GooglePlay: http://smarturl.it/DominionGooglePlay
Today is the big day! Dominion Rising releases after months of planning. I'm really excited for everyone to get a look at my new novel, Curiouser and Curiouser: Steampunk Alice in Wonderland. This book is part of my steampunk fairy tales series. Ice and Embers, my steampunk snow queen, is my first release in this series. Look for a Beauty and the Beast and a Snow White retelling coming up next!
Curiouser and Curiouser will be available exclusively in the Dominion Rising box set until the beginning of next year. Y'all need to just go on ahead and pick up the set. It's brilliant. I've read Erin Hayes's Touching Infinity and the price is worth it for her book alone.
We are hoping to hit the NY Times list with this box set, so wish us luck! All sales are super appreciated.
The beautiful paperback of this book will be available next week, and the amazingly talented Lesley Parkin (who did the audio for my Celtic Blood Series) has started work on the audiobook. I'm very excited to see what this year holds for Alice!
Sneak Peek of Curiouser and Curiouser
Chapter
1: The Pocket Watch
“Curious.” I strained to look out
the window of the carriage at the crowd thronging toward Hyde Park. A man on a Daedalus
steam-powered buggy motored past. The well-dressed ladies in the back seat,
their parasols shading them from the late afternoon sun, laughed wildly as they
sped by. “Where are they all going?”
“The Crystal Palace,” Lord
Dodgson pronounced grandly. “The Great Exhibition opened this week. I was
planning to have a look myself,” he said, snapping the paper he was trying to
read in an effort to straighten it, a motion he’d made ten times already since
we’d left Hungerford Market. It was starting to get on my nerves.
“Her Majesty already opened the
exhibit?” I asked, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice.
Lord Dodgson laughed. “Don’t you
keep up on the local gossip, Alice? The whole town is talking about the Crystal
Palace’s opening. A whole building made
of glass and filled with mechanical inventions and wonders from the world afar…what
a sight. I heard the opening was grand. Crowded but grand.”
I frowned. I’d thought the
opening was next week. The park was located close to Lord Dodgson’s London
home. I’d hoped to catch a glimpse of Queen Victoria but had missed my chance once again.
Half hanging out the carriage
window, I strained to get a look at the festivities. The revelers had cleared a
path and stood to watch as a man led a
clockwork horse, its steel and copper body glinting in the sunlight, into the
park. I could just make out tents sitting in Hyde Park’s green space. “Then I
guess that means the airship races have started,” I said. In fact, the Great
Exhibition’s opening had been timed to the British Airship Qualifying races.
“I didn’t fancy you a fan of the aether
sports,” Lord Dodgson said.
“I’m not. But I have a friend who
adores them.”
Adores, of course, was the wrong
word. I tried to calm the uneasy feeling that rocked my stomach. It was Friday.
If the races had opened on Monday, then Henry might already be in trouble. Had
I seen him that morning? Had he gone to the shop? I tried to think back but
couldn’t remember. Last race season he’d gambled away everything he owned down to
the clothes on his back. Even his favorite top hat
had gone to some bloody airship pirate. Race
season always equaled trouble for my dear friend who couldn’t help but try to hedge
his bets. His reasons for trying were honorable. His methods, however, were
suspect.
“I’m not for any of that nonsense
either,” Lord Dodgson proclaimed. “Racing around the sky like we were meant to
have wings. No, no. My carriage will do just fine. It gets us where we need to
go, doesn’t it, Alice?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Lord Dodgson laughed. “When you
use formal address, you sound trite.”
I grinned. “What an odd thing to
say. Shouldn’t one try to adopt manners?”
“Perhaps. But perhaps not when they are completely
contradictory to that person’s general nature.”
“But aren’t manners completely contradictory to all of mankind’s nature? If, in
essence, we are little more than creatures who are brutish and sinful, then
manners are merely a mask for the base matter that lives within us all. And if
that’s the case, we’d be wise to drop them entirely, if we wanted to be more
honest. Or should we all lie and adopt
the best of manners, thus go around being false? At least we’d all be equally false.”
Lord Dodgson laughed again then
removed his monocle and looked at me. “Alice Lewis, you might be the brightest
girl I’ve ever met.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, mister,” I replied with a wink.
“Now, there’s the scruffy
guttersnipe I hired,” he said then snapped his paper once more. “Is there
another way to take that comment as anything but a compliment?”
“At least five. Possibly more.”
