Feature Friday Futures

Today I am over at Erik Klein's blog for a Feature Friday Futures interview! A technology geek and an author, Erik's questions were so much fun to answer. We explored the interesting treasures research for my steampunk thriller, The Tremblers, unearthed. No pun intended!

Take a peek at the interview where we get into military history and Victorian ingenuity. What was surprising to learn about and what everyday item has a cool twist in my steampunk series, The Blackburn Chronicles.

Submersibles, Zombie Knights, and Free Reads

Today I am over at Pamela Thibodeaux's Wild Rose blog to talk about the third book in my steampunk thriller series, The Blackburn Chronicles.

Chasm Walkers is the culmination of a series that spans nations, seas, and the sky. Long brewing wars and unexpected betrayals drive Charlotte's story towards an excited finale!

From strange submersible machines to unexplained mechanica controlling the heroin, there are plot twists and harrowing adventures that bring this series to an explosive end. 

I hope you check out Charlottes journey from debutante to dissenter to the most dangerous woman in a war for survival.

The Chasm Walkers will definitely satisfy your fix for thrills.

To celebrate the release of the series, I have three #FreeReads available to download. Have a taste of the strange and chaotic world of The Blackburn Chronicles with these novellas...

Click to Download Free Novellas

Lady Villains Need Love Too

Available Now

Lady villains sometimes get the fuzzy end of the lollipop in terms of motivation. Jealousy over a lost love or anger at being rejected are all fine reasons to go to crazy town, but there are so many other more compelling reasons that are so much more interesting.

Fury at your family's mistreatment for one, is a pretty driving reason and it is one I tried to explore in writing my female characters in the second book of my series. 

In the Wind Reapers, Ajala is an incredibly strong, loving, and therefore shockingly ruthless character. Some might argue that she is the villain of the book, but I disagree. I think that her goals just happen to be diametrically opposed to the protagonists (Charlotte Blackburn's) but that they are not, in their purest form...diabolical or bad.

She is a woman fighting for the survival of her family and extended clan. Those vicious Reapers everyone fears came from somewhere. They weren't born on those massive walking machines that troll the Wasteland. And now, as conditions get worse and her people start dying, she has to act in the only way she knows how.

Ajala is a leader, a mother, a warrior, and a formidable negotiator. She is valiant for her own cause and it is why she was one of the most interesting characters to write...

Now, as I headed to speak with Ajala, the clank and clatter of the Wind Reaper’s legs kept time with the sway of the vast vessel. With the sun going down and hiding our location, we moved using the thermal winds to fill the craft’s massive sails. Most of the debris cleared, the fire scorched deck still showed the scars of our battle. 

Yet as I peered at the patchwork material mounted on the reconstructed masts I couldn’t help but be impressed by the speed with which the people recovered from the sky marauder attack.  Ascending the ladder to the outlook tower, I pushed through the heavy hatch.

Ajala started speaking before I pulled off my gas mask. “Beautiful, this horrible place, is it not?” She leaned, arms crossed, looking out of the cracked windows. The gold discs woven to the ends of her scarf reflected the dimming light. “All angry and red and steaming.”

“It is the stuff of nightmares.” I walked over, leaned on the opposite side. My hand twitched, wanting to scratch at the slice in my neck, but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. “But then again…”

“Yes, I know, you aren’t a Reaper.  We find beauty in this wasteland.”

A jagged seam glowed in the dark landscape and then flared with ignited gas that burned a dozen stories high.

Ajala’s eyes narrowed with the flash of brilliant orange and blue fire. “Myself, my people, we all were chambermaids, plantation slaves, and factory workers.”

“Before the quakes.”

She nodded. “Scratching for our piece of freedom before the hand of God smote us all.”

“And so you forged a life out here in damnation.” I let my gaze travel the ink swirls at the corners of her eyes and thought them strangely beautiful. Like the henna designs on the hands of women in India from my books. “Why…why did you leave the Texas-Louisiana Dome?”

“Texiana,” she snorted, a derisive sound that flashed heat into her eyes. “An atrocity for both states. And I did not leave voluntarily, in any case.”

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Find out how Ajala's story turns out and what part she plays in the thrilling steampunk series, The Blackburn Chronicles. And don't forget to check out the #FreeReads as well!

