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After Punk: Steampowered Tales of the Afterlife
While mankind can scarce hope to pierce the Veil without crossing it, a few intrepid souls will ever bend their will against the aether, combining artifice and the arcane to uncover its secrets.
From voodoo death cults to the Day of the Dead, mummy parties, the wheel of reincarnation, the practice of death portraits, and so much more, these tales leave no gravestone unturned.
Be it heaven or hell or the limbo in between, the hereafter is about to get 'Punked.
With stories by Jody Lynn Nye, David Sherman, Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin, James Chambers, Michelle D. Sonnier, Jeffrey Lyman, Bernie Mojzes, Travis I. Sivart, Jeff Young, David Lee Summers, L. Jagi Lamplighter, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail.
included:
A feast for Dead Horses by James Chambers
Beyond the Familiar by Jeff Young
Glass Shades by David Sherman
Spirits Calling by Jody Lynn Nye
Hildy and the Steampowered (sic) Hounds of Hella by L. Jagi Lamplighter
Windows to the Soul by Danielle Ackley-McPhial
The Sun Worshipper by David Lee Summers
Rock of Ages by Gail Z. and Larry N. Martin
The Light of One Candle by Michelle D. Sonnier
The Camera by Jeffrey Lyman
Reinventing the Wheel by Bernie Mojzes
From voodoo death cults to the Day of the Dead, mummy parties, the wheel of reincarnation, the practice of death portraits, and so much more, these tales leave no gravestone unturned.
Be it heaven or hell or the limbo in between, the hereafter is about to get 'Punked.
With stories by Jody Lynn Nye, David Sherman, Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin, James Chambers, Michelle D. Sonnier, Jeffrey Lyman, Bernie Mojzes, Travis I. Sivart, Jeff Young, David Lee Summers, L. Jagi Lamplighter, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail.
included:
A feast for Dead Horses by James Chambers
Beyond the Familiar by Jeff Young
Glass Shades by David Sherman
Spirits Calling by Jody Lynn Nye
Hildy and the Steampowered (sic) Hounds of Hella by L. Jagi Lamplighter
Windows to the Soul by Danielle Ackley-McPhial
The Sun Worshipper by David Lee Summers
Rock of Ages by Gail Z. and Larry N. Martin
The Light of One Candle by Michelle D. Sonnier
The Camera by Jeffrey Lyman
Reinventing the Wheel by Bernie Mojzes
212 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2018
About the author
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
103 books201 followersAward-winning author, editor, and publisher Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. In 2014 she joined forces with husband Mike McPhail and friend Greg Schauer to form her own publishing house, eSpec Books (www.especbooks.com).
Her published works include eight novels, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, Daire’s Devils, The Play of Light, and Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of the solo collections Eternal Wanderings, A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, Transcendence, Between Darkness and Light, The Fox’s Fire, The Kindly One, and the non-fiction writers’ guides The Literary Handyman, More Tips from the Handyman, and LH: Build-A-Book Workshop. She is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Gaslight & Grimm, Side of Good/Side of Evil, After Punk, and Footprints in the Stars. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections.
In addition to her literary acclaim, she crafts and sells original costume horns under the moniker The Hornie Lady Custom Costume Horns, and homemade flavor-infused candied ginger under the brand of Ginger KICK! at literary conventions, on commission, and wholesale.
Danielle lives in New Jersey with her husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail and four extremely spoiled cats.
Her published works include eight novels, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, Daire’s Devils, The Play of Light, and Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She is also the author of the solo collections Eternal Wanderings, A Legacy of Stars, Consigned to the Sea, Flash in the Can, Transcendence, Between Darkness and Light, The Fox’s Fire, The Kindly One, and the non-fiction writers’ guides The Literary Handyman, More Tips from the Handyman, and LH: Build-A-Book Workshop. She is the senior editor of the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Gaslight & Grimm, Side of Good/Side of Evil, After Punk, and Footprints in the Stars. Her short stories are included in numerous other anthologies and collections.
In addition to her literary acclaim, she crafts and sells original costume horns under the moniker The Hornie Lady Custom Costume Horns, and homemade flavor-infused candied ginger under the brand of Ginger KICK! at literary conventions, on commission, and wholesale.
Danielle lives in New Jersey with her husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail and four extremely spoiled cats.
