Age of Steam series

## Genre Information

Steampunk
Alternate History

 (Series Content Ratings Click on Explicit Ratings for details.)

## About the Series

* **Genres:** Steampunk, Alternate History
* **Theme:** Werewolf, Steampunk and The strange
* **Narrative style**: Third person, multiple points of view—the there main characters: Cedar Hunt, Mae Lindson, Shard LeFel—plus a few others.
* **Wikis**:

## Series Description

The series that begins in Oregon in the late 1800s. The story is filled with action, from murderous matics to bullying drunks to a witch-hating mob. The mythology of the Strange is lightly sketched, but if you just keep reading, you'll understand the concept. The story is told in the third person, and it moves from one person's perspective to another. In general, we see things from the standpoint of Cedar, Mae, Rose, Jeb and LeFel. After the climactic ending, the surviving characters head East for their next adventures.

## Books in Series

**Age of Steam series**:

1. Dead Iron (Age of Steam Book 1) (2011)
2. Tin Swift (Age of Steam Book 2) (2012)
3. Cold Copper (Age of Steam Book 3) (2013) — re-releae July 7, 2015

## World Building

### Setting

The first book is set in Oregon in the late 1800s. Later books will be set in different locations in the U.S. as the story follows the travels of the main characters.

### Fantasy Elements

Lycanthrope, The Strange, witches, Matics, talisman-artifact, monsters, evil spirits, faeries, Curses, magic, werewolves, zombies,

* **The Strange**: creatures made up of evil spirits that hitched along from the Old World—the primary source of evil.
* **Matics**: gizmos, or tickers—do much of the busywork; made of brass and other metals, and they are run by gears, usually powered by steam
* **The Holder**: seven-piece device made of the seven ancient metals, each piece is an artifact used for good: healing, blessing, peace. Shard LeFel altered it to the dark: sickness, ruin, and chaos fall to any who find it. The holder with all its piece a weapon of great magnitude—a magical artifact that could destroy the world.

### World

Daily life is much as you would expect it to be in the Old West...except that gadgetry is everywhere, with gizmos called matics, or tickers, doing much of the busywork. These matics are made of brass and other metals, and they are run by gears, usually powered by steam. The people who create the matics—almost always men—are called devisers.

The primary source of evil in this world is the Strange, which is made up of evil spirits who cause trouble in a multitude of ways. Here is one character's description of the Strange: "He had seen the Strange—the true Strange—creatures that hitched along from the Old World, tucked unknown in an immigrant's pocket, hidden away in a suitcase, or carried tightly in the darkest nightmare. He had seen what the Strange could do when set free in this new land." (Dead Iron, p-12)

The series story arc focuses on the retrieval of the Holder, which is described here by Alan Madder—just one of the numerous good and bad guys who are desperate to own it: "The Holder is a device of seven pieces, made of the seven ancient metals. Each piece is a talisman, an artifact, a device to be used for good: healing the sick, blessing crops, bringing peace unto a land. When this New World was discovered, the Holder was brought here as a gift by likeminded men who wanted peace and prosperity for settlers and natives alike. But Shard LeFel caught rumor of it. He sent his Strange to sniff it out...Then they worked their dark devising. The Holder is now a weapon of pain, plague, war. Each piece broken and remade Strangewise, so that nothing but sickness, ruin, and chaos fall to any who find it. And if someone is clever enough to put those seven pieces back together again, then they'll be clever enough to understand the Holder can also be a weapon of a magnitude that has never been seen in these lands." (Dead Iron, p. 333)

### Protagonists

Cedar Hunt
a cursed man who’s determined to hunt for a missing boy.
Mae Lindson
a grieving widow out for revenge.
## Book Descriptions

1. Dead Iron
Welcome to a new America that is built on blood, sweat, and gears... In steam age America, men, monsters, machines, and magic battle for the same scrap of earth and sky. In this chaos, bounty hunter Cedar Hunt rides, cursed by lycanthropy and carrying the guilt of his brother's death. Then he's offered hope that his brother may yet survive. All he has to do is find the Holder: a powerful device created by mad devisers—and now in the hands of an ancient Strange who was banished to walk this Earth. In a land shaped by magic, steam, and iron, where the only things a man can count on are his guns, gears, and grit, Cedar will have to depend on all three if he's going to save his brother and reclaim his soul once and for all.
2. Tin Swift
In steam age America, men, monsters, machines and magic battle to claim the same scrap of earth and sky. In this chaos, one man fights to hold on to his humanity--and his honor. Life on the frontier is full of deceit and danger, but bounty hunter Cedar Hunt is a man whose word is his bond. Cursed with becoming a beast every full moon, Cedar once believed his destiny was to be alone. But now, Cedar finds himself saddled with a group of refugees, including the brother he once thought lost. Keeping his companions alive is proving to be no easy task, in part because of the promise he made to the unpredictable Madder brothers—three miners who know the secret mechanisms of the Strange. To fulfill his pledge, Cedar must hunt a powerful weapon known as the Holder—a search that takes him deep into the savage underbelly of the young country and high into the killing glim-field skies defended by desperate men and deadly ships. But the battles he faces are just a glimmer of a growing war stirring the country. To keep his word Cedar must navigate betrayal, lies, and treacherous alliances, risking everything to save the lives of those he has come to hold dear.
3. Cold Copper
In steam age America, men, monsters, machines, and magic battle to claim the same scrap of earth and sky. In this madness, one man struggles to keep his humanity, his honor, and his hell-bent mission intact. Bounty hunter and lycanthrope Cedar Hunt vowed to track down all seven pieces of the Holder—a strange device capable of deadly destruction. And, accompanied by witch Mae Lindson and the capricious Madder brothers, he sets out to do just that. But the crew is forced to take refuge in the frontier town of Des Moines, Iowa, when a glacial storm stops them in their tracks. The town, under mayor Killian Vosbrough, is ruled with an iron fist—and plagued by the steely Strange, creatures that pour through the streets like the unshuttered wind. But Cedar soon learns that Vosbrough is mining cold copper for the cataclysmic generators he’s manufacturing deep beneath Des Moines, bringing the search for the Holder to a halt. Chipping through ice, snow, and bone-chilling bewitchment to expose a dangerous plot, Cedar must stop Vosbrough and his scheme to rule the land and sky.
## References

1. ↑ Fang-tastic Fiction: Devon Monk's THE AGE OF STEAM SERIES