Yes, the Captain is back! The Martian named Max is back. The Navigator Sabrina is back. More wild adventures are in the offing. If you'd like to be in on the creative process around the new novels and news on all things Pneumatic Zeppelin, steampunk and more, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and be my patron, supporting an independent artist.
What’s coming in my steampunk universe? The next book in the series is Romulus Buckle and the Guns of the Babylon (Book 4) and as a patron (paid subscriber) you’ll have early access to select chapters and the chance to participate in various ways, such as making comments and suggestions, participating in workshops, etc.
You'll also get sneak peeks at other projects I'm near completing, such as my historical fiction novel The White Rose of Stalingrad (polish stage) and my apocalyptic adventure The Fifth Horseman (in polish stage), and the Writer’s Kitchen podcasts plus more.
I know I've been out of action with the Buckle stuff for quite a while but I'd love it if you'd join in and help support my independent writing as one of my patrons. I'm going commando (author-wise) on this, meaning by myself without agent or publisher. Here’s a quick Chronicles of the Pneumatic Zeppelin recap:
Romulus Buckle and the City of the Founders (Book 1):
In a post-apocalyptic world of endless snow, Captain Romulus Buckle and the stalwart crew of the Pneumatic Zeppelin must embark on a perilous mission to rescue their kidnapped leader, Balthazar Crankshaft, from the impenetrable City of the Founders. Steaming over a territory once known as Southern California – before it was devastated in the alien war – Buckle navigates his massive airship through skies infested with enemy war zeppelins and ravenous alien beasties in this swashbuckling and high-octane steampunk adventure. Life is desperate in the Snow World – and death is quick – and Buckle and his ship’s company must brave poisoned wastelands of noxious mustard and do battle with forgewalkers, steampipers and armored locomotives as they plunge from the skies into the underground prison warrens of the fortress-city.
Romulus Buckle is only nineteen years of age, and his brilliance as an air commander is tempered by recklessness and an obsession with the recent death of his sister, Elizabeth, at the hands of the Imperial clan. Fortunately for Buckle, his Chief Navigator, Sabrina Serafim, a beautiful officer with scarlet hair and a mysterious connection to the Founders clan, and his Chief Engineer, Max, a half-alien female of devastating beauty, are at his side when cooler heads must prevail. Unfortunately for Buckle, and despite everyone’s best efforts, a romantic triangle is emerging between him, Sabrina and Max, and the rising passions threaten to rip their close association asunder. Buckle, Sabrina and Max are orphans, three of eight adopted by Balthazar, and each orphan has a past which has never been revealed to the others.
Together with his crew of orphans and never-do-wells, Captain Romulus Buckle must lead the Pneumatic Zeppelin on a desperate mission where he must risk everything to save Balthazar and attempt to prevent a catastrophic war which could wipe out all that is left of civilization and the entire human race.
But, in the Snow World, nothing is ever what it seems to be.
Romulus Buckle and the Engines of War (Book 2):
As the Snow World teeters on the brink of war, Captain Romulus Buckle is desperate to solve the mysteries which haunt him, mysteries which hold the key to his survival and the survival of the Crankshaft clan. Buckle journeys into the treacherous Tehachapi Mountains to discover the true identity of a crashed enemy zeppelin, a wreck brimming with skeletons and secrets. Trapped by a bloodfreezer storm, Buckle is surrounded by hordes of alien sabertooth tigers. And when his beautiful half-Martian lieutenant, Max, comes to his rescue and is horribly injured, both end up fighting for their lives. But this is just the beginning of the battles against the elements and the alien beasties.
Arriving at the Crankshaft stronghold at the Devil’s Punchbowl, Buckle joins his father, Balthazar, in a meeting of wary clan ambassadors. Whispering spies have revealed that the powerful but resource-strapped Founders clan is readying for a war of conquest and enslavement and every other clan in the known world is at terrible risk. Buckle also hears rumors that his lost sister, Elizabeth, is still alive.
With assassins and saboteurs lurking in the shadows, Buckle and his crew are forced to team up with former enemies. In a race against time, the crew of the Pneumatic Zeppelin must secure the grand alliance before the Founders invaders can mobilize.
More secrets rise to the surface, carried by moonchildren and half-melted robots. And for Romulus Buckle, the search for his lost sister Elizabeth is verging on obsession.
Romulus Buckle and the Luminiferous Aether (Book 3):
Reeling from a Founders clan invasion, Captain Romulus Buckle of the Pneumatic Zeppelin faces a desperate decision. Does he return home to bolster the Grand Alliance or attempt to rescue his sister, Elizabeth, who is prophesied to be the key to winning the war? With only an ancient automaton and the words of a madman to guide him, Buckle leads an expedition to the mysterious underwater city of Atlantis, where mythical monsters and human treachery make every move perilous.
ABOUT TO BEGIN Romulus Buckle and the Guns of the Babylon (Book 4):
Desperate to rescue Sabrina, Captain Buckle discards his better judgement and risks the Pneumatic Zeppelin in a fog bank—and ends up in a major battle against the best Founders warship, the Babylon. Both airships are heavily damaged and dock at a floating trader island named “Silk Road.” Trader islands are heavily policed by a mercantile guild who demand neutrality and civility from all visitors (usually pirates, blockade runners, assassins, smugglers and any variety of foreigners and villains).
Locked down by the Silk Road’s ironclad rules (and cannons) as their ships undergo repairs, Buckle and the Captain of the Babylon experience an uneasy truce. Buckle also finds an ally (perhaps untrustworthy) in the Guild Chancellor, and develops his daring plan to rescue Sabrina.
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"Preston's Steampunk series is not just entertaining and fun but full of great characters who deepen and change over the course of the books. Expect amazing Steampunk scenes, yes, but also people you care about and a lovely mix of the comic and serious. Just pure storytelling at its best."—Jeff VanderMeer, author of Annihilation and the Southern Reach novels
(I also have a new website at mybagofgoodwriting.com: you can swing by, purchase books and keep up on all my writing news. Thank you for your support).