A Steampunk Carol

By Steven R. Southard

That stuffy Victorian inventor, Stanton Wardgrave, is back again, eight years after inventing holograms and meeting the American Josephine Boulton.  Married now, with a son and daughter, he’s dealing with rather too much balderdash and poppycock this Christmas Eve.  Conversing with his dead father?  Expecting three visitors?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Mar 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781619503786

Steven R. Southard

Growing up in the Midwest, Steven R. Southard always found the distant oceans exotic and tantalizing. He served aboard submarines and now works as a civilian naval engineer. In his stories, he takes readers on journeys of discovery in many seas and various vessels. Steve has written in the historical, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and steampunk genres. Come aboard at http://sites.google.com/site/stevenrsouthard/ and voyage with his intriguing characters in tales of aquatic adventure.

Book preview

Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication

Stave 1

Stave 2

Stave 3

Stave 4

Stave 5

About the Author

A Steampunk Carol

by

Steven R. Southard

All rights reserved

Copyright © October 23, 2012, Steven R. Southard

Cover Art Copyright © 2012, Charlotte Holley

Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

Lockhart, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Gypsy Shadow Publishing, LLC.

ISBN: 978-1-61950-377-9

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: November 18, 2012

Dedication

To my grandsons Brandon and Orion, with the fond hope they will delight in the magic and fantasy of childhood before—all too soon—they grow up.

Stave 1

To begin with, Stanton Wardgrave was dead. At least, Stanton Wardgrave III was dead, a fact known for certain by Stanton Wardgrave IV ever since 1867. This established truth rendered it all the more disconcerting for the younger Stanton to see the deceased man standing before him now.

Father? No! It can’t be you! Stanton gaped in terror and astonishment. The background behind the elder Wardgrave was ephemeral and indistinct, but Stanton was too shocked to notice.

Why not? Don’t you believe your own eyes? Your own ears? The deep, ringing voice could not be mistaken.

I’m asleep. I must be having a dream, Stanton pinched himself. "That’s the very thing. I drank wine after