Book picks similar to
Empire of Steam: The Collected Stories by Rod Gillies
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Winter
Rod Rees - 2011
Created to prepare soldiers for the nightmarish reality of urban warfare, it is a virtual world locked in eternal civil war. Its thirty million digital inhabitants are ruled by duplicates of some of history's cruellest tyrants: Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the Holocaust; Beria, Stalin's arch executioner; Torquemada, the pitiless Inquisitor General; Robespierre, the face of the Reign of Terror. But something has gone badly wrong inside the Demi-Monde, and the US President's daughter has become trapped in this terrible world. It falls to eighteen-year-old Ella Thomas to rescue her, yet once Ella has entered the Demi-Monde she finds that everything is not as it seems, that its cyber-walls are struggling to contain the evil within and that the Real World is in more danger than anyone realises.
Cogheart
Peter Bunzl - 2016
Her father is missing and now silver-eyed men stalk her through the shadows. What could they want from her?With her friends—Robert, the clockmaker’s son, and Malkin, her mechanical fox—Lily is plunged into a murky and menacing world. Too soon Lily realizes that those she holds dear may be the very ones to break her heart...Murder, mayhem and mystery meet in this gripping Victorian adventure.
The Dark Unwinding
Sharon Cameron - 2012
But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London. Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity. As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle's world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. With twists and turns at every corner, this heart-racing adventure will captivate readers with its intrigue, thrills, and romance.
The Bookman
Lavie Tidhar - 2010
On the day of the launch of the first expedition to Mars, by giant cannon, he outdoes himself with an audacious attack. For young poet Orphan, trapped in the screaming audience, it seems his destiny is entwined with that of the shadowy terrorist, but how? Like a steam-powered take on V for Vendetta, rich with satire and slashed through with automatons, giant lizards, pirates, airships and wild adventure, The Bookman is the first of a series. (Description from Amazon.com)
Land of Promise
James Wesley, Rawles - 2015
Launched by a pair of free-thinking venture capitalists and an Israeli art dealer, the fictional Ilemi Republic is carved out of a disputed border region between Kenya and South Sudan, with the consent of the governments of these two neighboring nations.The fledgling Ilemi Republic is a nation of firsts in modern history: The first nation as a dedicated place of refuge for Christians and Messianic Jews; The first nation with absolutely no taxes or levies of any kind; The first nation with no licenses or permits; The first nation with minimalist government; The first nation to reject fiat currency and establish a tri-metallic currency (gold, silver, and platinum); The first nation to have a self-policing citizenry with a citizen's militia--and hence no standing army and no police force; The first nation with a near absolute right to keep and bear arms, where only weapons of mass destruction are restricted from private ownership; and the first nation without a parliament or congress, where all decisions are made by public referendum."In Land of Promise, [Jim Rawles] crafts an exception to the rule: He speculates on proactive efforts to carve out a liberty lifeboat on Earth. It is the last refuge of free people in charge of their own lives. In every other place on Earth that man has put down roots, the usual suspects come out of the woodwork to offer advice on how to run his life and eventually develop systems that strangle that very life out of them. Some of these have been much worse than others as witnessed in the blood-soaked twentieth century." —Bill Buppert, ZeroGov ForumsAbout the AuthorJames Wesley, Rawles is a internationally recognized authority on family disaster preparedness and survivalism. He has been described by journalists as the "conscience of survivalism." Formerly a U.S. Army intelligence officer, Rawles is now a fiction and nonfiction author, as well as a rancher. Some of his his books have been translated into six languages. He is also a lecturer and the founder and Senior Editor of http://www.SurvivalBlog.com, the Internet's first blogs on preparedness that has enjoyed perennial popularity and now receives more than 320,000 unique visits per week. He and his family live at a remote self-sufficient ranch surrounded by National Forest lands that is is cryptically identified as located "somewhere west of the Rockies."
Deadly Secrets
Gordon Bickerstaff - 2013
His initial gut instinct is to walk away until he discovers one of the company directors is the former love of his teenage life.The financial implications are global and incredible. Powerful individuals and countries are prepared to kill as they compete to seize control of the company. Corruption at high levels, a deadly flaw in the product, and the stakes jump higher and higher.Against overwhelming odds, Gavin must rescue his former love from the hands of an evil cult as they prepare her for a living nightmare.
Something Strange and Deadly
Susan Dennard - 2012
. . .Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about.Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she's just read in the newspaper:The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor . . . from her brother.Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she'll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including the maddeningly stubborn yet handsome Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.
The Shadow in the Sands
Sam Llewellyn - 1998
a continuation of the celebrated story of intrigue, treachery and adventure at sea begun in Erskine Childers' epoch-making thriller The Riddle of the Sands, this affectionate tribute to the world's first spy novel is a brilliantly original, utterly enthralling thriller in its own right.
A Wing and a Prayer
M.W. Arnold - 2020
American Doris Winter, running from a personal tragedy, yearns for a new start. Naturally shy Mary Whitworth-Baines struggles to fit in. Together though, they are a force to be reckoned with as they face the mystery that confronts them.Against the backdrop of war, when ties of friendship are exceptionally strong, they strive to unravel the puzzle's complex threads, risking their lives as they seek justice for Betty's sister.
