1881—Special Agent Gillian Hamilton is a magic caster with the Federal Bureau of Magic and Steam. He’s sent to Shallow Grave, Arizona, to arrest a madman engineer known as Tinkerer, who’s responsible for blowing up half of Baltimore. Gillian has handled some of the worst criminals in the Bureau’s history, so this assignment shouldn’t be a problem. But even he’s taken aback by a run-in with the country’s most infamous outlaw, Gunner the Deadly.
Gunner is also stalking Shallow Grave in search of Tinkerer, who will stop at nothing to take control of the town’s silver mines. Neither Gillian nor Gunner are willing to let Tinkerer hurt more innocent people, so they agree to a very temporary partnership.
If facing illegal magic, Gatling gun contraptions, and a wild engineer in America’s frontier wasn’t enough trouble for a city boy, Gillian must also come to terms with the reality that he’s rather fond of his partner. But even if they live through this adventure, Gillian fears there’s no chance for love between a special agent and outlaw.
Title: The Engineer
Book #: 1
Series: Magic & Steam
Author: C.S. Poe
Cover Artist: Reese Dante
Genre: Steampunk, gay romance
Release: May 28, 2020
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The thing about C.S. Poe’s writing is she writes characters and storylines so different than what you might see in a “typical” contemporary romance novel that it is easy to suspend belief when it comes to the reality of a steampunk storyline.
This was a short novella, really a prelude, to what I am hoping is another fun series by this author. I love that the author always writes characters with heart, some serious flaws, and gifts that you just can’t quite imagine. This book had a lot of 1881 references, but also some references to things that would not have been available back then, and that’s what made it so fun! Steampunk can be whatever the author wants it to be, and then some. You haven’t really visualized a book until you visualize a transformer train in the streets of the Wild Wild West…just sayin…
Gillian and Gunner are going to be a fun couple, and I would guess going to keep each other on their toes.
A fun start to another anticipated series.
4 pieces of eye candy
C.S. Poe is a Lambda Literary and two-time EPIC award finalist, and a FAPA award-winning author of gay mystery, romance, and speculative fiction.
She resides in New York City, but has also called Key West and Ibaraki, Japan, home in the past. She has an affinity for all things cute and colorful and a major weakness for toys. C.S. is an avid fan of coffee, reading, and cats. She’s rescued two cats—Milo and Kasper do their best to distract her from work on a daily basis.
C.S. is an alumna of the School of Visual Arts.
Her debut novel, The Mystery of Nevermore, was published 2016.
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