In the anthology Other Aether edited by Greg Schauer and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, invention and adventure go hand in hand. Clockwork technology and ingenuity are not the sole purview of Jolly Ol’ England. By airship or locomotive, prairie schooner or steamboat, it is time to explore the global landscape through lenses polished in the Age of Steam!
I was excited that Danielle and Greg invited me to be part of this anthology. My story in the book is called “No One Alone” and its an origin story for Onofre Cisneros from Ensenada, Mexico. He’s the pirate captain and submariner of my Clockwork Legion novels. When we meet him in Owl Dance, Cisneros feels he must resort to desperate means to induce investment in his dream of a submarine boat. My story tells how he built his first submarine and how he sought a legitimate investor only to encounter disappointment. Cisneros builds the submarine for his community and he sees himself as no one without the support of his friends. Of course, “no one” or “no man” in Latin is Nemo. Now, here’s a look at the other fine stories you’ll find in this volume.
“The Kami of the Mountain” by Cynthia Radthorne. Set during the battles of the Meiji Restoration, Radthorne imagines a world where the forces of the Shogun and the Emperor battle with steam-powered cannons and crossbows. Caught in the middle is Haramata Castle, a neutral site near the mountain with hot springs and rice fields. Miako is a Lady of the Court who is fascinated with machines, including the steam pipes under the castle that feed both the baths and the steam weapons. When the old man who tends the machinery unexpectedly dies near the beginning of the battle, Miako finds herself chosen by the Kami to save Haramata Castle.
“No Safe Harbor” by Aaron Rosenberg. Phillipe Huron a Detective-Inspector from Paris arrives in Hong Kong via airship. He’s searching for Father Chapdelaine, who abandoned his parish for reasons unknown. Huron and his parrot Dupin team up with local Inspector Wu and follow what clues they have only to figure out that Father Chapdelaine is a pawn in a much bigger plot.
“Mervat in the Maiden’s Tower” by Jeff Young. Mervat, the matron of a hospital founded by Florence Nightengale has been summoned to Constantinople’s airfield. A large Chinese airship has arrived and the harbormaster is afraid they have brought the black plague to the city. He wants Mervat to assess whether or not that’s true. In addition to being a healer, Mervat has assistance from her cousin and from a nearly forgotten goddess who appears in visions.
“Ghosts in the Infernal Machine” by Ef Deal. Didier Rabôt is a fifteen-year-old who only wants to exist in peace to tinker with his electrical experiments and prepare to enter university. However, his neighbor has been talking about his dissatisfaction with the king and then started building something big in his apartment. Didier and his friend Jacky fear he might try to assassinate the king with some kind of infernal machine he’s building. They come up with a way to sabotage his efforts. In the meantime, Didier learns he might be more attracted to his friend Jacky than he originally thought.
“The Sand Boat by James Chambers. Morris, an inventor, and his friend Marceline, a diplomat, are visiting Cairo. She wants to surprise him by taking him down the Nile to see the Pyramids of Giza. While on their way, they’re confronted by a group of men from the Cult of Bast who want to capture and kill them in a blood sacrifice. Fortunately, they’re saved by Amun Zaki, an Egyptian engineer who wants to keep his fellow engineer safe, but also wants to assure that developing technology for Egypt is done by Egyptians. They head for a meeting with a like-minded leader at the Pyramids. To get there, they travel in a sand boat, a steam-powered overland craft invented by Zaki, which proves to come in handy when they run into unexpected trouble.
“Justice Runs Like Clockwork” by Christine Norris. Set in New Orleans during the Civil War, we follow Pricilla, a spy for the Union who has many advanced weapons and works out of a secret base under St. Louis Cemetery adjacent to the French Quarter. The Union Navy is advancing on New Orleans. Pricilla’s mission is to do as much damage to the slave trade and get as many slaves to safety as she can before the invasion begins.
“On the Wings of an Angel” by Danielle Ackley-McPhail. Sadie is the entertainment in a Montana saloon where a tinker has been through and induced the owner to buy a number of his gadgets. The tinker’s finest gadget is an elaborate construction that gives Sadie the appearance of being an angel. Her pure voice and innocence help bring customers into the saloon. The problem is that as Sadie gets older, the miners in town are no longer seeing her as such an innocent, untouchable angel. Fortunately, there may be more to Sadie’s angel wings than appear at first sight.
“Correspondence Transcribed in Code, Addressed to the Widowed Mrs. Clydesbank” by Beth Cato. This story is told in letters from El, who works as an engineer for an airship manufacturer based in California, to her mother. To work as an engineer, El has taken the identity of a man and works primarily on the mooring towers for the airships. However, this region of California is fertile and birds present a real danger to airships. Rather than taking sensible precautions, the company decides to be more aggressive in managing the wetlands and wild areas to discourage the birds. El tries to convince the management of their error, only to be rebuffed and now must decide whether or not there is another way to fight the system.
“The Merrie Monarch’s Mecha” by Hildy Silverman. Hawai’i’s King David Kalâkaua is working to establish the sovereign island’s reputation around the world. He has diplomatic missions with both Japan and America. In the meantime, one of his engineers is building a giant mecha to demonstrate Hawai’i’s proficiency with technology. A botched assassination attempt puts the King’s people on alert and the mecha is deployed during the formal coronation ceremony. It’s a good thing, because the ceremony comes under attack!
Other Aether is scheduled to be released on June 1, 2024. If you didn’t support the Kickstarter, you can pre-order copies of the ebook at: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Aether-Tales-Global-Steampunk-ebook/dp/B0CW1FRMR5/
Print copies are available at: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Aether-Tales-Global-Steampunk/dp/195646333X/
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