1907: A world of steam and steel, of brass and bravery. Spaceships ply the lanes above the Earth, running on coke furnaces and a prayer, while the atomic-powered Circumferential Rail runs the route between Paris, France, and Houston, Texas. Where there is cargo, and passengers of means, pirates soon follow, and this is how Jonathan Orbital, heir to the Circumferential Rail finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy surrounding a kidnapped French woman with a valuable secret.Enter the roguish space pirate Phinneas Greaves, who kidnaps the beautiful and intelligent Cecilie Renault off the Circumferential Rail in order to deliver her father's research to the highest bidder. The smitten Jonathan will stop at nothing to rescue her, but both men soon learn the global implications of the woman's knowledge, and they are forced to wage harrowing battles across the Big Black of space and the dusty landscapes of the American West, with the only certainty being that those who want to exploit this revolutionary technology will stop at nothing to acquire it.The Oilman's Daughter is a rollicking steampunk collaboration representing the best of authors Ian Thomas Healy (Just Cause Universe) and Allison M. Dickson (Strings, Colt Coltrane).
About the Authors Ian Thomas Healy dabbles in many different genres. He's a ten-time participant and winner of National Novel Writing Month and is also the creator of the Writing Better Action Through Cinematic Techniques workshop, which helps writers to improve their action scenes. When not writing, which is rare, he enjoys watching hockey, reading comic books (and serious books, too), and living in the great state of Colorado, which he shares with his wife, children, house-pets, and approximately five million other people. Visit www.ianthealy.com for more information. * * * Allison M. Dickson is the author of two published novels: horror-thriller Strings, and the dystopian epic, The Last Supper, which received a starred review in Publishers weekly. She also has published nearly two dozen short stories covering both speculative and realistic realms, both independently and in various anthologies and magazines like Apex. Her independently-produced Colt Coltrane series, featuring a detective and his robot sidekick in 1940s Los Angeles, has become a regular fixture at local comic conventions. She is represented by Stephanie Rostan of LGR Literary. When she isn't writing, she's usually gaming, catching up on her shows, or wandering the urban sprawl of Dayton, OH, in search of great coffee and microbrew. Allison keeps a semi-regular blog full of ramblings at allisonmdickson.com. About the Artist Bram Stoker Award finalist Chaz Kemp embraces an Art Nouveau style that incorporates vibrancy and color scheme into fantasy and steampunk art in a way that is rarely seen. As an illustrator, the influence of Alphonse Mucha & Ivan Bilibin is evident in his award winning work that combines the artistic energy of the Roaring 20s with the untamed possibilities of steampunk and fantasy. He is a featured artist in steampunk legend Paul Roland's book Steampunk: Back to the Future with the New Victorians. Amazing Stories magazine featured him in the November 2014 issue, and his work has been seen in other publications such as Steampunk Magazine, Savage Insider and Aurealis. Over the years Chaz has created art for game publishers, sci-fi/fantasy conventions and several book covers. In 2012, he illustrated his first graphic novel entitled Behind These Eyes written by Guy Anthony De Marco and Peter J. Wacks. The graphic novel was a Bram Stoker Award finalist. You can find more of his work at ChazKemp.com