The Time and Again Series Boxed Set
Deborah Heal - 2014
Time and Again (book 1) Unclaimed Legacy (book 2) Every Hill and Mountain (book 3) One summer Abby and her new boyfriend John Roberts, along with their young friend Merri Randall, get the opportunity of a lifetime—the chance to see Time from God’s Perspective. Abby Thomas’ summer starts with tutoring a sullen 11-year-old named Merri Randall. Not fun. But when she discovers a weird program on the girl’s computer, her summer turns amazing. No one knows how Beautiful Houses works, but when it’s set up in an old house, the lives of everyone who ever lived there become an open book. With the click of the mouse Abby can pause, rewind, or fast-forward for a “God’s eye view” of history. Better yet, she can get inside the minds of the people they meet to experience their hopes, fears, and challenges. Finally. A way to find out what really happened in the olden days, the stuff that never made it into the history books. But there are dangers. Sometimes Abby and her friends find out more than they want to know about people and events from the past.
Upside Down in a Laura Ingalls Town
Leslie Tall Manning - 2016
"Authentic and entertaining." Publishers Weekly/BooklifeIt has been a long and difficult year for the Decker family, especially for sixteen-year-old Brooke. Her grades have plummeted. She deliberately breaks curfew. She makes out with boys she hardly knows. And now her father has totally lost it. When Tim Decker signs up his family of three to be contestants on a Hollywood reality show, Brooke’s life turns upside down. The place: The North Carolina backcountry. The year: 1861. Brooke is forced to trade in her Victoria’s Secret bra for a rib-cracking corset, her comfy jeans for an ugly farm dress, and her private bathroom for an outhouse. Television cameras will follow her every move as she lives the grueling life of a mid-nineteenth-century farm girl: milking a cow, churning butter, fetching water countless times a day, and riding in a horse-drawn wagon along a rutted road to spend pennies in town. This will be Brooke’s life for four awful months. Unless, of course, she breaks the rules and the producers kick her off the show…Other families are scattered throughout Sweet Sugar Gap. The snotty Prudence Miller soon becomes Brooke’s rival. Wendell Murphy, who works at the local mercantile, is instantly smitten with Brooke—but also makes her suspicious. Does the only cute boy in town really like her, or is he merely showing off for the cameras?Brooke Decker may just have to find a way to make it in the backcountry, leaving behind the modern frills she can’t live without. But can a young girl’s wishful heart surrender to a time and place she believes she can never call home?
The Trouble with Saving a Duke
Emma Linfield - 2020
If Lady Seraphina Camden doesn't find a suitable husband soon, her family risks that very fate. Until the day she meets the new stable hand.With someone out for his blood, Lysander Keswick, the Duke of Emberborough, is running for his life. Unable to recall who he is after suffering a nasty hit to the head, he finds work as a stable boy. A position that leaves him at the mercy of Lady Seraphina, the one lady he can never have.Torn between returning memories of hatred and the duty to their hearts, Seraphina's sudden disappearance comes as a woeful reminder: someone still wants Lysander in the grave. And the only clue to their salvation lies in a name that they both know but haven't heard of before...
Lying in Judgment
Gary Corbin - 2016
Following her suspected boyfriend one night, he erupts into a rage, beats him and leaves him to die – or so he thought. Soon he discovers that he has killed the wrong man – a perfect stranger.Six months later, impaneled on a jury, he realizes he realizes that the murder being tried is the one he committed. After wrestling with his conscience, he works hard to convince the jury to acquit the accused man. But the prosecution’s case is strong as the accused man had both motive and opportunity to commit the murder. As the pressure builds, Peter begins to slip up and reveal things that only the murderer would know – and Christine, a pretty and intelligent alternate juror, suspects something is amiss.Meanwhile, Peter’s wife leaves him, his mother suffers a series of debilitating strokes, and his best friend and employee, accused of sexual harassment, needs Peter’s help that he’s too preoccupied to give. As jurors one by one declare their intention to convict, Peter’s conscience eats away at him and he careens toward nervous breakdown, revealing details about the crime that had not been disclosed in court.“Lying in Judgment” is a 95,000-word story about a good man’s search for redemption for his one unfortunate mistake, pitted against society’s search for justice.
Clockwork Boys
T. Kingfisher - 2017
It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city. If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny
Justin Hill - 2015
The adventure, romance, and artistry of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon continues in this novelized companion to the first ever Netflix debut film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny based on the novel by Wang Dulu.Seventeen years after the legendary fighter Mubai dies protecting the world-conquering sword The Green Destiny, four great warriors are called together to guard the formidable weapon once more. The forces surrounding the sword irrevocably altered the life of Shulien, Mubai’s lover, but seventeen years later she is still honor-bound to defend the blade from the power-hungry warlord Hades Dai. The young fighters Wei-fang and Snow Vase, switched at birth, also have heritages and inheritances that inextricably link them to both each other and the fate of the sword. And Silent Wolf, Shulien’s former fiancé, returns from presumed death to thwart Hades Dai—and rekindle an emotionally isolated Shulien’s feelings.Jam-packed with all the hallmarks of an epic adventure—sacrifice, battles, betrayal, vengeance, redemption, and destiny—this saga also explores the deeper meaning of true heroism and virtue. As Wei-fang and Snow Vase search for identity and forge their places in the world of warriors and heroes, Shu-lien and Silent Wolf struggle to reconcile both the traditions and heartbreak of the past with a fragile hope for the future.