Within Victorian Mists

By Steven R. Southard

If the fog of time had lifted a bit differently on the 19th century, and you could mix a haughty Englishman tinkerer, a plucky American steam engine repair-woman, laser holograms, giant dirigibles, and ornithopters, you might just get one madcap steampunk romance. Strap on your brass-rimmed goggles to see what happens... Within Victorian Mists.<

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gypsy Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Mar 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781619505957

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.

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Contents

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

About the Author

Within Victorian Mists

by Steven R. Southard

All rights reserved

Copyright © October, 2010, Steven R. Southard

Cover Art Copyright © 2010, Charlotte Holley

Gypsy Shadow Publishing

Lockhart, TX

www.gypsyshadow.com

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this eBook 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 eBook 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.

ISBN: 978-1-61950-595-7

Published in the United States of America

First eBook Edition: October 22, 2010

Dedication

To my wife, Gail, who helps me more with my writing than she knows, and who still inspires the romantic side I never knew I had.

Chapter 1

Hoping for success this time, Stanton Wardgrave threw the knife switch. Through smoked-glass goggles, he watched his apparatus, fearing another failure. On the laboratory table, an image began forming at the end opposite the gleaming mirrors and prisms. A reddish apparition shimmered there, a tall, glowing blob lacking any distinct features or shape of its own. A voice issued from the crimson ghost, Stanton’s own voice.

John, by the grace of God King of England, the voice said, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls—

The bloody devil take it! Stanton said as he jerked back on the switch lever to open the circuit. The apparition vanished. Its voice ceased. Stanton stared at the arrangement of prisms, mirrors, and lenses, wondering what other adjustments he could make now. Nothing seemed to make a difference.

Sir, may I present—

MacSwyny! Stanton tore off his goggles to glare at his rotund, red-haired servant standing at the laboratory’s entrance. "I