Musings and Ramblings

Dead Handsome

A Buffalo Steampunk Adventure
Laura Strickland

Genre: Steampunk Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Date of Publication: February 27th 2015
Number of pages: 326
Word Count: 75,935
Cover Artist: Diana Carlile

Clara Allen needs a husband in order to keep a roof over the heads of her assorted dependents, a roof her nasty grandfather will re-appropriate unless she is married by her 21st birthday, only a few days away. Strong-minded, unwilling to take orders from any man, she decides to solve her problem by raising a murdered prisoner from the dead and marrying him. She expects an empty-headed puppet; she certainly never dreams he’ll be so devastatingly handsome.

Liam McMahon doesn’t recall much about his life before his hanging in the prison yard, other than being Irish. He does remember the kiss Clara bestowed as she brought him back to life. Every time he looks at her, his desire gets out of hand. But his former life is chasing him down like a steam engine, and when a couple of mad geniuses decide he’d make a fine experiment, he wonders if he’ll live long enough to claim Clara’s heart or if he’ll die all over again.

Exclusive Excerpt: 

Liam tried to decide how he felt about Collwys. The fellow looked like a dandy, dressed in a fine, brown suit with his fine, sandy-colored hair worn in a sculpted coif, and with the kind of features Liam suspected would make women swoon. Liam thought him a little too cozy with Clara. Now he literally felt his back go up.

“No need to worry about her,” he growled. “She was with me.”

“I was not worried, Mr. McMahon, merely anxious to hear about the outcome. And what is this?” Collwys raised his eyebrows at the serving unit and did not appear to notice Liam had failed to shake his hand.

“My grandfather condemned it to the scrap heap. You know what he’s like.”

Liam narrowed his eyes. No, he definitely didn’t like the confiding, comfortable way his wife spoke to this man. He wondered why Clara hadn’t taken Collwys to play her husband. He looked exactly the sort of which the old fart back on Delaware would approve.

Collwys smiled indulgently. “Just like you, Clara, to let your heart rule your more practical sense.”

“’‘Twas I who insisted we bring the unit,” Liam put in. “It didn’t want to die. And I happen to believe in second chances.”

Collwys gave Liam a searching look. “Fascinating,” he murmured.

“Liam’s back went up still further. “’‘Tis not a logic problem, but about a life—his.” He gestured at Dax.

“So, Mr. McMahon, you feel steam units have sentience? And rights?”

“Everything has a right to live, if it wants to.”

Giveaway: 
Laura will be awarding a pair of hand-crafted, Steampunk-style pierced earrings - US only - to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Author Bio:

Born in Buffalo and raised on the Niagara Frontier, Laura Strickland has been an avid reader and writer since childhood. To her the spunky, tenacious, undefeatable ethnic mix that is Buffalo spells the perfect setting for a little Steampunk, so she created her own Victorian world there. She knows the people of Buffalo are stronger, tougher and smarter than those who haven’t survived the muggy summers and blizzard blasts found on the shores of the mighty Niagara. Tough enough to survive a squad of automatons? Well, just maybe.

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