Steampunk

This week is the cover reveal for The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh.

This is the first book Tee and I have written a specifically Young Adult story, and it is a little nerve wracking…after all it is some time since I was a YA myself…quite some time….

However, I do remember the stories I liked reading back then—even if there was no particular category for young adults in those days. I liked stories of people just enough like me to be able to connect with, but with fantastic situations around them.

I loved Ann McCaffrey’s Pern series—growing up with dragons, what’s not to like. I loved Ender’s Game for what it taught me about being different—about how that was OK. I loved Wizard of Earthsea for all the trials and tribulations Sparrowhawk went through to reach his goal—important messages for a child that wanted to become a writer. Not really that dissimilar to becoming an author actually…

I also remember what I didn’t like. Books that talked down to me. Books that were really instruction manuals for how children should grow up, and what rules they should follow. I tried reading books my mother had grown up with, and the only series I did enjoy were The Secret Seven and The Famous Five.

And that’s a bit of the secret; The Ministry Seven have always been equal parts The Baker Street Irregulars and the Famous Five. These days we don’t let our children spend all day on the moors catching criminals, but the orphans on the streets of a steampunk London had far more latitude.

So that’s my hope for Verity and the Seven. That they are fun adventures in the huge world of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. That they meet familiar faces but that they also bring something new to our world; the point of view of a young, intelligent girl, growing up, and figuring out all kinds of mysteries.

So please pre-order right now, and get ready for shenanigans with the Ministry Seven.

Verity Fitzroy and the Ministry Seven have the run of London, and that is the way they like it. 
While she loses herself in machines and adventures, and the work they get from the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences, why her parents were killed remains a mystery she can’t leave alone. 

When an archaeologist from the British Museum is kidnapped, and the only clue leads to an academy for young engineers, the Ministry sends the Seven in to investigate. What they will find within the walls of the country house, will lead Verity and the Seven down a dangerous path.