Writing steampunk is fun. Blend in a Victorian pinch of Victorian decorum, several futuristic gadgets like datamancers, transmogrifiers, and whuzzies, add a dash of the paranormal with time travel and forget your soot. You’ve got the ingredients for Book 1 of The Windsors Diaries, Victorian Scoundrel.
Set in alternative time line, Edmund and Alice Windsor are royals in the future. Edmund is up to mischief ““ he’s gone back in time to give his great-great grandfather Prince Albert a dirigible for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Edmund thinks it’s a wonderful idea. Alice is mortified.
Alice follows Edmund back in with the intention of preventing his mischief, but then she meets Grayson Kentfield, Earl Swinton. Grayson finds himself attracted to Alice and she to him. Will Alice’s desire for Grayson cause more mischief than Edmund’s dirigible?
Editor-in-Chief Gail Delaney put out a call for steampunk romance back in June 2010 so I decided to give it a spin. What appealed to me was the creativity and imagination the genre required. The setting is only limited by the imagination, and any gadget that needs coal fuels the creativity. In general though, steampunk can be set anywhere in the world, not just Victorian England, but it should take place between 1837-1901 when Queen Victoria reigned. I choose to write a more traditional steampunk. My paranormal element is time traveling while other stories might involve shifters and vampires.
Victorian Scoundrel begs the question: Who’s the Scoundrel? Edmund or Grayson? I’ll let you decide.
REVIEWS:
Pen & Muse Reviews:
“The author really had me hooked from the first chapter… I loved the humor in this read along with the historical facts.”
Long & Short Reviews, 4 Stars:
“This is the first in this new series and I’m excited to read the next episode.”
Reader’s Favorites: 5 Stars:
“I highly recommend this with highest of 5 stars, and I can’t wait until the second Windsor Diaries installment releases!”
BOOK TRAILER ON YOU TUBE:
BLURB: It’s 2011 and compressed natural gas has taken over form the coal producing steam machines of the Victorian Age. Alice Windsor, Princess of York, follows her mischief-making cousin, Prince Edmund of Wales back to the past and 1851 where Prince Albert is hosting Britain’s Great Exhibition. “¨”¨Alice soon discovers Edmund has struck up a friendship with their great-grandfather, Prince Albert, and his mischief making entails leaving a dinosaur-sized footprint in history.
She also meets Grayson Kentfield, Earl Swinton, and the Prime Minister, Sir John Russell. The Prime Minster finds her odd, to say the least.”¨”¨It’s only when Alice falls for the handsome Earl Swinton does she realize the dangers of time travel. How can she give her heart to a man from the past while striving to stop Edmund from changing time with his forward thinking ideas
ENJOY THIS EXCERPT:
There was a knock on the door. Alice frowned. She placed her Jane Austen book open- faced over her sketches along with her glasses and ran to the door, opening it.
“Grayson.”
He stood before her wearing a white shirt and a brown vest, his powerfully set shoulders his most dominating feature. She bit her lower lip, trying to quell the uncomfortable warmth that surged within her.
“Alice.” He paused, his intense hazel-brown eyes feathering over her. “I hope I didn’t interrupt you.”
“Not at all. Come in.”
Was she crazy inviting him into her room? She must be, as she opened the door wider and Grayson walked in. Restless energy sparked off him. His expression smoldered with desire.
No, this wasn’t crazy. It was dangerous.
“Getting ready for bed?” he asked.
She pursed her lips, her willpower growing weaker by the moment. “Yes.”
“What did you think of the gas heater?”
“Ingenious, but I have no idea how to operate it.”
“Let me show you.” He walked into the water closet, Alice behind him. The tub was full of water. Grayson took the matches on the nearby shelf and lit a wick on the heater. A small fire came to life under the metal tub.
He turned to face her. “I usually watch it for five minutes. Then I shut it off using this valve.” He pointed to the heater.
“Thank you for showing me.” She could barely think a coherent thought as she drank in his features, chiseled cheeks, handsome face, smoldering…
“Thank you again for the pen. I promise to treasure it.”
“Grayson–”
He cupped her cheek, leaning close to her. “I missed you terribly this week.”
“Terribly?” she choked out.
“I thought the distance would help me sort out my feelings.”
A small smile tipped the corners of her mouth. “I thought the same thing.” “And, did it?” he asked.
She swallowed, unable to deny the flames between them. Her heart was overruling her head on this one. “No, not at all. I missed you.” His mouth claimed hers, hungry, hard, ravishing her with a soul-shattering kiss.
The future be damned. Spirals of ecstasy assaulted her body, warming her, thrilling her. She wanted the here and now.
Grayson placed his hands on her waist and walked with her until her back was against the wall. His mouth claimed hers with full, firm lips. She threaded her fingers into his wavy hair, pulling him toward her. He groaned. His lips left hers. She felt the heady sensation of his mouth now against her neck and moaned.
“I want you,” he whispered, his voice low and husky.
“Oh, Grayson…”
He tore himself away from her neck and looked into her eyes. A spark of deep, indefinable emotion was in his expression. “It doesn’t matter where you come from, Alice. All I know is that I can’t fight my attraction to you anymore. I don’t want to. It’s sudden and quick and I feel so damn alive when I’m with you. Let me court you.”
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