It’s Book Monday. One lucky commenter will win a copy!
CUTTLEFISH
by Dave Freer
Copy provided by PYR
The smallest thing can change the path of history.
The year is 1976, and the British Empire still spans the globe. Coal drives the world, and the smog of it hangs thick over the canals of London.
Clara Calland is on the run. Hunted, along with her scientist mother, by Menshevik spies and Imperial soldiers, they flee Ireland for London. They must escape airships, treachery, and capture. Under flooded London’s canals, they join the rebels who live in the dank tunnels there.
Tim Barnabas is one of the underpeople, born to the secret town of drowned London, place of anti-imperialist republicans and Irish rebels, part of the Liberty—the people who would see a return to older values and free elections. Seeing no farther than his next meal, Tim has hired on as a submariner on the Cuttlefish, a coal-fired submarine that runs smuggled cargoes beneath the steamship patrols, to the fortress America and beyond.
When the Imperial soldiery comes ravening, Clara and her mother are forced to flee aboard the Cuttlefish. Hunted like beasts, the submarine and her crew must undertake a desperate voyage across the world, from the Faeroes to the Caribbean and finally across the Pacific to find safety. But only Clara and Tim Barnabas can steer them past treachery and disaster, to freedom in Westralia. Carried with them—a lost scientific secret that threatens the very heart of Imperial power.
(summary from the Barnes and Noble website)
I love how you can take one small thing (like synthetic ammonia not being invented) and use it as the catalyst to create an entire new world. This fast-paced YA tale is filled with submarines, smugglers, death-defying adventure, and a dash of romance. Freer’s nautical aesthetic and use of submarine pirates provide a fresh and imaginative take on steampunk. This was a fun, satisfying read.
One lucky commenter will win my hardcover copy of CUTTLEFISH. Open internationally, contest closes Sunday, September 30th at 11:59 PM PST.
Count me in! … Sounds like a wonderful adventure. I love how steampunk has this ability to take us on the adventures we only dreamed of as children!
I’m sold! This book sounds simply fantastic. Submarines, smugglers, death-defying adventure, and a dash of romance…..definitely my kind of book! Thank you for this great giveaway!
This book sounds really cool! I like alternate history books, especially ones of the steampunk style. =)
Ahhhh … the possibilities. Count me in.
You had me at “coal-fired submarine”.
Wow, underpeople, drowned London, submarines, airships – Cuttlefish sounds like a fantastic adventure.
I love it when small technological shifts are played through to their logical consequences — sounds really interesting.
Sounds great. I’d love to win a copy!!!
It sounds so cool, I’m really new to steam-punk so I’m looking forward reading more books like this.
Fascinating! Love the concept and technology.
I would love to win!
Wow, sounds right up my cobbled alley. Amazing to see what a small historical change can spark off in the imagination.
Anything that mixes death-defying adventure with a dash of romance is good by me! Sounds like a really good read.
This sounds like a wonderful adventure and I love the ship design as well as the name… Cuttlefish.