Deep under the
ocean, Simeon Escher, protégé to the leader of the order of Loth Lörion, finds
himself an unexpected guest aboard the submersible, Narwhal. Home to a crew of
humans, and strange mer-folk few people are aware exist, Simeon is swept up in
their quest to find a world within a world, a possible safe haven from the
insidious reach of the Kabbalah. Yet how can he think about his mission when
the captain's niece fills his every thought, distracting him from all that’s
important to him, including his own fiancée.
Today I am throwing the spotlight on Encante, a steampunk novella from the pen of Aiyana Jackson.
Encante is the first in a new Steampunk series,
set in a multiverse known as The Fifteen Solars. For those of you who don’t
know what a multiverse is, put simply it is a Universe in which there are
several worlds existing in the same point in space and time, but they run
parallel to each other. Philip Pullman’s His
Dark Materials trilogy is probably the most well recognised example. The
Fifteen Solars is so named due to the fact there are fifteen planets existing
in parallel, each very different from the next, but all connected. The
inhabitants of these worlds have not yet mastered space travel, and so for the
most part the adventure is contained to their own respective worlds. They do
however have the means to travel from one parallel world to the next and,
consequently, the events and politics of all fifteen planets have become
intertwined. As the series unfolds however it will become clear that there is
far more at work, and the reasons for these worlds existing as they do is much
more complex than simple happenstance.
Encante serves as an introduction to one of
these parallel worlds, as well as offering more than a few hints as to what is
happening in the wider multiverse, and how the series will unfold. It is a
self-contained story in the most traditional Steampunk style, heavily inspired
by Jules Vernes’ 20,000 Leagues Under The
Sea, it is a blending of mermaid folk-lore, Victorian-esque costume values,
and the technological quirks that make the Steampunk genre so beloved. It is a
tale of romance, of adventure, and of prejudicial values in a seemingly idyllic
society. Some of the characters will recur in later books in the series.
There
are currently three additional novellas planned to follow Encante, two to be released in 2014, the final to follow in 2015.
There will also be at least one full length novel following these. The second
novella, Honour, is currently slated
for release at the end of March next year, and while the additional two
novellas are as yet untitled, I can reveal that the novel shall be titled Soul of Avarice.
Excerpt:
‘“I
have trouble sleeping,” he told me, as if by way of explanation. If he was in
any way drunk, his words showed no sign of it. “I come here for the ambiance.”
I
glanced around us. “I can well understand why. I’m afraid I was having a
similar problem. Forgive me; I should not be wandering the ship alone.”
“And
why not?” he asked. “You are our guest; if you see fit to wander the ship alone
at night, I say let you. Wander wherever you choose.” He laughed as if
something were painfully amusing, and I wondered if perhaps he was a little
tipsy after all. “I’ll say nothing to stop you,” he assured me. “Hell, I’ll
encourage you.” He leant closer to me. “I’d even suggest you try the places I
couldn’t show you earlier.”
“So
there were areas you kept hidden.”
Axel
snorted. “Areas? People more like. My uncle is concerned you will not
understand the . . . racial demographics of our society.”
“You
mean the encante?” He nodded. “There is more to your relationship with them
than Everett
would have me believe, that much is plain. It has been obvious since I arrived,
if for no other reason than this is my fourth visit to Idele, and I have never
before seen one of them. I have never even heard mention of their race, on this
world or any other. They are of a lower class?”
“Class?”
Axel exclaimed. “Franklin Garrett is of a lower class; Bridger Quinn, is of a
lower class. Even Reuben Williams, our third mate, the man in whose bed you
should even now be sleeping, is of a lower class.” Axel shook his head. “The
encante are not separated from us by class, Mister Escher, but freedom.”
“You
mean to say they are slaves?”
“Of
course they’re slaves. You think they wear those god forsaken machines of their
own volition?”
It
took me a moment to catch up. “The tails?” I considered the implications of a
species who could breathe underwater and swim at great depths, living in a
submersible with ready access to open water. “They keep them from escaping
somehow?”
“Yes,
one of Amos Newton’s
finest inventions, don’t you think? A device which allows its occupant to swim
outside the ship enough to remain healthy, perform maintenance and other
duties, but which incapacitates them should they try to stray too far.”
“Amos
Newton?”
“Newt,
as my uncle calls him. He finds it humorous, what with the majority of Newton’s research having
to do with our amphibious cousins.”
“That
is truly abominable.” I caught myself. “My apologies, it is not for me to
criticise your—”
“No,
sir, you’re quite correct, it is abominable.”’
A warrior in exile seeks a path home. 