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June 6, 2018People of the Victorian era had a real fascination for the spirit world and the afterlife. This anthology presents eleven stories in which authors imagine inventors, scientists, and others using marvelous and sometimes magical technology to interact with the realms of the dead. I'm a contributor to the anthology and therefore biased, so I'll eschew a star-rating, but I honestly enjoyed all the stories in this volume. I found "The Light of One Candle" by Michelle D. Sonnier which tells the story of a young Japanese woman who wants to keep her mother alive long enough for her father and brother to say goodbye especially touching. Other standout stories for me included "The Camera" by Jeffrey Lyman which I found effectively scary and "Spirits Calling" by Jody Lynn Nye which was at once lighthearted and poignant.
October 2, 2022
“THE CAMERA”
JEFFREY LYMAN
(10th book of 11 in the anthology:
“AFTER PUNK: STEAMPOWERED TALES OF THE AFTERLIFE”
VARIOUS AUTHORS)
18 SEP 22
THIS IS EERILY SIMILAR TO THE PHENOMENON OF THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE!
5 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙
— I’D RECOMMEND THIS TO ANY STEAMPUNK / HORROR LOVER!
Intriguing story!
When they realization of what has happened finally hits them, it definitely inspires spine-tingling “WHAT-IFS?” and causes everyone involved to imagine many errant and horrifically possible outcomes, of which —“OH, MY GØDS, NO!” — could best describe how they feel about the horror that is revealed to them all.
A dirigible, that had “disappeared” a while ago, suddenly reappears.
They have it towed to the closest hanger they can get it to fit into (it’s a dirigible of immense size) yet still, they make sure it’s towed far enough away from any of the populated areas.
Very smart move since they don’t know what took place while it was lost.
As soon as it’s docked in the bay, it is boarded by air marshals, insurance agents, mortuary crews in their protective suits and the ship’s own mechanics.
Each group with their own photographers and everyone of them in gas masks.
They all want answers . . .
They know WHERE it disappeared . . .
They don’t know WHY it disappeared . . .
They don’t know HOW it disappeared . . .
And, most of all . . .
They don’t know HOW and/or WHY it REAPPEARED. . .
DID IT COME BACK FOR SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR?
The dirigible disappeared over a place called the “HARROW FIELDS” — a piece of land that encases an indeterminate evil that somehow keeps enlarging its own area, spreading its borders further and further past its original boundaries.
It’s grown so large now, that it has actually cut the country in half.
Nobody seems to know exactly what the “HARROW FIELDS” are — or what goes on inside its borders — only that very little ever comes back from the “HARROW” that one would welcome with open arms.
Most people who wander inside never come back out on their own.
Plus, anyone who does go in — or even near it — completely loses all memory of the entire event — except for those fitted with “special” suits.
There are “mappers” of the “HARROW.”
They have to draw quickly — while in flight — and they never remember what they’ve drawn afterwards.
The only evidence of their mapping assignment is what they actually have put to paper — NOTHING ELSE.
But what they draw is enough to GIVE ANY SANE PERSON NIGHTMARES.
They have what they call “hunters” who actually go into the “HARROW FIELDS” wearing protective gear — who say there are still people trapped in the “HARROW” — but, they also say, they are unable to communicate with us — and/or — us with them.
Last year these “hunters” even managed to RECAPTURE one of the cities that had been engulfed by the ever-expanding “HARROW FIELDS” and were able to push the “HARROW” back, past the city, once again.
Even though no one wants to live in that city now, it’s symbolic — it is the “hunters’” one significant victory.
The derelict dirigible, named the “TIAGA,” is one of the “great” ships and it stretches for over a thousand feet, not only is it a huge ship, larger than most, it is the star attraction for its manufacturer.
Thus, the need for the owner to sneak-in his own photographer along side the rest of the investigating crews.
In order to get past both the air marshals and newspaper men who may recognize him, as he’s a famous local photographer, he has this photographer dress as one of his own mechanics that will be going onboard during the initial investigation.
He needs an ACCURATE and TRUTHFUL record of what they find inside.
That decision turns out to be THE BEST decision the owner could have made — for more than just the obvious reason of preventing evidence tampering.
