I recently did an #AuthorAMA (Ask Me Anything) in which people posted some questions for me to answer. One of the questions was about the strange and unpredictable weather in my steampunk novel series, The Blackburn Chronicles.
In the final book, the Chasm Walkers, the hero and heroine crash land in the northern territory that has been sent into a mini ice age as a result of the calamitous quakes that fracture all of north America.They are trying to beat an ice storm that is bearing down on them. Slowed by the knee-deep snow and bitter cold, they hear what can only be described as a freight train full of glass crashing underwater.
It is ice stacking and it is barreling towards them at breakneck speed and threatening to cut off their route to the only shelter.
To truly appreciate the noise, watch a video of this amazing phenomenon...
Here is an excerpt from that scene:
Ashton stumbled up ahead and beyond him flashes of gold twinkled in the shifting light. The rumble grew to a roar, shaking the fragmented ground, the sound reverberating up my legs. A shroud of mists lifted revealing a massive wave of ice shards moving along the surface toward us.
Like countless pieces of broken glass, the thin fragments of surface ice shifted over one another, their edges catching the sun as they tumbled on the waves and wind over the ice, the sound like a train rumbling toward us. Ashton skidded to a stop, going down on his heels.
“What is that?” I gasped, flailing to reverse my stride, my boots squealing on the chunk of snow.
“Stacking,” Ashton shouted. “Back…back the other way!”
This was such an exciting scene to write! I had to get up and pace bit to calm down. This crazy natural occurrence is extremely loud and can move quite fast.
If you'd like to know more about the steampunk thrillers in my Blackburn Chronicles series or to sample the free novellas that set the whole adventure in motion, you can find them here.
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