The
Techno Mage
by
S.W. Raine
Genre:
Steampunk Fantasy
She's
being held hostage and yet, Magaliana doesn't want to be
saved.
Close
friends Ikarim, Arteus, and Magaliana always knew the dangers of sky
pirates, but what they didn't expect was having their airship repair
shop pillaged and being separated when Magaliana, a noble, is sold
for a hefty bounty.
Once
in the hands of the Techno Mage, her world changes. He's a mythical
man with the ability to flawlessly combine both technology and
alchemy, and his mythical ship is a haven for Magaliana. There, she
discovers how to refine her craft.
Ikarim
and Arteus are determined to escape the sky pirates to save her, but
do they have what it takes before the Techno Mage initiates his grand
plan?
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Blog tour snippets:
“Arteus—” Gesselmeyer started but was cut short by another coughing fit.
“Vater, please save your strength. Don't talk.”
“Arteus, I must tell you...” Gesselmeyer's words were slow and drawn out, a labored breath in between each.
Arteus reached for the pot’s handle and gave it a jiggle to produce embers for more heat. “I'm sure it can wait until morning, Vater.”
“Nein, Arteus.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “I must tell you the truth.”
He sat at the edge of the old man's bed and awaited this ‘truth’. Gesselmeyer pulled his hands out from beneath the blankets and brought his shaky fingers to Arteus’ gloves, trying to remove them. Arteus frowned and pulled his hands away, adjusting them back on properly. “Vater, why are you taking off my gloves?”
“Let me see your hands.”
“You know I do not enjoy showing them off...”
“I don't want to hear it. Show me.”
Arteus flinched and reluctantly removed one of the black leather gloves from his hands. Beneath, rather than skin and bone, was a uniform arrangement of metal and wires similar to human anatomy. He pulled off the other one, and a sigh of contentment escaped Gesselmeyer amid a few wheezes when he touched Arteus’ hands. He ran his shaky, fragile fingers over each metal extremity, then reached for the cuff of his son’s sleeve and tugged at it. Arteus got the hint; he unbuttoned it and rolled the sleeve to his elbow so the old man could see the continuation of metal and wire up his arm.
“My finest work,” he whispered, shaky fingers continuing up Arteus’ forearm to the wires coursing with blue liquid. “And your leg?”
Arteus patted his left leg below the knee. “As good as the rest.”
“Arteus, I have to tell you... This pains me, but you must know.”
The food on their plates was half-eaten when a voice over the airwaves captured their attention.
“... to Handsel Gesselmeyer—... The entire shop was ransacked, and—... Three hostages—...”
Ikarim frowned and Magaliana shot out of the side room, concern clear on her face. Arteus continued to play with the knob to get better reception.
“... Magaliana Wiegraf, the daughter of Herr Wiegraf—...”
The Alchemist brought both hands to her mouth to keep her fear silent and rushed to Ikarim’s side. Arteus hissed his discontent as they continued to listen.
“... German Imperium and Queen Victoria's Royal Guard are doubling up efforts for her retrieval—... Offering a hefty reward to the one who returns his daughter—... I will stop at nothing until we find her—...”
There was nothing but static for a few more seconds. Arteus went to adjust the knob, but not before somebody else spoke.
“Copy that, Sergeant Cambridge.”
“Do you think Keenan knows?” Magaliana whispered in horror from behind her hands.
Large, loud thumps approached and the lock jangled louder than ever before the door slammed open. There stood Captain Benedict Keenan, a wild look about his features. He pointed at Magaliana as his dark eyes settled on her.
“YOU.”
He knew.
She searched for tools and bottles on every floor but found none. She was a woman on a mission: if she was to be kept upon the Faugregir for any duration of time, she needed to keep herself busy, and the golems in the cemetery would give her plenty to do.
Eventually, she arrived on an unfamiliar floor. She cast the attendant a curious glance as she stepped off the lift, but he said and revealed nothing. The wide hallway was similar to the one that led to the room she stayed in, but the door at the end was much smaller and made of thick steel. Try as she might, she couldn’t remember being shown this particular level during her tour.
