by Michael Rigg
Gabe said, “We’ll be able to tell once we have a closer look.”
Toller looked at the man over his shoulder, one of the loupes dropping to blur his field of vision and make his eye look huge. “How long will that take?”
Gabe’s smile was toothy. “Not to worry, lil' man. We’ll make quick work of her.”
~~~
Kevin leaned in closer to his wife’s ear. “She gave us food, Mags.”
Maggie responded a bit too loud and forced her voice down with every other word as her husband winced and glanced to the dark haired woman several feet away. “I don’ care if she be givin’ us the golden keys to the Taj Mahal. She’s a witch, Kevin Tarnish, sure as I’m standin’ ‘ere.”
“You don’t know she’s a witch. She—”
“She ain’t an angel. She ain’t not’in like our dear—”
“You don’t know that,” Kevin whispered back harshly. He placed his hands, now neither one of them carrying the burden of sore limbs and a busted-up arm, and looked intently into her eyes. He longed for her understanding and patience, and the tolerance he knew she was capable of. He tried to convey all of that in a look. “Why would a witch want to mess with the likes of us? Why would she patch us up and give us food?”
“Ya can’t eat this stuff, Kevin. It was conjured. You got no idea 'ow poisonous magic-made food can be now.”
Kevin opened his mouth to retort, but Pandora raised her voice and called out, “That ain’t how it works, Kitty.”
The couple looked to the woman who raised both brows and nodded. “Yeah, I can hear ya. I can hear ya, smell ya, listen to yer heartbeats from all the way over yonder.” She raised her arms out from her sides and let them drop. “I’m lost too, and yeah, I’m a witch, but big floggin' deal.”
Maggie raised her chin to speak, releasing her words even as Kevin gave her a gentle pull to silence her. “We’re not eatin’ this food, ya mouthy witch!”
Pandora shrugged a tired shoulder. “Suit y’self, Kitty, but for your information, it ain’t conjured outta nothin’. That ain’t how it works.”
“Then where’d it come from?” Kevin asked, genuinely perplexed by all things magical. They rubbed against the sensibilities of his M.D. and his Ph.D., and reason born of traveling the roads and skies for more than a decade.
“Elsewheres,” the witch said.
“Meanin’ ya stole ‘em!” Maggie shot back.
Pandora, who had been standing well back from the couple while they ‘discussed’ the merits of having a witch in their party, stepped closer. She approached with all the caution of someone stepping up to a hunter upon whose land she’d wandered, hands held out, palms down, feet stepping one before the other. “Look, Kitty. Doc. I ain’t the bad guy here. In fact, I don’t have a shittin’ clue why I dumped where I did. I tranced out of where I was, and ended up here. I guess in that second my mind wandered.”
Kevin’s eyes were wide with curiosity. “You mean you can go wherever you want at will?”
Pandora shrugged at him, now relaxing both her arms and shoulders. “I can lock in on a person or place I been to, but it’s really hard. It taxes a body.” She yawned as if on cue. “Further I go, the more weather changes twix’d here n’ there, how much concentration I’m givin’…” She shrugged again. “Effects where I end up and if I survive.”
Maggie was still glaring at her, clutching the magic-pilfered sack of food to her bosom.
“Where did you come from, if you don’t mind me asking?” Kevin ventured.
“Under the Atlantic Ocean,” Pandora replied, her dark eyes seeming to look into his mind as she told him. “There’s a battle goin’ on out there over a piece o’ waterlogged craphole. I was…” She frowned and glanced away. “I was busy handlin’ somethin’.”
Pandora’s mind was a complex container of honeycombs constructed out of cobwebs. Each whisper of a container held a memory, a thought, and not all of them were her own. While she was magicking the minds of Kevin and Maggie Tarnish to make sure they were good folk, she was venturing to the general store twenty miles away from where she’d nabbed the food—to make sure it wouldn’t really be missed. She also pondered the chilly memories of the battle… the death of her nemesis, the condition of her friend, Bryce Landry, and… her father.
She knew he was dead. She felt the pit in her soul, and in her mind. It was a painful, raw feeling of emptiness that blew down the walls of cobweb containers in her brain. Then she realized how she ended up here, with these two. This site must not be far from where his plane was destroyed. Pandora knew he was gone, and doubted she’d find anything of his body to bury. The explanation for her materialization in this patch of Confederate countryside gave her some relief, but it also weighed like led bullet lodged in her chest.
Kevin picked up on her dark change. “Miss Pandora? You all right?”
“Step back from ‘er, Kev. She be conjurin’ up sometin’!” Maggie touched her husband’s arm and pulled back.
Pandora blinked and looked at her. She sighed. “Oh, for chrissakes, calm down.” She looked between the two, and smirked. “I don’t know how I got here,” she lied. “But it’s obvious to me you two don’t know what the hell yer doin’.”
Kevin nodded past the witch toward the barely-visible column of thin smoke on their horizon. “Like we said, we were trying to make our way to the wreck of the Mystic Lady there before we lost the trail, then work toward rebuilding what we’d lost aboard her.”