Blood Blizzards - Trembler Weather Pt. 4

In book 2 of The Blackburn Chronicles, the Wind Reapers, Charlotte and Sheriff Riley brave the tumultuous Wasteland to secure a cure for the deadly Ashen Croup -- a devastating illness that drowns victims in their own lungs. Caught up in a storm just outside the glowing electric dome that protects the city, they find a way in through the decaying grid...

In the distance, lightning lit up the dark sky illuminating an enormous black cloud. I squinted, adjusted the violet lens of my goggles down over my right eye, and froze. A roiling mass of churning wind and ash, the dark cloud rumbled with flashes of light in its belly. It moved like a massive wave towards us.

Riley motioned and I followed him along a tacky path to an opening just ahead in the dome. The tar never could seem to set into its final hardness where the dome met the street. Lit only by the flickering pulses of the grid’s energy, we stole along the curved base of the protective covering. Behind us, the howling winds raced in from the dark, hot abyss of the wasteland. 

A deep rumble tore across the landscape as the mounting wave of ash and rain built to a colossal storm. It was far off still, but closing in. Already, frigid splatters of the Blood Blizzard flew at us. They hit the cross sections of the grid and hissed as water evaporated and ash burned to shiny hard spots on the ground. The tainted rain left red splashes on my gloves and sleeves and made me appear as if I had survived some terrible, bloody battle.

The strangely violent and unpredictable climate of the Blackburn Chronicles world was so much fun to use as a way to push the characters to the limit.  The Wasteland offered a multitude of dangers to anyone foolhardy or desperate enough to venture into the desolate lands between the domes.

Red ash from the fissure fires mixed with the water of the storm left anyone caught in the torrent dripping wet with crimson. Quite a frightening sight, but an appropriate warning for those thinking they might try the journey.

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If you like dystopian thrillers with lots of adventure and strange devices, they check out The Blackburn Chronicles.

For a taste of this fantastic world, try the FREE NOVELLAS here.

Waves of Fractured Ice - Trembler Weather Pt.3

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.

The Blackburn Chronicles and Novellas

The Tremblers Is On Sale...

I am so excited to announce that tomorrow The Tremblers

will be on sale for 99 Cents! 

 From breathless moments with her wayward spy, Ashton, to facing her darkest fear amid the caverns of a fractured world, Charlotte Blackburn's story is EPIC...

Charlotte Blackburn—Beautiful, intelligent, a gifted tinkerer—lives in a cloistered world of wealth and privilege beneath the Electric Tesla Dome that shields survivors of The Great Calamity. But when her father is abducted, and a strange sickness starts transforming men into vicious monsters, she discovers that technology is no protection at all.

Ashton Wells has a dire mission: Secure Colonel Blackburn and deliver his research to The Order of the Sword and Scroll. But the plan goes awry, and he is left with nothing but the colonel's daughter who has a target on her back and is willing stop at nothing to rescue her father—including handing over to the enemy the only means to stop the monstrous plague.

Branded as traitors, Ashton and Charlotte brave the treacherous floating sky ports of Outer City to hunt down the elusive inventor who is the only person able to activate the strange device that harbors the secret to their salvation.

With the government closing in, a rebellion brewing in the streets, and terrifying Tremblers attacking the innocent, the two must work together to stop their fragile world from crumbling once more into destruction.

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Don't forget to check out the exciting sequel to Charlotte's thrilling fight to save the Peaceful Union in...

The Wind Reapers

Available February 9th!

Charlotte Blackburn—Hero, hunted, the unwitting symbol of a dark rebellion—she thwarted the deadly intent of the treacherous Order of the Sword and Scroll, but at a shattering cost. Now, she fights to survive among a tribe of fierce Wind Reapers who troll the wasteland aboard massive metal walkers. But a new storm is brewing and Charlotte is once again the linchpin in a deadly plan...

Deadly Reasons

The steampunk world of the Blackburn Chronicles is a dangerous place. Its tales are those of dark heroes, fantastic devices, and unbreakable love.

When concieving the world of The Tremblers, I wanted the aesthetic of a steampunk world, but for me, there had to be practical reason for all of the gears and sprockets. Cogs and brass for fashion's sake only didn't match with my vision for the series.