The maddening hum was particularly obvious here, and Magaliana had to grit her teeth to ignore it. She gently placed a palm against the steel and could feel ever-so-faint vibrations. Trailing her hand down to the intricately carved doorknob, she tentatively turned the handle and pushed.
The door opened. She stepped into the room and carefully shut the door behind her, trying to be as quiet as possible; she had the feeling that she wasn't supposed to be there, but something had caught her eye.
Glowing green vines were tangled about the wall, ceiling, and floor of the room, which was much, much bigger than the steel door suggested. She inspected some of them and realized that they were tiny wires much like the ones contained inside the golems, full of green liquid. Unlike those, however, these vines appeared to move, almost as if they were alive. Unsure what to make of them, Magaliana found her way to the center of the room where she’d swear she hit the jackpot.
Thick, wooden tables were filled to the brim with blown glass bottles, containers, and plates of powders. Controlled fires burned in a few jars, and she shivered from excitement. This was her area of expertise. The equipment was more than she had owned in Gesselmeyer's shop, and definitely more diverse than what they owned in his house. Enraptured, she inspected every single object until she spotted a figure past the curios with black markings on his back and shoulders, sitting cross-legged in front of the tall window.
Startled, Magaliana took a step back, accidentally bumping her hip into the table and knocking off one of the bottles, which shattered as it hit the floor. She brought both hands up to her mouth, her eyes wide in a mixture of fear and apology.
The figure stirred from his meditation. “Dame Magaliana.”
She froze. The person with markings over his body was none other than the Techno Mage, and he knew that she was standing behind him without even turning around.
Can you, for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
Hi! I’m S.W. Raine, and The Techno Mage is my debut novel! I have always loved writing. I have a wild imagination and I have wanted to share my stories since I was young. I’ve tried a few times but never quite knew where to start until I sat down with another published author and we created a writing/publishing plan.
What are you passionate about these days?
Indie authors! We are just as good as traditionally published authors, but we don’t have a team behind us, so we have to pay for services like cover designs and editors out of our own pockets, as well as do our own marketing. It’s a lot of hard work, but so worth all the blood, sweat, and tears.
What inspired you to write this book?
I used to do online Role Playing and had created Ikarim, Arteus, and Magaliana for a Steampunk RP that never really went anywhere, so I ended up shelving the characters. Then a few years later (in 2012, actually) I needed an idea for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) so I unshelved the characters and ran with it.
Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?
As a matter of fact, I have one in plans to be written during NaNoWriMo this year, featuring the sky pirate Captain Keenan!
How did you come up with the title of your first novel?
Back in 2012 the novel was called something else, entirely, but I don’t remember what that was. Then I changed the name to Sky Pirates of Faugregir, after the main airship that the story revolves around. As I did my rounds of revision, I decided to just call it Faugregir, since the main trio weren’t actually sky pirates. And it wasn’t until I got my cover professionally done that my cover designer suggested to change the name to something most people could easily pronounce. Since the Techno Mage created the Faugregir and the story also revolved around the Mage, the end result became the title it is, now.
What did you edit out of this book?
Plenty! But the biggest one that comes to mind is that I edited out an entire character! As important as he was, he really served no real purpose in advancing the storyline. It was such a hard decision and it broke my heart, but it’s alright; he’ll make his appearance proper in the Spin-off.
What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?
Before? Absolutely none. I’m a Pantser; we are known to write by the seat of our pants. I like to say that I just chronicle the characters’ journey. But I can tell you that there is definitely some research while I write, and plenty of it during the revision and editing phases.
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
It usually takes me a month to write (the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to write 50k words from the 1st to the 30th of November). But revision and editing takes me much, much longer.
Raine
is Canadian, born and raised, and constantly moved in between Ontario
and Quebec with her military family. She moved to Michigan, USA, in
2004, where she currently still resides with her husband and
son.
She
has always had a vivid imagination and loved reading and writing from
a very young age. She took courses in Children's Literature through
ICL in Illinois, and published her New Adult Steampunk debut in 2020.
She has participated in NaNoWriMo for over a decade and is currently
a Municipal Liaison for the Detroit region.
$10
Amazon gift card, acrylic pin of book cover, signed sicker of book
cover
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I added this to my wishlist . I love the cover - Joyffree
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting! I absolutely love the cover as well.
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