Comets and Corsets: Five Victorian Spacepunk Stories

By Anthea Sharp

From USA Today bestselling author Anthea Sharp, Steampunk with an intergalactic twist! Enter a fantastical world filled with alien spacecraft and Victorian sensibilities, formal balls and travel to the stars.

From a mishap-filled wedding to a fugitive’s fresh start, experience the world of Victoria Eternal - where nanotech ball gowns are all the rage, steam power vies with alien starship technology, and the yearnings of the human heart remain unchanged...

Includes: A Splendid Wedding, The Clockwork Harp, Lady Elizabeth's Betrothal Ball, One More Star, Shining, and Stowaway.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fiddlehead Press
• Release date: Jan 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781680131048

Anthea Sharp

~ Award-winning author of YA Urban Fantasy ~Growing up, Anthea Sharp spent her summers raiding the library shelves and reading, especially fantasy. She now makes her home in the Pacific Northwest, where she writes, plays the fiddle, and spends time with her small-but-good family. Contact her at [e-mail], follow her on twitter, find her on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/AntheaSharp), and visit her website.

Book preview

Comets and Corsets

Comets and Corsets

Five Victorian Spacepunk Stories

Anthea Sharp

Fiddlehead Press

Contents

COMETS & CORSETS

A Splendid Wedding

The Clockwork Harp

Lady Elizabeth’s Betrothal Ball (The Adventures of Liza Roth - 1)

One More Star, Shining (The Adventures of Liza Roth - 2)

Stowaway (The Adventures of Liza Roth - 3)

About the Stories

Also by Anthea Sharp

About the Author

COMETS & CORSETS

Five Victorian Spacepunk Stories

ANTHEA SHARP

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real events or persons is purely coincidental.

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Collection copyright 2018 Anthea Sharp. All rights reserved. A Splendid Wedding first appeared in Futuristica, Volume 2, published 2017. The Clockwork Harp first appeared in Fiction River: Haunted, published 2016. Lady Elizabeth’s Betrothal Ball first appeared in Fiction River: Last Stand, published 2016. One More Star, Shining first appeared in Beyond The Stars: At Galaxy’s Edge, published 2016. Stowaway first appeared in Orphans in the Black, published 2016

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Thank you to the editors who selected these tales for their anthologies: Chester Hoster, Kerrie L. Hughes, Dean Wesley Smith and Felicia Fredlund, and Patrice Fitzgerald.

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Visit the author at www.antheasharp.com and sign up for her mailing list, Sharp Tales, for a free story and news of upcoming releases!

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QUALITY CONTROL: If you encounter typos or formatting problems, please contact [e-mail] so they may be corrected.

COMETS & CORSETS

Steampunk with an intergalactic twist! Enter a fantastical world filled with alien spacecraft and Victorian sensibilities, formal balls and travel to the stars.

---

From a mishap-filled wedding to a fugitive’s fresh start, experience the world of Victoria Eternal - where nanotech ball gowns are all the rage, steam power vies with alien starship technology, and the yearnings of the human heart remain unchanged…

A Splendid Wedding

It was warm in the dressing room, the sticky smell of freesias mixing with perfumed lotions until Lady Belinda Montfort’s head pounded. She smiled through it, though. A lady did not complain. From her perch on the stiff-backed chair, she nodded at her daughter, who stood before the imager applying a final bit of color to her lips.

You look beautiful, Cerise, Belinda said. The wedding will go flawlessly.

It must.

The white fabric of Cerise’s gown floated about her, the nanolifters making it seem as though the bride was adrift in pale sea of spangled stars. Her dark hair was drawn up in an elaborate coiffure studded with constellations of white flowers, and gems twinkled at the corners of her tilted eyes.

The tall wooden door on the far wall opened, and a woman poked her head in.

Five minutes, she said, her voice as bright as her glossy azure hair. Lady Montfort, your son is coming to escort you. The big moment is almost here!

Belinda gave the ceremony manager a smile, though her face felt as stiff as plas-glass. Her son would accompany her to her seat… because her husband already had a companion. Lord Montfort, Viscount of Ridgley and Xeros Station 418, had taken a mistress years ago, making it clear that his wife’s happiness was of little concern.

Bitterness welled in her throat, and she pressed it back down. This was Cerise’s day and she was determined it would be perfect. There was no room for any other outcome.

Don’t worry, Mother. Cerise turned from inspecting herself in the shining surface of the imager. Her dress swirled about her like the spiral arms of a galaxy. Everything will be fine, no matter what happens. Arun and I love one another, and really that’s the only important thing.

She was so wrong.

Appearances were essential. And beginnings. If everything went smoothly then surely Cerise’s married life would be happy. Or at least tolerable.

The Montfort estate had spared no expense to secure the cathedral on 3753 Cruithne. It was considered good luck to hold the ceremony on Earth’s co-orbital, and the church was the perfect blend of tradition and modernity. The grand cathedral was reconstructed from an original building shipped up from England at great cost. Half the windows and the ceiling had been replaced with durable plas-glass to let the light of the galaxy shine in on the proceedings. The wedding today would offer views of both Earth and the moon as Cruithne scudded through space. Most auspicious, indeed.

Belinda had been repeatedly assured that the atmospheric pressure bubble surrounding the cathedral and mini spaceport was completely dependable, with several backup systems in place. Still, she’d be relieved to fly back to London for the reception.

She swallowed, and smoothed the lavender silk of her own, less extravagant, skirts. She’d had the good sense to forgo breakfast. The bride’s mother might be pale, but she would not be so horribly indelicate as to lose the contents of her stomach during the wedding. She was already somewhat prone to spacesickness, but the medicines she’d taken would hold it at bay.

Mother? Colin’s voice, followed by a rap at the door.

A moment, she called.

She rose and went to Cerise, careful of the drifting skirts. Resting her fingertips on Cerise’s shoulders, she gave her daughter a quick kiss on the cheek.

I love you, Belinda said.

A hundred more words tangled behind her tongue. Don’t do this. Be careful. Marriage is a trap you will die inside.

She could voice none of them.

Cerise smiled, like a brilliant sun. I love you, too.

It was blessedly cooler in the hallway, though perhaps that was simply the effect of the dark paneled walls, the bare wooden floor beneath her shoes.

Colin stood there, waiting for her. He looked entirely handsome in his pinstriped suit, although his hair, the same dun brown color as her own, was sticking out a trifle on one side from that cowlick that could never quite be tamed. She resisted the urge to smooth it down for him.

Her son held out his arm. Shall we?

No.

Belinda inclined her head and set her gloved fingers on his forearm. They emerged into the confines of the narthex. Small stone gargoyles perched at the peaks of the carved arches, their expressions sour. She knew exactly how they felt.

Her breath hitched as they approached the immense arched doors leading into the cathedral itself. Through them, she glimpsed bright colors—the gathered audience in their finery, the spatters of light thrown from the remaining stained-glass windows.

A breathtaking array of stars peeked in on the humans gathered below. Belinda hoped the cold promise of that light would be a benediction upon the proceedings, and not a blight.

Music drifted out, solemn yet celebratory, the harmony of a string quartet echoing beneath the soaring roof. It had been a very long time since she had visited a church. They reminded her too much of her own wedding day.

Colin patted her hand and stepped over the threshold, bringing her with him. Though she was aware of the wooden pews on either side, the anticipatory faces turned her way, she kept her gaze on the figured burgundy carpet stretching down the aisle. Colored light smudged the edges of the carpet as she and Colin moved forward, toward the high altar. The scent of