It’s almost time.

Earlier this year, I spoke with Quincy and the folks at Heads and Tails publishing about working on a story in Quincy’s Shadowgate world. I’d read his work, and I like the stories. But I wanted to do something that wasn’t one of his main characters, and I landed on the bad guys. If you’ve read his work, you know that the Chinese Tong features in his world as a foil against Jake. I like the bad guys, myself. So that’s where this came from.

This story is the result of a lot of research into the nineteenth-century Beijing, and the shifting Chinese culture. Jiang, the heroine, is a young woman that doesn’t have a lot of choice in her world, but finds a way to allow herself some choices. Not without cost, however.

I enjoyed this thoroughly. The steampunk genre is one I’ve read, but not written in before. It’s always a challenge to write something new, but this was a lot of fun.

Jiang doesn’t have a gun, or a robot (although she could!) but she is pretty kick ass. I hope you enjoy her as much I do.