Tales of the Rampant Coyote

Adventures in Indie Gaming!

Books: I’m getting published again

Posted by Rampant Coyote on October 13, 2014

I’m going to interrupt my discussion of good indie games for the Halloween season (probably not the only interruption this week) to announce that my fiction is getting published again.

Mechanized Masterpieces: A Steampunk Anthology was how I discovered Xchyler Publishing. It’s an anthology of Steampunk short stories with a very amusing twist – they are all based on classic literature of the Regency through late Victorian era. They are sequels, or prequels, or side-stories, or retellings of these classic stories, but with a steampunk twist. So you’ve got little Margaret Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility turned privateer on the high seas braving the dangers of Singapore to acquire cybernetics for her wounded husband. Or the Phantom of the Opera making a reappearance with clockwork dancers. Or the “true” story of Ebeneezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley.

Very fun stuff. I understand it is their best-selling anthology, and possibly their best-selling book, period. I certainly enjoyed it. It made me excited to work with them.

And I did. My short story, “Dots, Dashes, and Deceit,” was published in their next Steampunk anthology, Terra Mechanica: A Steampunk Anthology. Which was awesome. Beyond awesome. Thrilling.

Anyway – they are working on a sequel to Mechanized Masterpieces. This time, it’s steampunk-style stories related to American classics.  My own story, “The Van Tassel Legacy” will be included. This story is based on Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” but takes place many years later. A young physiochemist learns the truth of an old local legend, and in it the means to defeat a predatory industrialist, but it requires the infirm Brom “Bones” van Brunt to make one last ride…

Anyway, the book will be out early next year (mid-February). I’ve met (and read!) many of the contributing authors, and I’m really looking forward to reading their stories. This should be a lot of fun.


Filed Under: Books - Comments: 6 Comments to Read



  • McTeddy said,

    That sounds awesome.

    Congrats.

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    Thanks. I’m pretty excited. It’ll be a lot more work (Xchyler tends to emphasize refining new authors, which means lots of editing), but I’m looking forward to it.

    And I have also come to the realization that I need to make some more serious efforts to managing my time… sheesh.

  • Alberto said,

    I knew it: Given enough time, a coyote punching at random on a typewriter would almost surely type out all of Jules Verne’s novels! 😉

  • Rampant Coyote said,

    Nailed it. 🙂

  • Vatina said,

    Wow, congrats 😀 That next story of yours sounds like a good time.

  • Cuthalion said,

    Congratulations, Jay!

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