The loss of a great ship over the “HARROW FIELDS” makes all the headlines
because dirigibles are, supposedly, GUARANTEED to be SAFE at HIGHER ALTITUDES.
Yes, this dirigible DID fly at those HIGHER ALTITUDES but no, it WASN’T SAFE.
Unfortunately that growth that the “HARROW” has been experiencing seems to have included an upward spurt into air space also.
Only, nobody noticed.
Somehow the “TIAGA” got caught up in the power — and/or pull — of THE “HARROW FIELDS” influence and disappeared within it.
This dirigible carried a compliment of 70 people.
Forty of them were passengers (which included a famous “HARROW HUNTER” and his equally famous “HARROW-MAPPING” team, along with a number of OTHER notable socialites) and thirty of the folks onboard were the entirety of the dirigible’s crew members.
All 70 were LOST — UNTIL THEY SUDDENLY WEREN’T.
No one could have predicted what was inside . . . and thus, NO ONE DID.
Not until one man — blackmailed by the owner to impersonate one of his mechanics — took photographs with his “MAGICAL” (and, yes, I’m being completely serious here) “CAMERA.”
The horrors revealed when the camera’s plates were developed were unimaginable . . .
EVER HEARD OF A “TROJAN HORSE,” ANYONE?
. . . cue the spine-tingling “OH, MY GØDS, NO!”
——————————
JEFFREY LYMAN is this book’s author.
I don’t know why there isn’t an Amazon author’s site for him, but I would hope he develops many more titles to make that a worthwhile goal.
I’d really like to see more of him.
The way this story began definitely garnered your attention.
The middle was intriguing and managed to hold on to your imagination — sweeping you right along while keeping you wondering about what might come next.
The ending suggested there was much more to this book that could absolutely be fleshed out into at least one or two other books — and/or — at least a small series.
One book could be about the main character’s acquirement of his “MAGICAL CAMERA” and the development of his relationship with his blackmailer — the owner/manufacturer of this now derelict dirigible.
Another could be more about the “HARROW FIELDS” themselves, and the development of its “mappers” and “hunters” plus, the surrounding principality of
“DENTON” where the photographer, the “TIAGA’S” owner and every other character in this story lives, though the horror takes place away from the populated areas.
With that said, I DO THANK YOU for this story, JEFFREY LYMAN.
Other than GAIL Z MARTIN and LARRY N MARTIN’S “ROCK OF AGES,” (#8 / 11) your story really stood out among the others in this “STEAMPUNK” anthology.
🌷🌷🌷MTULIPK🌷🌷🌷
JEFFREY LYMAN
(10th book of 11 in the anthology:
“AFTER PUNK: STEAMPOWERED TALES OF THE AFTERLIFE”
VARIOUS AUTHORS)
18 SEP 22
THIS IS EERILY SIMILAR TO THE PHENOMENON OF THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE!
5 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙
— I’D RECOMMEND THIS TO ANY STEAMPUNK / HORROR LOVER!
Intriguing story!
When they realization of what has happened finally hits them, it definitely inspires spine-tingling “WHAT-IFS?” and causes everyone involved to imagine many errant and horrifically possible outcomes, of which —“OH, MY GØDS, NO!” — could best describe how they feel about the horror that is revealed to them all.
A dirigible, that had “disappeared” a while ago, suddenly reappears.
They have it towed to the closest hanger they can get it to fit into (it’s a dirigible of immense size) yet still, they make sure it’s towed far enough away from any of the populated areas.
Very smart move since they don’t know what took place while it was lost.
As soon as it’s docked in the bay, it is boarded by air marshals, insurance agents, mortuary crews in their protective suits and the ship’s own mechanics.
Each group with their own photographers and everyone of them in gas masks.
They all want answers . . .
They know WHERE it disappeared . . .
They don’t know WHY it disappeared . . .
They don’t know HOW it disappeared . . .
And, most of all . . .
They don’t know HOW and/or WHY it REAPPEARED. . .
DID IT COME BACK FOR SOMETHING IN PARTICULAR?
The dirigible disappeared over a place called the “HARROW FIELDS” — a piece of land that encases an indeterminate evil that somehow keeps enlarging its own area, spreading its borders further and further past its original boundaries.
It’s grown so large now, that it has actually cut the country in half.
