I’m selling books at Steamposium in Seattle this weekend! It’s at the Convention Center downtown, and I’ll be sharing a table with my number one convention pal, Scott Gable from Broken Eye Books. “Steamposium?!” you blurt, bewildered. “But, Matt! You don’t even have a steampunk book!
Sure I do, imaginary straw person. Time Travel Dinosaur is forty percent steampunk! Well, maybe not quite forty, but one of the major time periods you visit in the book is the 1880s, and when you arrive, that decade is steampunk as all fuck.
So, in honor of Steamposium 2016, I present you with:
The Five Most Steampunkiest Things about my book, Time Travel Dinosaur
5) THE COVER
There may be three different versions of the titular T-rex on the front of the book, but that dapper gentledinosaur with goggles on its top hat is front and center, baby! Also, the whole color scheme absolutely screams steampunk: so much brown.
4) THE WICKED SHAUGHNESSY SISTERS
In 1882, Cornelia and Beatrice Shaughnessy rule over New Chicago with an iron (and presumable gear-covered) fist. Using scientific knowledge stolen from future centuries, they’ve built clockwork centurions to oppress the populace, and grafted miscellaneous steampunk appendages to their gang of hooligans and thugs. They’re STONE COLD EVIL, you guys.
sisters
3) A CLIMACTIC BATTLE ON A GARGANTUAN AIRSHIP
Needless to say, the only way to stop the sisters’ evil plot is to lay siege to their majestic blimp, high above the clouds. One of the book’s major plot points is set in motion at this point, and — hey, what’s that other dinosaur who looks just like you but is dressed in clothes from a different time period doing here? GUESS YOU’LL HAVE TO READ THE BOOK AGAIN, BUT MAKE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SERIES OF DECISIONS TO FIND OUT.
2) GEARBOX ANNIE AND THE GASCAN REBELLION
When Annie’s intestinal tract betrayed her at the tender age of sixteen, she simply built replacement guts out of brass and steam. Now she leads a small band of rebels (Cartwright, Bobbins, and the powder monkeys) in opposition to the brutal tyranny of Shaughessy Sisters. I fell in love with this gang while writing the book, and keep having ideas for their further adventures, set entirely in an alternate 1882 cut off from the rest of the chronoverse. Could Gearbox Annie return in some short stories or something at some point in the future? Maybe!
1) And, finally, THE NUMBER ONE STEAMPUNKIEST THING ABOUT TIME TRAVEL DINOSAUR:
Case closed, madam. I said good day.