Shadows of Asphodel

I’m uber-excited to announce my fourth novel! It’s Shadows of Asphodel, a dieselpunk set in an alternate 1913 where… well, I’ll let the blurb speak for itself:

1913. The death of the Belle Époque and the brink of the Great War. The simmering hostilities in Europe have been halted in their tracks by the Hex, a powerful curse placed on the land by the archmages of Vienna, which renders gunpowder powerless and forces a return to swords, archery, and sorcery. But a greater and more terrible threat looms…

Ardis, an American swordswoman with a dark past, lives only to fight as a mercenary. She never expected to meet Wendel, or to fall for him. Bleeding out on a battlefield in Transylvania, he intrigues Ardis with his suave arrogance and his once-in-a-lifetime talent. Wendel is a Prussian nobleman fallen from grace and a necromancer with the power to raise the dead. If you kill a necromancer, he will only come back ten times stronger—or so Ardis has heard. Afraid to find out, she saves his life.

Together, mercenary and necromancer forge an uneasy alliance underscored with sexual tension. When Ardis fails her next mission, they discover the military secret of Austria-Hungary: robotically-enhanced soldiers constructed by the inventor of the diesel engine, Rudolf Diesel himself. Only Ardis and Wendel know the truth about the Emperor of Austria’s machinations—but can they stop the Great War from reaching an even bloodier end?

You can already add Shadows of Asphodel on Goodreads and pre-order it through Kickstarter (along with other even more fabulous rewards).

This book will be my first foray into indie publishing, and I’m using Kickstarter to help with the costs of editing, design, and promotion. If you want to be a part of this book’s journey to publication, check out the Kickstarter. There’s also a video of me on Kickstarter, explaining the awesomeness that is Shadows of Asphodel. I may have gotten a wee bit carried away while explaining Wendel, the necromancer character who I may (cough) have an authorial crush on. (He’s hot. What can I say?)

I’ll bet you will like Shadows of Asphodel if you like dieselpunk, badass mercenary women, charming bastard necromancers, fight scenes with mechas and swords and zombies, alternate histories, or anything written by me. (Although I will warn you that Shadows is a lot steamier than my Other series.) And please spread the word!