Echoes of the Divine: And Other Steampunk Stories
by Danielle Ackley-McPhail

Welcome to a World of Invention

To a mermaid watching airships as she dreams of the sky… to an orphan girl caught between innovation and tradition… From a desperate Lady turning to science to search for the rightful heir… The Age of Steam is full of potential-and peril-for those with the vision to wonder what if.

Includes the Stories:

Looking Back

To Reach for Distant Shores

Windows to the Soul

On the Wings of an Angel

Echoes of the Divine

Trouble on the Water

Angel de la Muerte

Ala al-Din and the Cave of Wonders

***

Contains a bonus excerpt from the forthcoming novel The Town of Ground-Down Gears

4 out of 5 fairies

An interesting collection of short stories, all with a steampunk/gaslamp vibe. I’ll briefly touch on each story, but I’ll try to avoid spoilers! Some of the stories take place in the same world, or are continuations of earlier stories, and I think all would’ve worked out fine if they’d been made longer. Looking Back was an interesting peek into messing about with time, and I wouldn’t call Clara a very likable character, although she stands at the center of it. I think it would’ve benefitted from being a bit longer, honestly. To Reach for Distant Shores had excellent descriptions, and I found it a little easier to get into than the first story. It has very Little Mermaid with a new twist vibes, which may be part of why I enjoyed it so much. Windows to the Soul had a heartbreaking but absolutely captivating opening, that really evokes some deep emotions right off the bat. The story was ok, but the journal entries are what really stuck with me. On The Wings of An Angel has a great opening line. I liked the drastic change in tone of the narrator, much more common, but in a way that catches your attention. Echoes of the Divine brings us back to Clara, but a little way into the future from before. I still don’t really like her, but the story was a little easier to get into. Trouble on the Water is set in the same world as To Reach for Distant Shores, but this time we’re above the waves. I enjoyed the story, and seeing things from a different perspective. Angel de la Muerte returns us to Aleta, our protagonist from One The Wings of an Angel. Although there are no journal entries this time, there’s still a deep emotional angle running underneath. Ala al Din and the Cave of Wonders (an Aladdin and the Lamp retelling, if you aren’t familiar), and might be my favorite of the bunch, although I enjoyed reading most of the stories. This one just seems to draw you in and ease you into the story a little better. Overall, a good collection of stories, and they’re short enough you can read one and then come back later to read another.

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Award-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.