Pandora narrowed an eye at each of them. “Mystic Lady’s a pirate ship. Everybody knows that.”
Maggie opened her mouth to speak, but pinched her lips shut and glanced up at her husband.
Kevin said, “We didn’t. Our wagon was snatched out of the sky.”
“Victims,” Pandora smirked. She looked the couple over and nodded, her eyes tracing long lines over them as her smirk deepened. “Figures.”
“Let us pass,” Maggie said, lifting her chin. Her whisker tattoo twitched.
Pandora held up a hand and glanced over her shoulder. “Whoa. Don’t get your tail in a bunch there, kitty. Why didn’tcha say so. I can git ya there in a flash.”
Kevin quickly protested. “No. No, no. We’ll walk. We thank you for mending us, Miss Pandora, and for the food, but… I-I think we’re keen to talk.” He moved to sidestep around the witch, pulling Maggie to his side, but Pandora quickly blocked their path again.
“Ah-ah.” Pandora angled her head down, narrowing an eye at Kevin. “I got some questions first.”
Stay tuned.
BRONZE HEARTFELT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
(Some very important acknowledgments, and why the Heart of Bronze books are “different”)
This book began as a “blognovel,” a full length piece of fiction produced as a weekly serial and published for free on the internet in the form of a blog. Since then, I've chopped it, changed it, edited it (though another set of “editor's eyes” would have been welcome), and brought it out of the ether into a more defined and professional place.
During the production of the original manuscript, I spiced up my serialization a bit by hosting regular contests to involve my readers. After all, I think a story is an equal partnership between the writer and reader. What better way to thank your readers than to pull them into the story with you and let them make a few turns here and there.
So, I put the word out through social media and chapter breaks giving readers the chance to name a character, select a setting, even decide the fate of a bad guy here and there. For the characters, I asked for as little as a gender and a name. In some cases I got a little more, but that was a start for what would become an epic story that surprised even me at times. I even solicited my artist friends to try their hand at capturing a cover design for the blognovel edition. The results continued to inspire me all the way to the end—and beyond.
I'd like to begin by thanking my two favorite artistic contributors for the original Heart of Bronze blognovel cover: Ethan Richards and
Jacqueline Murawski. Jackie's color scheme and Ethan's recreation of the Confederate national flag (as seen in this out-of-timeline) both made it to the final cover you see now.
As to the story itself, I'd like to thank the following individuals for their creative input and the contributions they made toward the characters and twists within the pages of Clockwork Looking Glass:
Jacqueline Murawski inspired the character of Pandora. “Pandy” began as a minor character who grew rapidly over the course of the story. Her fiery unpredictable nature and mysterious abilities quickly made her a fan favorite. Ethan Richards inspired the nobility, strength and fierceness of Lady McFerran. Ethan's proud Lady of the South gave me the opportunity to introduce a major turn in the plot through a strong female voice in a world dominated by the machinations of single-minded men. A thousand thanks, Jackie and E. This story wouldn't be as rich or interesting without your inspirations.
What kind of author would I be if I didn't include the desires of my lovely wife? Melanie Rigg not only supported me throughout the writing of this book, she encouraged me to keep going and reminded me that this (story telling) is what I was born to do. Thank you, my love! You are my world. And you, my dear reader, can thank Melanie for the character of Magdeline Tarnish. Maggie's a quirky little Scottish dreamer with a big heart who becomes my “face of Steampunk” in this story. I'm sure you'll love her.
Another huge thank you goes out to Eileen McCarthy. You started reading the Heart of Bronze blognovel before I'd even met you, and you just blew me away with your excitement and questions. You were my first real fan, and your craving for the ongoing adventures of Alice and Bryce really helped keep me going. Likewise, I'd like to thank Judy Gehrels for her ongoing inspiration and encouragement. If and when a Heart of Bronze story comes to audio, you'll probably find Judy's name in the credits as the female lead.
I'd also like to thank my good friend and Best Man, Ray Volk for naming Pandora's plane and the patriarch of the story, Jefferson Landry, and for keeping me on my toes with questions and suggestions. And again, I'd like to send another thank-you to Ethan Richards. Not only did Ethan inspire me with the blognovel cover design, and the character of Lady McFerran, he also went the extra mile you always dream a fan will take. He created a reference wiki that he maintained throughout the blognovel process, giving myself and other fans a really cool reference point for characters, locations and items in the story, and a way to keep this sprawling roller coaster of a tale in what Bryce Landry would call, “A fine order.” Thanks again, E!
Another huge thank-you goes out to the countless scores of readers on Twitter and Facebook who answered my “Pick a Bad Guy to Die” vote. I was so moved by the number of votes I got that either said, “Neither one. I like them both as bad guys,” or “You're doing such a good job, I'd rather just let you pick” that it was actually hard to decide what to do with Teivel Hearse and Bradford Thorne. I hope you, dear reader, like my solution. Just don't spoil it for yourself by jumping to the end. Enjoy the ride.