“Alice,” he said, shaking his
head. He looked back at his reading.
Well, it was true. Did he mean to
imply he’d met only a few women of intelligence, or that most women were
unintelligent, or that he thought he would meet wittier girls in the future, or when
he said I might be bright did that mean he
was uncertain, and how did he define bright
anyway? Was he referring to my hair? Or maybe my eyes? Or did he just mean he found me intelligent? Thinking about it
gave me a headache, and I was already a mess of nerves worrying that Henry had already
gambled away every shilling he had. Come to think of it, Bess said he hadn’t
been by for dinner last night.
The carriage rolled to a stop outside
Lord Dodgson’s home. I smoothed my white apron and grabbed the packages sitting
on the seat beside me.
“Your Grace,” the footman said,
opening the door.
Lord Dodgson sighed heavily, folded his paper under his arm, and
grabbed his cane. His bad knee would be aching after his walk through the
market, but I guessed he wouldn’t complain. He’d had too much fun shopping for
his niece’s birthday. The parcels I juggled were proof of that. I don’t think
there was an item left at the market
suitable for a girl around the age of six. What would
other six-year-old girls receive for their birthday now that His Grace had purchased the lot? Of
course, when I was six, I’d been at the workhouse laboring on a machine until
I’d found different employment in the
city. It’s amazing how quickly little fingers can learn to do very evil deeds.
But young Charlotte Dodgson, the lord’s niece, would never have to worry about
learning how to pick a pocket. A better life was reserved for her, and I didn’t
begrudge her for it.
“Your Grace,” the footman called,
his voice full of alarm.
A moment later, Lord Dodgson
cried out in pain.
I emerged from the carriage to
see that he’d slipped on the cobblestone, landing on his bad knee.
I dropped the packages, cringing
when I heard the telltale clatter of broken glass, then rushed to help him up.
“Steady him,” I told the footman.
“Easy, Your Grace. We’ve got you.”
“Son of a bitch,” Lord Dodgson
muttered.
“Manners, Your Grace,” I said as
I gently lifted him.
Despite himself, Lord Dodgson
laughed. “Ow,” he said, then laughed again. “Ow…oh, Alice.”
Steadying him, the footman and I
helped our master stand up.
A moment later, I heard feet rushing
quickly down the cobblestone toward us. The sound of it set my nerves on edge,
and my old instincts kicked in. The runner didn’t slow as the footsteps approached.
I moved to grab the knife hidden out of sight under my apron, but my hands were
all tied up with Lord Dodgson. If I let go, he would fall.
“Watch yourself, boy. What? Hey,”
the footman called.
A boy with a mop of striking white hair, wearing an expensive but
oversized waistcoat, slipped between us and was gone again in a flash.
“My pocket watch! My
grandfather’s pocket watch,” Lord Dodgson cried, clutching his vest where he
always kept his pocket watch. “Stop that
boy. He stole my pocket watch. Alice!”
I glanced up the street to see
the boy dangle the pocket watch teasingly before us.
“Rabbit,” I hissed.
“Your Grace…I need to—”
“Go, Alice. Go.”
The footman held tightly onto Lord Dodgson so I could let
go. I turned and faced the boy. Rabbit, the little albino street rat, was
grinning at me. Sneaky little pickpocket. What was he doing in my part of town?
He’d grabbed the watch so deftly. Not bad. Some people said he was almost as
good as I used to be.
Almost.
Dominion Rising: 23 books. 99 cents. #DominionRising
Find the Science Fiction and Fantasy reads you’ve been craving! Whether it’s alien invasion or dark fairy tales, heart-pounding galactic adventures or cyberpunk romance, Dominion Rising will satisfy with a thrilling mix of 23 BRAND NEW FULL LENGTH novels set in fantastical realms.
Sword and sorcery, far-flung galactic empires, alternative history, epic magic, slipstream futures: this collection of carefully selected, exclusive novels is sure to please and delight readers of speculative fiction.
Over five thousand pages packed with aliens, faeries, vampires, gargoyles, warriors, telepaths, space pirates, starship captains, hapless mercenaries, street urchins, robots, cyber-enhanced humans, badass heroines, and lost princesses. These award-winning, New York Times, USA Today and International bestselling authors have left no stone in the science fiction and epic fantasy universe unturned to bring you the very best escape from planet Earth.
All the novels are only available in the Dominion Rising collection.
GooglePlay: http://smarturl.it/DominionGooglePlay
No comments