The Affinity Bridge

The Affinity Bridge: A Penny Dreadful Review

            An airship crashes into a London park and the pilot, a valuable automaton, is missing. A strangler stalks the streets, supposedly the glowing ghost of a policeman out for revenge. To top off this situation, there are zombies lurking in the shadows. What’s an ailing queen to do? Put her best agent on the case. Sir Maurice Newbury and his assistant Miss Veronica Hobbes, working out of their office at the British Museum, puzzle out the strange occurrences in The Affinity Bridge by George Mann.

            This is an exciting mystery with a bit of a Sherlock Holmes flavor. Sir Maurice has quite a bit of depth, and this book hints at lots of secrets I’m just itching to uncover. Miss Hobbes is clever, indomitable, and very feminine. I do love an epilogue which changes my entire view of a character and thusly the story, and The Affinity Bridge has one of these. No, I will not tell you what it reveals. That would spoil the whole thing!

            There are a lot of different threads to this story. Some don’t seem relevant at first, but I assure you that they all have their purpose. This is an excellent mystery that keeps you guessing until the big reveal at the end. Bravo, George Mann!

            I give The Affinity Bridge four and a half gears out of five. I quite enjoyed this book, and I look forward to discovering the rest of the Newbury and Hobbes mysteries. They make a good team.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Jack Cloudie

Jack Cloudie: A Penny Dreadful Review

            Young Jack Keats escapes the noose to serve on an airship no one wants, on a mission no one really things they will survive. Omar ibn Barir is freed by his master moments before everyone he knows is slaughtered. These two boys hold the fate of their continent in their hands. One wrong step, and their countries are plunged into war.

            Master author Stephen Hunt has done it again. Jack Cloudie is fascinating, frightening, and fantastic. The story never quite goes in the direction the reader anticipates, and at times the events are quite brutal. It cannot be said that Mr. Hunt goes easy on his characters. For instance, I was heartbroken at the outcome of poor Omar’s love story, but not for the reasons one might think.

It is a deeply violent and problematic world these characters inhabit. I can’t go too far into the villain’s secrets without spoiling the book, but if only that society were a little more open and equal, a lot of people would still be alive! Then again, if Omar’s society held more equality, then Jack would likely still be in prison and the airship Iron Partridge would be scrap.

            Four and a half gears out of five. This book makes one think and has the reader on the edge of their seat the entire time.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

The Zeppelin Story

The Zeppelin Story: A Penny Dreadful Review

            We see zeppelins and airships all the time in Steampunk literature, but where did they come from? How were they put together? What did they look like? Do they still exist? By chance, I found a compact little picture book that answers these questions. It is called The Zeppelin Story.

            Written by John Christopher, The Zeppelin Story is a pint-sized coffee table book suitable for all ages. The story is sensibly laid out, covering the major zeppelin developments, the World Wars, the Hindenburg, then finishing with a few words on modern airships and what new heights technology might rise to in the future. The illustrating photographs are attractively laid out and clearly captioned. This book contains everything from schematics to propaganda posters, from brief biographies of famous pilots to travel brochures. The Zeppelin Story is comprehensive and informative. If you can read, you can enjoy it.

I give this handy little book four gears out of five. It’s pretty to have out on display, full of fascinating information, and a perfect introduction to the art and science of airships.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather

Kat On A Hot Tin Airship

Kat On A Hot Tin Airship: A Penny Dreadful Review

            What happens when one takes a Tennessee Williams play as a jumping off point and adds demons? Why, ask Sam Stone. She wrote a book about it – Kat on a Hot Tin Airship.

            In the scant years since her literary debut, Kat Lightfoot has transformed from a shop girl with a good head on her shoulders to a gun-toting demon-slayer. With her journalist friend George Pepper and her inventor friend Martin Crewe, the practical young lady destroys any forces of the Darkness she happens across. Often, she gets paid for this and is therefore able to support her mother and little sister.

            Her brother finally makes a proper appearance on the page. The Lightfoot family travels to New Orleans to celebrate his marriage to the daughter of a wealthy landowner. Sam Stone takes the oppressive miasma of secrecy that hangs over the characters of any given Tennessee Williams play and turns it into the oppressive miasma of a vengeful spirit/demon. I find that this meshes quite well.

            There are a lot of twists, turns, and revelations featured in this book, and I must say that it can be a little difficult toward the end to keep track of who is what and haunting or possessing whom. I must say, though, that poor Kat is also exceedingly confused. I don’t think she’ll sort out quite what happened until she gets home to New York. Maybe she’ll figure out this book by the next book?

            At any rate, Kat Lightfoot and her family are a delight to read about. The characters are so vivid and the demons are pretty creepy. This book did not give me nightmares like the last one, but perhaps this is because demon possession doesn’t disturb me quite as much as the walking, talking corpses of my loved ones.

            Kat on a Hot Tin Airship was a delight to read. I give it three and a half gears out of five and look forward eagerly to the next installment of Kat Lightfoot’s adventures. I suggest that you track down a store selling the publications of Telos Publishing and purchase a copy.

Your Correspondent From The Bookstore,

Penny J. Merriweather