires.) Then she asked what I knew about pirates, and gave me a shove to try writing historical. (See Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates.) Somewhere along the line she said, “So how ’bout horror?” and I said, “Seriously?” and she said, “Do it.” (See Scared: Ten Tales of Horror.) She also snagged a short story from me about witches (See Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft) which is one of my fave stories yet. Clearly we have a history, so tackling Steampunk with her encouragement made a lot of sense.

As usual, I started with a tiny idea – a young woman singing a recital, using her lovely soprano voice to distract the bad guys from some super-secret spy activity. I picked a year – 1910. Then I realized the young woman had a brother who looked a bit like Tom Huddleston in period garb (check out my Pinterest page for the story HERE). Then I needed an image, something to give all my ideas a focus.

And I found this dude here:

He’s a 16th century automaton, about 15″ tall, and if you want to see something a little creepy, go watch the video of him in action down at the bottom of the page. His story turned out to be a bit longer than I expected, and Rayne was very patient with me since it took me a while to get it done, but I’m real happy with the outcome. You can keep an eye on Rayne Hall’s FB page to see when Cogs: Ten Tales of Steampunk will be released. The other stories are from some pretty fabulous authors, too, including Jonathan Broughton, Beth Daniels, and April Grey, and I hope you’ll check it out.

Peace,

Liv

 

 

Blurb

Thomas Beck is a spy. Actually, Thomas isn’t his real name, but you wouldn’t expect a spy to use his real name, would you? He reports directly to Madam Helen Taft, President of the United States, and his goal is to prevent the war that threatens to drag every country in the world into chaos. Madam President invites him in for tea, and tells him his comrade Gesualdo has sent a cryptic message about anarchist, an Archbishop, and a Clockwork Monk.

And now his comrade is missing.

Thomas and Gesualdo have a past, and Thomas presumed they would also have a future. He sets off to investigate under the pretext of accompanying his sister Emma on an excursion. She’s a renowned lyric soprano (who has a secret or two of her own) and she’s been invited to sing a recital for the Archbishop of Chicago, which happens to be his comrade’s last known location. Steeped in steam, aided by clockworks, and distracted by a handsome young priest, Thomas must rely on his wits, his bravado, and his bone-deep toughness to solve the secret of The Clockwork Monk.

 

Here’s a link to more information about the automaton monk that inspired me.