Imagine by Kassy Tayler

Imagine 

by Kassy Tayler

Imagine what would happen if a comet came to close to earth in the mid 1800’s.  Astronomers saw it coming and knew it would lead to the ultimate destruction of everything in its path.  Who would the world chose to save?  And how would they save them?

In Ashes Of Twilight a group of scientists in England built a dome on the coast of Wales to save the royal family, along with the peerage of that time.  How did they survive in the dome when the world burned?  By the power of steam.

My heroine, Wren MacAvoy mines the coal that keeps the dome alive.  But after 200 years the society within has become stagnant and the mines are running out of coal.  Imagine living out your life in a place where there is no option beyond what you are destined to do because of where you are born.  The royals stay royals and the workers stay workers.  There is no chance for advancement and no option to do anything else.  Wouldn’t you want to escape that?

Writing about a world that was changed 200 years ago was a challenge but it was also a joy to stretch my imagination.  How did people survive inside a dome?  There had to be fans to keep the air cool, but there also had to be a system in place to feed them.  Gardens were placed on rooftops to grow fruits and vegetables.  Animals lived out their lives in tiny pens.  And underground, where Wren and the “shiners” lived, they figured out a way to have power from waterwheels because having a fire in the mines is dangerous due to the buildup of methane gas.

Ashes Of Twilight is a story about Wren’s start of a revolution and eventual escape from the dome.  But it comes at a steep price and just because she accomplished her goal does not mean that life will be easy.

So what about life outside the dome?  In the second book in the series, Shadows Of Glass, there are airships when a group of explorers from America arrive.  But there is also the different geography of the world.  Continents have changed due to the melting of the polar ice caps.  The world is renewed with new growth after the fires.  But it is also a savage place and the people who were once sheltered inside the dome have to learn how to survive in it.

Writing Steampunk isn’t so much about the gadgets.  It is about a world where technology stayed on one track instead of taking a turn with the invention of the light bulb.  (Imagine if Edison had not been born). It’s about people who think this is the norm, and their lives, struggles, losses and victories.  Steam is as normal to them as cars and planes and cell phones are to us.

Luckily, we live in a world where invention of new and better things is the norm.  For Wren, invention and change was frowned upon.  So she fought for something better.

I hope you enjoy Ashes Of Twilight.  Comment and I will give away an ARC of the sequel, Shadows of Glass, coming July 23 to one lucky poster.  Be sure to look for the conclusion, Remnants of Tomorrow.

~Kassy

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