Death’s Embrace

This weekend finds me at Wild Wild West Con at Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona. It’s a fabulous steampunk event that is in it’s twelfth year. You can get all the details about the event at https://www.wildwestcon.com/. If you’re in town, I hope you’ll drop in. If you catch me on a panel or in the dealer’s room, be sure to say hello. Later this spring, the anthology A Cry of Hounds will debut at the Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the authors who will also have a story in that book is Michelle D. Sonnier. I first came to know Michelle’s work when she submitted stories to my magazine, Tales of the Talisman. I had the pleasure of meeting Michelle in person last year at Tell-Tale Steampunk. I’m disappointed my schedule this year doesn’t allow me to attend, but I did take time to read Michelle’s novella, Death’s Embrace.

Now, given my recent cancer diagnosis, this might seem like an unduly morbid title to dive into right now. That said, I will note that one of the most humbling aspects of my cancer journey is that I’ve had to take a good hard look at my life expectancy. It’s not an easy thing to do and it’s not easy to evaluate. I’ve had close relatives who have died in their 50s. On the other hand, I also have close relatives who have died in their 100s. Fortunately, I’m in generally good health and I’ve been able to avoid the cardiac events that generally caused younger deaths, so I hope to live closer to the high end of the range. Still, death has certainly embraced more family and friends than I’d like to think about to date.

The novella Death’s Embrace is the coming of age tale of Macaria, daughter of a Polish hedgewitch. Macaria’s mother, Elzbieta, has always assumed her daughter would follow in her footsteps. On the day the villagers hold a ceremony to drive off the frost of winter, Macaria encounters several dark omens. That night, she falls asleep with a cat purring on her lap. The next day, the poor cat has died. Macaria is horrified to learn that she won’t be a hedgewitch after all. She’s a death witch.

Fortunately, Elzbieta knows what to do. She sends a crow with a message to the council of death witches, so they can train her daughter. Sooner than expected, the death witch Joanna knocks on the door and offers to take Macaria as an apprentice. As Macaria begins her training, she learns that death witches have many powers. As Macaria learned, they can kill with a touch, but they can also summon life back into the body. They can help a sick and suffering person find peace in death, but they can also help with difficult childbirths. In short, death witches are an integral part of the whole life journey. Even so, the weight of it all threatens to overwhelm Macaria. Indeed, we learn it’s not uncommon for new death witches to fail and in their case failure does mean death. Will Macaria rise to this unexpected and not entirely welcome challenge?

As I expected when I purchased the book, Michelle D. Sonnier takes me on a satisfying journey that doesn’t try to answer what happens when life ends, but accepts the reality that death is just one piece of the whole tapestry that makes up a life. You can find a copy of Death’s Embrace at: https://www.amazon.com/Deaths-Embrace-Michelle-D-Sonnier-ebook/dp/B084F19XXV/

If you’d like to explore more stories by Michelle D. Sonnier, here are links to where you can get her stories in Tales of the Talisman:

• “Odin’s Gift” in Tales of the Talisman volume IV, issue 1
• “A Minor Miracle” in Tales of the Talisman volume V, issue 1

Picking Up Steam

This weekend, I’m at Las Cruces Comic Con. If you’re in town, I hope you’ll drop by and see me and Tamsin Silver at Booth 79 in the Exhibit Hall. Also happening right now is a Kickstarter campaign raising money to publish two anthologies featuring my stories plus a third, really awesome looking book.

The first of the three books is called A Cry of Hounds and it features works inspired by the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. The title is influenced by The Hound of the Baskervilles. The anthology is being produced in conjunction with Baltimore’s Tell-Tale Steampunk Festival, which is the brainchild of long-time con-goers, vendors, and entertainers, Donna McClaren, aka The Baroness Alexandra, and Kolleen Kilduff from Design by Night Designs. Tell-Tale Steampunk draws its inspiration and theme from classic authors each year and incorporates a more hands-on/participation experience for festival goers. You can learn more about the convention at https://telltalesteampunk.com/

My story in the anthology is called “The Vampire of Rannoch Moor” and is inspired by Doyle’s short story “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.” In my story, spiritualist Dinella Stanton travels to Scotland to have a holiday with her friend only to discover that several men from the village of Rannoch Moor have gone missing. What’s more, the new laird to took possession of the nearby manor house is rumored to be a vampire and locals have seen the guard dog of the fae haunting the night. Other contributing authors in this anthology are Christopher D. Abbott, Aaron Rosenberg, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Dana Fraedrich, James Chambers, Jessica Lucci, Ef Deal, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Michelle D. Sonnier, Doc Coleman, and John L. French.

The second book on the slate is Other Aether: Tales of Global Steampunk. Curious about what embers ignite invention upon foreign shores? Find out in this global steampunk collection. My story in this collection is a prequel to my novel Owl Dance and tells the story of how Onofre Cisneros came to possess plans for a remarkable Spanish submarine (that really existed!) and made it better. He hopes the submarine will show investors that the people of Rancho Ensenada de Santos have the wherewithal to build a modern sea port. The only problem is not everyone is looking for investors. Some people would rather sell an invention at the first opportunity for their own benefit. Authors participating in this one alongside me are Jeff Young, Cynthia Radthorne, James Chambers, Christine Norris, Ef Deal, Aaron Rosenberg, Hildy Silverman, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail.

The third book is a collection of steampunk cosmic horror called The Chaos Clock: Tales of Cosmic Aether. For those not familiar with cosmic horror, it is along the lines of HP Lovecraft, Robert Chambers, William Hope Hodgson, Lord Dunsany, and Clark Ashton Smith, to name a few. Much of the classics in this genre were written during the period against which steampunk is set, so the pairing feels very natural (or appropriately unnatural, depending on your point of view)! Authors coming out to play in the creepy playground are James Chambers, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Will McDermott, Carol Gyzander, Jeffrey Lyman, Jody Lynn Nye, Randee Dawn, Rachel Brune, Bernie Mojzes, Marc L. Abbott, and Teel James Glenn.

The campaign features many great stretch goals, including ebooks and stories from such folks as Christopher D. Abbott, Aaron Rosenberg, and Keith R.A. DeCandido. If enough money is raised, you’ll even get a digital copy of my novel Dragon’s Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order Vampires as a thank you for supporting the campaign.

Please do consider supporting the campaign. If you’re unable to support, or if you’ve already supported the campaign, please share it with friends and on social media. Any of these books would be a great introduction to the world of Steampunk. You can support the campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/e-specbooks/picking-up-steam