Cover Candy - The Inexplicables by Cherie Priest

The Inexplicables is another book in the Clockwork Century line from mademoiselle Priest.  It’s due out in the American Autumn and Cherie has kindle let us have a glimpse of the cover.  The artist is Cliff Nielsen, not Jon Foster who did her previous covers.

Cherie has also provided us with some blurbage:

Rector “Wreck’em” Sherman was orphaned as a toddler in the Blight of 1863, but that was years ago. Wreck has grown up, and on his eighteenth birthday, he’ll be cast out out of the orphanage.

Wreck’s problems don’t stop there. He’s been breaking the cardinal rule of any good drug dealer and dipping into his own supply–and he’s also pretty sure he’s being haunted by the ghost of a kid he used to know. Zeke Wilkes almost certainly died six months ago inside the walled city of Seattle. And it was Wreck who sent him in there.

Maybe it’s only a guilty conscience, but Wreck can’t take it anymore. He sneaks inside the city.

The walled-off wasteland is every bit as bad as he’d heard, chock-full of the hungry undead and utterly choked by the poisonous, inescapable yellow gas. And then there are the monsters. Rector’s confident that whatever attacked him was not at all human–and not a rotter, either. Arms far too long. Posture all strange. Eyes all wild and faintly glowing gold, and God help them all, it wasn’t alone.

When the locals discuss the creatures, they do so in whispers. And they call them “The Inexplicables.”

Source

I can't wait myself; how about you?

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Book Review–Clementine by Cherie Priest

The sad news about this novella is that if you live outside the US you’re unlikely to be able to get an eBook version legally.

The Hardcover released by Subterranean Press is a collectors item retailing on Amazon at around the $95 mark.

You may be able to get a Audio download through Audible, but I have not investigated the process.

All this hassle is such a shame for what is a nice little jaunt in the Clockwork Century world. 

The Story

Captain Hainey, ex-slave, now pirate captain is in hot pursuit of his airship which has been stolen - the fact that he stole it originally is beside the point.  No one steals from Croggon Beauregard Hainey.

Isabella Boyd is an ex –confederate spy employed by the Pinkertons to ensure that a certain stolen airship gets to its destination.

Two powerful personalities heading towards each other should mean carnage, and it does but not, as it turns out, for each other.  Croggon and Isabella become unlikely allies in a short, fast paced steampunk adventure, featuring armoured airships and weapons of mass destruction.

The ever resourceful Miss Boyd

Isabella Boyd is the standout character in this book, down on her luck but resilient and resourceful, as quick with a sidearm as she is with her tongue. I am hoping that she turns up again in the rest of the Clockwork Century novels. 

Indeed Rachael McAdams in her role as Irene Adler springs to mind as an excellent casting choice should this tale get optioned.

A tale of two publishers

Clementine was written for Subterranean Press.  Boneshaker, the first full length novel was written under contract with another publishing house, and while Priest was able to write for other publishers in the Clockwork Century world, there were restrictions, as I understand it, on the size of the work.

And that to my mind is the only drawback of this work, it’s over all too soon. It’s a beautifully written book with some wonderful dialogue and great action sequences. It is a nice addition to Priest’s alternate history.

Here’s hoping that with Boneshaker being optioned we might see a rerelease?

If you’re a fan of the Clockwork Century you’ll probably have it all ready.  If you want a taste of some of the best recent steampunk it’s worth picking up.  For those of us living outside the US it will prove difficult to get and I fear not worth the hassle.

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Boneshaker is going to the movies

I heard about this two days ago but, well life got in the way.  Sufficed to say, Cherie Priest, author of American Steampunk novel Boneshaker has announced that there are plans to make the novel into a movie.  The details can  be found at her website.

To say that she was happy is an understatement.  The book has been described as Jules Verne meets resident evil and that’s a  pretty good description. 

The film will be co produced by Hammer and Cross Creek Pictures.  Adapting Priest’s work will be John Hilary Shepherd who garnered award nominations for his writing on the comedy drama Nurse Jackie.

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