The Original Sam

Clare Fields is a Creationist -- an individual gifted with the ability to create things out of thin air for a short amount of time. Her best friend, Jack Baker, is an Engineer with big dreams stuck in a world where magic infuses every aspect of society, from faith and mythology to industry and business. Inseparable despite their differences, Jack and Clare have always been outsiders, standing together against the world.

Now Jack has been tasked with building a flying machine without the use of Creationism, far from home and the familiar confines of his University. His patron is a wealthy eccentric named Ellis Graveworthy: an eminent novelist who also happens to be a secret agent for Her Majesty's government.

Together, the three of them will embark on an adventure across continents and oceans to reach Australia, the infamous Dead Isle that robs Creationists of their abilities and has long since closed its borders to outsiders. Along with Purva de la Fitte, a pirate princess who joins them on the journey, they must find their way to the anonymous supplicant who summoned them, unaware of what awaits them -- or that Clare may hold the secret to the puzzle of why Australia has no Creation.

The Dead Isle is a steampunk fantasy novel currently being posted for criticism and review, one chapter a day between April 20th and May 14th, 2012. Feel free to comment with any and all thoughts you may have as you read. With any luck, a final version will be available in epub, pdf, and hardcopy format by the end of the year.

A quick announcement, going out on copperbadge and my Wordpress too -- I've set the starting date for posting the new rewritten Dead Isle as April 20th, this Friday. I'll be posting a chapter a day from April 20th through May 14th; I was going to post two a day, but I need time to absorb the notes you guys give me and two chapters a day is a lot of reading for you as well. Chapters will be posted at theoriginalsam but, as with fanfic, links will be posted to copperbadge and all mirrors.

If you are participating in the read-and-critique, and I encourage everyone who wants to take part to participate, please be aware that you may not get a response from me immediately -- generally it's a lot to take in and sometimes I need to rock-tumble things a little before I respond. But I do appreciate everyone's commentary! This is a grand experiment of mine and I'm always learning new things from it.

If you have friends who are interested in editing, steampunk, fantasy, alternate history, or digital publishing, invite 'em along. Dead Isle is family-friendly (there's very little swearing or violence and no sex) and while I may be biased I think it's a heck of an adventure.

This is the Second Draft index post for Trace. (I've succumbed. There's no other title for it. Trace, irrelevant as it is, it shall be.)

Trace

Colin Byrne is a pickpocket, an artist, and an occasional consultant for the police. He's also an ex-felon, an initiate into the unspoken, unseen magic that only prisoners know: how to disappear, how to tell fortunes, how to steal souls. Now NYPD detective Joseph Wright, the man who put him in prison and saved him when he got out, wants him to return to Railburg State Correctional Facility to help investigate a case.

Some things at Railburg haven't changed. His protégé Noel is still the best ink artist in the prison, and their mentor Gutierrez still talks to God. The gangs are still the ones with all the power. But some things are different -- there's a young Blood named Laney who sees demons, and another prisoner Colin helped put away is slowly poisoning Railburg's food. With mysterious forces aiming to incite a riot and the Aryan Brotherhood constantly harassing Laney, Colin has bigger problems than the one he went to Railburg to solve.

Until Joseph arrives at Railburg, posing as a guard, and Colin discovers Joseph might now be just as dangerous as anything else in the prison...

Because of the variety of length, chapters have been posted in sets of three per post.

Chapters 1, 2, & 3 | Chapters 4, 5, & 6 | Chapters 7, 8, & 9 | Chapters 10, 11, & 12
Chapters 13, 14, & 15 | Chapters 16, 17, & 18 | Chapters 19, 20, & 21 | Chapters 22, 23, 24, & 25