THE BURNING SKY (Halcyon #1) - a thrilling steampunk chase across Morocco

[jrlewis]

I’m pleased to announce the release of The Burning Sky, book one of my new Halcyon Trilogy, and also the first of many books in my Other Earth series.



Genres: historical fantasy, steampunk, action, adventure, thriller

About the book

When the brilliant young engineer Taziri Ohana survives a devastating attack on the Air Corps, she is the only pilot left to chase the criminals responsible across the skies of Morocco. While helping the police to investigate, Taziri uncovers a vast conspiracy of deposed aristocrats and wealthy industrialists plotting to overthrow the Queen and plunge the country into war.

With assassins stalking the streets and riots on every street corner, Taziri quickly learns to defend herself as only an engineer can – by inventing electrical tools and weapons from whatever is at hand! But the country’s only hope for survival may be a visiting Incan princess, a dashing Spanish fencer, and Taziri’s airship Halcyon plummeting out of the burning sky.

A note about the Other Earth

This is a work of historical fantasy. Some of this world may be familiar to you.

But in this world, Europe never emerged from the last Ice Age and only the southern areas are habitable. North Africa is cool, wet, and fertile. Ancient nations such as the Persian Empire have persisted, though others, such as the Romans, never rose to power. Some of the countries in this world reflect the cultures and attitudes of the Renaissance while others reflect the Industrial Age. Historical figures appear, though they too may be different from the ones you have known.

Don’t expect this world to conform to the history that you know. The people and places are different. The climate and wildlife are different.

Even death is different here.

Find The Burning Sky at these sites:

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble

[jaxx6166]

JR, sounds good as always. I liked your mars cover better though =)

[jrlewis]

I thought I would go with a different art style for this series to help differentiate it. But I'm sure you'll see more photographic or photorealistic covers from me in the future.

[caleb72]

Bought this one yesterday. Now on my TBR list.

Regards
Caleb

[CJ Archer]

Congrats JR, it sounds great.

[jrlewis]

Thanks, Caleb and CJ.

Are either of you fans of steampunk (meaning you go looking for steampunk titles)?

What makes for a great steampunk read?

[CJ Archer]

I like the adventure promised by the steampunk genre but I admit I'm a romance reader at heart, so I prefer ones with at least a romance thread through them. The more "historical" the steampunk the better. The heavily sci fi steampunks aren't really for me although I've loved the Dr Who episodes where he goes into a Victorian-like world but it has a steampunk twist to it. I love anything with humor in it too and I think steampunk lends itself to that - most don't take themselves too seriously. I guess it boils down to how well it's written, does it promise an adventure, are the characters likeable and do they grow.

I don't ask for much, do I?

[caleb72]

My Steampunk adventures have been China Mieville's books and Mainspring by Jay Lake. Liked everything I read so far in Steampunk land, so when a book is advertised as Steampunk, I usually take a look.

I think there's usually fantastical machines/transport, epic adventure and the kind of weird that helped China Mieville coin the genre "New Weird".

Actually I recently read Scourge by David Burton which was a children/YA Steampunk novel. Also loved it.

Regards
Caleb

[jrlewis]

I've seen more and more steampunk aimed at the YA readers, like Scott Westerfield's new series. I guess the "gee-whiz" factor of the fantastical machines and the old-fashioned stylings, particularly western/cowboy elements or flying machines, are really popular.

As they should be.

[jrlewis]

I'm wondering if my graphic art design for the Halcyon covers is the best way to go. I'm considering changing over to a simpler concept.

Do you like this more or less than the cover art above (or in my signature below)?

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by jrlewis

I'm wondering if my graphic art design for the Halcyon covers is the best way to go. I'm considering changing over to a simpler concept.

Do you like this more or less than the cover art above (or in my signature below)?

Hmmm! I quite like this new cover. The one on Smashwords, not so much. Altough I freely admit it seems to illustrate the story a bit better. But on that, I'm speaking from ignorance. I have bought and downloaded the book, but havent imported it to my reader yet.

[mikaelalind]

I read the sample on Smashwords, and it seems good. I'll buy it when I get money

Oh. One thing. The formatting in the sample is odd. It jumps between fonts and fontsizes at the start of the chapters.

[jrlewis]

Originally Posted by mikaelalind

I read the sample on Smashwords, and it seems good. I'll buy it when I get money

Oh. One thing. The formatting in the sample is odd. It jumps between fonts and fontsizes at the start of the chapters.

Yes, you mean the HTML sample? I have no idea why that happens in the HTML, but I can assure you there are no formatting errors in the downloadable files, like the epub and mobi and pdf.

[jrlewis]

Praise for The Burning Sky:

"The best thing I can say at the moment is that I read this way too early. Now I actually have to wait around for the author to release the next books in the series to see what happens to some of the characters. The world is incredibly rich and almost seems designed from the best cultural eras for each geographic location. I truly hope he continues to explore the "what-ifs" for the rest of these cultures. Some of the characters tragically leave the story line too early for us to get to know them well, but I guess prequels could always pop up in the future. Looking forward to book 2."

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by jrlewis

Thanks, Caleb and CJ.

Are either of you fans of steampunk (meaning you go looking for steampunk titles)?

What makes for a great steampunk read?

just mix Dr. Who with the other classic steampunk series Wild Wild West. I liked WWW better being raised on it when it was new.

As long as the story has a campy or puply feel to it and, of course, the writing is solid. I'm good. I wish I had some specific examples in my head but there was one short I read a while back that was really very much a mix of an old western meets a classic pulp fiction with the requisite mad scientists and someone bound on world domination. Lots of fun.

There was also Bruce Campbell's old series The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. which actually had a plot and was cancelled just when the story was coming together. There was another newer Campbell, again, series that I never really had time to watch called "Jack of All Trades". I watched a few episodes and dunno if they were too over the top or what but even taking into account Campbell is no Oscar winning actor, the stories never kept my attention. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood.

Of course really Pirate's of the Caribbean is close to good steampunk for me. But I'm easy, and cheap too.