Broken Eye Books, which is a micropress with ties to gaming, has put its new anthology Ghost in the Cogs: Steam-Powered Ghost Stories up for pre-order. (It isn't ultimately to be Kindle-only, but it is right now, when it comes to link availability.) It was pitched to me as "alternative history steampunk ghost stories" so of course I had to add another vector: supernatural detectives.
As such, "The Twentieth-Century Man" is a Carnacki, The Ghost-Finder story of sorts. At first my story had a subtitle saying it was a Carnacki story and then one saying that Carnacki was the original creation of William Hope Hodgson, as I was concerned that people would not have read Carnacki stories previously and thus not know what I was riffing on. But then I realized that almost nobody will see this story anyway. And now, the rest of the table of contents!
“Asmodeus Flight,” Siobhan Carroll
“Hiss,” Folly Blaine & Randy Henderson
“The Misplaced Body of Fitzhugh Alvey,” Jessica Corra
“The Ghost Pearl,” Howard Andrew Jones
“Fraenka Askja’s Silly Old Story,” Emily C. Skaftun
“Edge of the Unknown,” Elsa S. Henry
“The Blood on the Walls,” Eddy Webb
“Tipping Point,” Nayad Nayad A. Monroe
“T-Hex,” Jonah Buck
“The Monster,” Erika Holt
“The Book of Futures,” Wendy Nikel
“Death Wish,” Parker Goodreau
“City of Spirits,” Christopher Paul Carey
“Team 17,” T. Mike McCurley
“The Litany of Waking,” Scott Fitzgerald Gray
“Labor Costs,” Richard E. Richard Dansky
“The Twentieth-Century Man,” Nick Mamatas
“Clockwork of Sorrow,” Spencer Spencer German Ellsworth
“The Lady in the Ghastlight,” Liane Merciel
“Cuckoo,” Richard Pett
“The Shadow and the Eye,” James Lowder
“Golden Wing, Silver Eye,” Cat Hellisen
Looks like the ebook anyway will be released around the end of the month. If this is the kind of thing you like, you'll probably like this thing.
As such, "The Twentieth-Century Man" is a Carnacki, The Ghost-Finder story of sorts. At first my story had a subtitle saying it was a Carnacki story and then one saying that Carnacki was the original creation of William Hope Hodgson, as I was concerned that people would not have read Carnacki stories previously and thus not know what I was riffing on. But then I realized that almost nobody will see this story anyway. And now, the rest of the table of contents!
“Asmodeus Flight,” Siobhan Carroll
“Hiss,” Folly Blaine & Randy Henderson
“The Misplaced Body of Fitzhugh Alvey,” Jessica Corra
“The Ghost Pearl,” Howard Andrew Jones
“Fraenka Askja’s Silly Old Story,” Emily C. Skaftun
“Edge of the Unknown,” Elsa S. Henry
“The Blood on the Walls,” Eddy Webb
“Tipping Point,” Nayad Nayad A. Monroe
“T-Hex,” Jonah Buck
“The Monster,” Erika Holt
“The Book of Futures,” Wendy Nikel
“Death Wish,” Parker Goodreau
“City of Spirits,” Christopher Paul Carey
“Team 17,” T. Mike McCurley
“The Litany of Waking,” Scott Fitzgerald Gray
“Labor Costs,” Richard E. Richard Dansky
“The Twentieth-Century Man,” Nick Mamatas
“Clockwork of Sorrow,” Spencer Spencer German Ellsworth
“The Lady in the Ghastlight,” Liane Merciel
“Cuckoo,” Richard Pett
“The Shadow and the Eye,” James Lowder
“Golden Wing, Silver Eye,” Cat Hellisen
Looks like the ebook anyway will be released around the end of the month. If this is the kind of thing you like, you'll probably like this thing.