There had to be a reason for someone to don mechanical devices and articulated lens goggles. So, I created The Great Calamity. A continent-wide disaster that set off a chain of earthqukes fracturing North America.  It is what changed the world of Charlotte Blackburn forever.  Her world no longer felt safe and the fashion and architecture of the post disaster era reflected that.

Deadly vapors from the burning chasms called for face masks or filters when leaving the safety of the Tesla Domes. From glass face plates to leather nose and mouth covers, the citizens of the new Peaceful Union were familiar with every kind of breathing apparatus.

Corsets now had gum rubber lining to minimize shocks from the static energy created by the massive electric Tesla Dome that caged a rebuilt Manhattan. The outer bodice of gowns bore the aluminum metal links of chainmail; another measure of protection against possible flying debris in the event of another quake.

In Outer City, the floating sky settlement, the wild boom town citizens wore leather lined with armour. Assistive devices like mechanical braces to strengthen injured arms, hands, and legs were common in the sky harbors. Being so high in the sky, the sun required the use of tinted goggles and additional filters. Many citizens bore hidden weapons tucked into the ribbon of a top hat or disguised as jewlery.  

One of my favorite wardrobe research pojects was the bedouin inspired wraps and tunics worn by the Wind Reaper clans. Exeedingly hot with poisonous sandstorms, the brutal conditions of the Wasteland called for a different kind of clothing. Reapers lived on humongous walking fortresses that roamed the constantly shifting dunes and required more ease of movement and protection from the airborn embers that smoldered on the winds.

The most classic treatment of clothes in The Blackburn Chronicles is the uniform of the those belonging to The Order of the Sword and Scroll. Crimson cloaks and armor breastplates worn by the knights harken back to the centuries old origin of the powerful society. Ashton Wells, spy for the Order, favors a knight's blade over the more modern tracer gun.  

Charlotte Blackburn, the heroin of the series goes through a tremendous transformation from debutante to dissenter and later...to the Dark Wrath.  Her ice-blue ball gown signifies the wealth and priveledge she enjoyed before Ashton Wells enters her life. As she becomes Blackburn's Daughter leader of the rebel group, Defiance, she dons the leather and linen of the sky dwellers up in Outer City. And finally, as she comes into her own as a warrior, her dark cloak, arm guards, and electrified baton transform her into the weapon she had become.

The world of The Tremblers, the first book in my YA steampunk series, The Blackkburn Chronicles, was so much fun to write. I can't wait to share the epic story with you!

+raquel byrnes

Feelings and Frappuccinos

Here's the truth of it. I am happy alone in the dark with my keyboard and some coffee. That is my comfort zone. I live mostly in my head with my characters and that's alright. My hubby gets it. He entices me with Frappuccinos and we work it out.

However, as an author, I paradoxically long to connect with others through what I'm reading or writing or watching. Talking about books or movies...that is so energizing for me!  I wish I could just have a monthly coffee house meeting with all of you! 

Alas, you are all spread throughout our little blue marble. So its a struggle to really reach out and connect with other lovers of books, avid wordsmiths, book dragons...if you will.                                                                           

Recently, I finished a steampunk, zombie, romance trilogy. Yes...I said that right. It seemed like such a natural transition after writing my Gothic romance books.  There is a lot of crossover between the two genres on an emotional level.

It occurred to me that some of you might have experienced an unexpected crossover into a genre you might not normally read.  Did a friend get so jazzed about a book you just had to read it?  What led to your little reading digression...and did it stick?

I used to be just romantic suspense and then I saw The Woman In Black, a movie of the Gothic mystery persuasion.  I loved it so much that I sought out similar movies and books...totally addicted now. Sound familiar or are you a die hard fan of your chosen flavor of storytelling?  

Writing steampunk this time around was so exciting for me!  The alternative history crowd is such a great community of artists, inventors, seamstresses, and of course, authors.  The TeslaCon and other conferences are definitely a draw. Who doesn't love cool weapons and luxurious materials? 

The journey from concept to completion for these novels continues to be a wild ride!

Click to learn more...

I'd love to share with you the raucous ride our heroine, Charlotte Blackburn takes in the series. From debutante to dissenter, some heroes are born ladies.  I will be hosting some launch parties and what not when the first book releases in January BUT...

I will have some free goodies for all of you in a few weeks!  I've written three novellas to introduce book one of The Blackburn Chronicles, The Tremblers! They will be available for download soon. Ill keep you posted!

+RaquelByrnes