I would be completely remiss in my thank-you duties if I didn't reach out to Doug Powers, author of the totally awesome futuristic cop dramas, Retiree and Retiree 2.0. Doug was kind enough to look through Clockwork novel after it was published and found more than 50 stupid mistakes. While I pride myself in knowing the difference between to, too, and two, I'm not so keen on proper comma use. Thank you, Doug, for being so detailed in your review. I hope I learned my lesson for next time.
And finally, I'd like to thank you. Whether you're a new adventurer in the Heart of Bronze universe, or someone who suffered eye strain at the mercy of the blognovel version, thank you for reading. Please continue to preserve the art of the written word. Read it. Write it. Fix it when it's broken. Your feedback, criticism, praise, and every acknowledgment is deeply appreciated. And, of course, thank you to the folks behind Amazon Kindle Publishing who give creative storytellers a way to get their tales to a worldwide audience. And a very, very special thank you, Parker Moose, for guiding me through the Kindle process and pushing me to publish. You know that thing where you put two heart cells next to each other and they start beating in tandem? That's me and you. You're a good friend, a tremendously talented storyteller, and a great inspiration.
I'd love to hear what you thought about Clockwork Looking Glass, so please drop me a line. You can contact me at [email protected], and see more of my creative craziness at my site, riggstories.com. PLEASE NOTE: I answer ALL my emails. If you don't hear back from me in an appreciable amount of time, please check your spam folder.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Rigg knew he was destined to tell fantastic stories from the age of 12. It was the summer of 1977 and a little inconsequential film called Star Wars ignited his imagination and opened his mind and heart to infinite possibilities. He studied film and philosophy in college before switching his focus to writing when a creative writing professor pointed out, “You know, you don't have to deal with actors and producers, weather and catering. The budget for a writer's special effects amounts to zero dollars, you can set your story anyplace you want, and--”
Michael never heard the rest of the advice. He was already filling pages in his mind with fantastic adventures, thrillers and mysteries. His keyboard became his camera. His monitor became the Big Screen.
In 2007, after several novels he shared with only his closest family and friends, Michael decided to try an experiment. He wrote an entire novel, a chapter a week, directly into a blog. This “blognovel” became his window to the world and brought him fans and critics from every corner of the globe, then in 2011, he began plotting out the characters and settings of a unique universe caught between realities, an urban fantasy flavored with Steampunk visions in a mythical time of ghouls and witches, soldiers and airships, magic and espionage. The Heart of Bronze universe was born.
Michael lives in Chicago, Illinois with his lovely wife, Melanie, and their Italian Greyhounds, Daisy and Maggie. When he's not writing he soaks up every possible media where fantasy thrives and the imagination reigns. And when his head is not in the clouds, he's looking with pride to the accomplishments of the grown children he considers his own, Chris and Amanda. He looks forward to the day he can live out one of Amanda's adventures and see the light he remembers from long ago shining anew in her eyes.
If you'd like to find out more about Michael J. Rigg and his work, you can visit his web site at www.riggstories.com. You can contact him directly at [email protected].
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1, “Waking in the Sky”
CHAPTER 2, “Frustration Builds”
CHAPTER 3, “Welcome to Wonderland”
CHAPTER 4, “Pandora's Box”
CHAPTER 5 , “Damnable Dampness at the Checkpoint”
CHAPTER 6, “The Corporate Man Cometh”
CHAPTER 7, “Connecting the Dots”
CHAPTER 8, “Sparks over Philadelphia”
CHAPTER 9, “Tomatoes”
CHAPTER 10, “Curiosity from Below”
CHAPTER 11, “Night Crossing”
CHAPTER 12, “Collateral Damages”
CHAPTER 13, “Raymond Simcoe and the Lady”
CHAPTER 14, “The Daughter of Lazarus”
CHAPTER 15, “Addy”
CHAPTER 16, “Human Life”
CHAPTER 17, “Clockwork Memories”
CHAPTER 18, “Corporate Take-Over”
CHAPTER 19, “Alice in Wanderland”
CHAPTER 20, “Keys”
CHAPTER 21, “Homecoming Secrets”
CHAPTER 22, “House of Cards”
CHAPTER 23, “Tarnished Wings”
CHAPTER 24, “The Clockwork Carpenters”
CHAPTER 25, “Mystic Lady”
CHAPTER 26, “Spies”
CHAPTER 27, “Phantom of the Clouds”
CHAPTER 28, “The First Shots Fired”
CHAPTER 29, “Dogfight”
CHAPTER 30, “Getting Ahead”
&nb
sp; CHAPTER 31, “Return of the Carpenters”
CHAPTER 32, “Tremors in New Yorke”
CHAPTER 33, “Alone at Last”
CHAPTER 34, “Closing Fists”
CHAPTER 35, “Return to Atlantis”
CHAPTER 36, “The Final Battle”
CHAPTER 37, “The Mirror”
EPILOGUE, “Monuments of the Citadel”
Of the first Heart of Bronze Story A Taste of Book 2
SOMEWHERE AROUND CHAPTER 4...
BRONZE HEARTFELT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
