QSFer Nita Round has a new FF fantasy steampunk book out, The Evie Chester Files Case Four: Pride and Pestilence.
Rich man, poor man, freeman, or slave. When red fever comes calling, no one is safe.
Captain Ezra Burton brings a ship load of problems to Bristelle and seeks Godwyn Bethwood’s help to soothe the way. If he thought he had problems when he docked, it soon gets worse. Godwyn is dead and now he must deal with his sister and the indomitable Evie Chester.
Burton’s problems seep out on to the streets of the city. Sickness and infection spread unchecked whilst the medics and city men don’t even think there is a problem. Evie and Hesta know better. They cannot ignore the danger and must act to overcome the perils that threaten to overwhelm the city.
When the city is overwhelmed and all feels lost, more extreme magical measures are needed to save them. It takes a summoner, a killer, a healer and a cleanser to attempt what no one has ever tried before. Yet there is a price to pay for this immense outflow of power. Which one of them will pay the price?
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Excerpt
Bristelle Blues
Evie Chester, once a slave and now a free woman, could be whoever she wanted to be, and go wherever she chose. She had clothes on her back, a roof over her head, and could eat whatever she wanted. She didn’t even have to worry about her next meal, or where it came from. Life, for Evie Chester, was as good as any dream she might have had. So far.
It was a bright morning, and she stood in the home of her friend, Oklah Wehari, the old wife for her lessons in herbcraft. She stared at the dozens of potion bottles of every shape and size that covered the table. Some were made of clear glass, some were opaque, and some of them tinted so heavily it was almost impossible to see the contents.
At her side, Oklah slapped the flat of her hand on the table so hard the bottles chinked together. “Evie Chester, concentrate!” she bellowed.
Evie flinched at the noise. She looked up into Oklah’s white and sightless eyes and tried to hide the fear that had arisen at the sudden sound. The old wife might not have functioning eyes, but she missed nothing.
“I’m sorry to make you jump. You’ll not learn if you do not pay attention.” Oklah’s herb lore and medical knowledge were almost as extensive as those high-falutin’ medics at the hospital. The least Evie could do was listen.
“I’m sorry. It’s not a good day to think. I keep remembering things I’d rather not,” Evie said.
“And one of those thoughts must be how the hell you survived the Butcher of Bristelle?” “Well… yes, I suppose.” It wasn’t really what was on her mind, but now that Oklah had mentioned it, she couldn’t forget.
“There is no suppose. If you aren’t thinking about it, you should be. Of all the stupid and ill-conceived things you could have done, chasing such a beast was the daftest. Among the daftest things you’ve ever done, in fact. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were drunk or something. You and that woman of yours.
” Evie turned away. “She is not my woman, Oklah. Besides, I did what I needed to do to keep people safe and stop the killing.”
“It was still a very stupid idea. If you were my daughter, I would cuff you around the ears for being so dense.
” Evie quite liked the idea that someone would think of her as their daughter, but Oklah was annoyed with her. “I didn’t think I was being dense, or stupid.”
“No? You’re not a sorceress. You can’t kill with a word.”
“No, it is true. I cannot do that.”
“You went on a hunt, without a gun, or a blade, or anything helpful like that.”
“I know, but none of those things are useful to me.”
“And you didn’t even know for sure what kind of beast it was. It could have been a shape shifter and your gift would have been useless against it.”
“I knew it wasn’t natural. I’d seen the glittering of a body,” Evie said.
“Then it might have been a lycanthrope who just needed to feed. Or any kind of thing we can’t even imagine. There are so many beasts we do not know or understand yet, and you are like a babe when it comes to such matters.”
“Yes, I know, but I knew it was a cursed creature. I wasn’t wrong.”
“Yes, but you might not have been right, and if you were wrong, then it would have ripped you in two pieces as easy as look at you.”
“But it didn’t.”
“Yes. But you haven’t thought of the most important thing in all this.”
“What is that, honoured old wife?”
“What if there had been more of them, confusing your magics with the magics of their own?”
Evie didn’t want to think about things like that. She didn’t need Oklah to tell her how reckless she had been. Oklah hadn’t finished. “What if there was more to it? Why was it here? It wasn’t here by accident. Who made it? And more importantly, who, or what, sent it?” Evie shrugged. “I don’t know. But the beast is gone and no more people have been eaten. That is good. There is no more worry for the workers who must earn their keep at night.”
“You mean whores.”
“Yes, and the lamplighters, and the dockers coming home from the factories, and even the washerwomen who work at the steamer houses. They need to be safe, too.
” Oklah grunted. “They do, but you should be more worried about yourself.”
“I am worried. For me, for Florie, and everyone I know and care about.”
“You know she is now a woman?”
Evie looked up sharply. “How did you know?”
Oklah snorted. “I know things. You watch her, and that fellow of hers. You don’t need any more complications in your life just yet.”
“Will it change her?”
“Will what change her? Having babies or her gift changing now that she bleeds?” “Either,” Evie answered.
“For the answer to that, we must wait and see.”
“Yes, we will. Now, we have all this freedom, and it must not go to waste. She needs to stretch her wings and see how big the world is for herself.”
“Talking of time and freedom that must not go to waste,” Oklah Wehari picked up a small slim bottle made of bright blue glass and handed it to Evie, “tell me about this bottle.”
Author Bio
Hello, I’m Nita and a British author. I live with my wife and a little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
When I’m not writing, I’m an avid gamer. I love to escape to any world, any format, any console, and any time. I also play Role Play Games (AD&D, Werewolf, Cthulhu) and I’m sadistic enough to be the dungeon master whenever I can.
I write every chance I get, which is every day. Except Saturday. That’s when I pretend I’m not writing.