Nobody seems to know exactly what the “HARROW FIELDS” are — or what goes on inside its borders — only that very little ever comes back from the “HARROW” that one would welcome with open arms.
Most people who wander inside never come back out on their own.
Plus, anyone who does go in — or even near it — completely loses all memory of the entire event — except for those fitted with “special” suits.
There are “mappers” of the “HARROW.”
They have to draw quickly — while in flight — and they never remember what they’ve drawn afterwards.
The only evidence of their mapping assignment is what they actually have put to paper — NOTHING ELSE.
But what they draw is enough to GIVE ANY SANE PERSON NIGHTMARES.
They have what they call “hunters” who actually go into the “HARROW FIELDS” wearing protective gear — who say there are still people trapped in the “HARROW” — but, they also say, they are unable to communicate with us — and/or — us with them.
Last year these “hunters” even managed to RECAPTURE one of the cities that had been engulfed by the ever-expanding “HARROW FIELDS” and were able to push the “HARROW” back, past the city, once again.
Even though no one wants to live in that city now, it’s symbolic — it is the “hunters’” one significant victory.
The derelict dirigible, named the “TIAGA,” is one of the “great” ships and it stretches for over a thousand feet, not only is it a huge ship, larger than most, it is the star attraction for its manufacturer.
Thus, the need for the owner to sneak-in his own photographer along side the rest of the investigating crews.
In order to get past both the air marshals and newspaper men who may recognize him, as he’s a famous local photographer, he has this photographer dress as one of his own mechanics that will be going onboard during the initial investigation.
He needs an ACCURATE and TRUTHFUL record of what they find inside.
That decision turns out to be THE BEST decision the owner could have made — for more than just the obvious reason of preventing evidence tampering.
The loss of a great ship over the “HARROW FIELDS” makes all the headlines
because dirigibles are, supposedly, GUARANTEED to be SAFE at HIGHER ALTITUDES.
Yes, this dirigible DID fly at those HIGHER ALTITUDES but no, it WASN’T SAFE.
Unfortunately that growth that the “HARROW” has been experiencing seems to have included an upward spurt into air space also.
Only, nobody noticed.
Somehow the “TIAGA” got caught up in the power — and/or pull — of THE “HARROW FIELDS” influence and disappeared within it.
This dirigible carried a compliment of 70 people.
Forty of them were passengers (which included a famous “HARROW HUNTER” and his equally famous “HARROW-MAPPING” team, along with a number of OTHER notable socialites) and thirty of the folks onboard were the entirety of the dirigible’s crew members.
All 70 were LOST — UNTIL THEY SUDDENLY WEREN’T.
No one could have predicted what was inside . . . and thus, NO ONE DID.
Not until one man — blackmailed by the owner to impersonate one of his mechanics — took photographs with his “MAGICAL” (and, yes, I’m being completely serious here) “CAMERA.”
The horrors revealed when the camera’s plates were developed were unimaginable . . .
EVER HEARD OF A “TROJAN HORSE,” ANYONE?
. . . cue the spine-tingling “OH, MY GØDS, NO!”
——————————
JEFFREY LYMAN is this book’s author.
I don’t know why there isn’t an Amazon author’s site for him, but I would hope he develops many more titles to make that a worthwhile goal.
I’d really like to see more of him.
The way this story began definitely garnered your attention.
The middle was intriguing and managed to hold on to your imagination — sweeping you right along while keeping you wondering about what might come next.
The ending suggested there was much more to this book that could absolutely be fleshed out into at least one or two other books — and/or — at least a small series.
One book could be about the main character’s acquirement of his “MAGICAL CAMERA” and the development of his relationship with his blackmailer — the owner/manufacturer of this now derelict dirigible.
Another could be more about the “HARROW FIELDS” themselves, and the development of its “mappers” and “hunters” plus, the surrounding principality of
“DENTON” where the photographer, the “TIAGA’S” owner and every other character in this story lives, though the horror takes place away from the populated areas.
With that said, I DO THANK YOU for this story, JEFFREY LYMAN.
Other than GAIL Z MARTIN and LARRY N MARTIN’S “ROCK OF AGES,” (#8 / 11) your story really stood out among the others in this “STEAMPUNK” anthology.
🌷🌷🌷MTULIPK🌷🌷🌷
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews