ROBERT APPLETON
PREHISTORIC CLOCK
The age of steam meets the time of the dinosaurs when a science experiment goes catastrophically wrong.
Airship officer Verity Champlain is well-respected by her crew. But after a vital mission nearly goes wrong, she is having second thoughts about her career.
Lord Garrett Embrey is on the run. The Leviacrum Council, the secretive scientific body that holds sway over the Empire, executed his father and uncle and now they want him dead too.
Professor Cecil Reardon is consumed by grief. Since his wife and son died he's been obsessed with his work, and now he is on the verge of an extraordinary scientific breakthrough: his machine is about to breach time itself, to undo fate's cruel taking of his loved ones.
But the time jump doesn't go according to plan, and part of London winds up millions of years in the past. Verity and her crew, Lord Embrey, Professor Reardon and others stranded with them must pull together to survive in a world ruled by dinosaurs...and to somehow get home.
Book 1 of The Steam Clock Legacy
New Edition out now: Kindle and paperback
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS
In a world where fleets of airships roam the skies and great towers of scientific learning pierce the clouds, the problems of two teenage sisters in Southsea, England will hardly make the headlines. After all, fending off suitors and going to bat for their family name won't exactly shake the empire to its roots. Right?
Wrong. Meet the McEwans. First names Meredith and Sonja. One collects admirers, dispenses bad advice (and usually takes her own). The other's a bit of a tomboy, likes tennis and swings a mean forehand. They've only ever relied on each other; having a notorious explorer for a father has made them social pariahs. But these sheltered siblings are coming of age, and they aim to make a big impression.
While investigating the identity of a spy sent to watch her father, Meredith stumbles upon the existence of a powerful secret society in London. Despite the threats to her life, she is determined to infiltrate the sinister Atlas Club. Meanwhile, Sonja's budding romance with one of her schoolteachers turns both their worlds upside down.
They might not have much experience with love or espionage, but, like always, it's all or nothing for the McEwans. Win or fail, they're going to stir things up in the age of steam, and one way or another, everything's about to change.
Book 2 of The Steam Clock Legacy.
YULETIDE MIRACLE
By day, London’s Steam Emporium is both a bustling Christmas market and an all-ages toyshop full of technological marvels. By night, its volunteers assemble—a ragtag community of wounded servicemen and women—under the tallest Christmas tree in England. They are the empire’s forgotten heroes, fallen on hard times.
But this year they have an exciting addition: old Red Mulqueen, newly arrived from abroad, has fighting spirit and the most extraordinary clockwork leg. He is here on a mysterious mission, and is wanted by the Leviacrum, Britain’s tyrannical authority.
Red’s plans take a turn, however, when he saves the life of a feisty young schoolboy, Edmond Reardon, and becomes the object of the lad’s incorrigible curiosity. They strike up a touching friendship. But when danger descends on the emporium, Red, Edmond and their veteran friends must band together to fight for what really matters at Christmas—each other.
Book 3 of The Steam Clock Legacy.
TOOTH & CLAW
The age of steam meets the time of the dinosaurs in this rip-roaring short story set in the aftermath of Prehistoric Clock.
With everything she owns packed onto her steam-powered penny farthing, nineteen-year-old Beth Rawtenstall is determined to leave the county she grew up in. Her father recently died, leaving her with a struggling farm and no prospects. Even the boy she loves is unattainable--his relatives, the aristocratic Allenbys, have shunned Beth all her life, and she's finally given up on him.
But she's picked the wrong day to say goodbye. A giant creature no one in Victorian England has ever seen before is terrorizing the quiet countryside. Her countryside. It's a predator from another age--one of the deadliest animals that ever lived. But if Papa taught her anything, it's to never back down from a fight. Especially when the prize is the life of the boy she loves.