The Clockwork Companion: Your Key to the Mrs. McGillicuddy Universe (Includes an original short story, excerpt, and introduction by Louise Bohmer) (The Mrs. McGillicuddy Mysteries) [Kindle Edition]

K. H. Koehler (Author), Louise Bohmer (Introduction)

Book Description

Before you read A Clockwork Vampire and A Werewolf in Time, learn all you can about Edwin and Eliza's world, including the different castes of Poppets, the different types of "nonhumans" (vampires, shapeshifters, etc.) and the technology that makes Mrs. McGillicuddy's universe a unique steampunk/cyberpunk experience unlike anything in urban fantasy today. The Clockwork Universe is all about the unusual meshing of myth, magic and science fiction.

The Clockwork Companion: Your Key to the Mrs. McGillicuddy Universe (Mrs. McGillicuddy #0) Includes:

- The Clockwork Universe Glossary.

- Suggested Playlist and where you can listen to the actual soundtrack.

- An original short story, "The Clockwork Vampire," not available in the novel, which explains how Edwin and Eliza first met.

- Over fifty pages of A Clockwork Vampire: A Mrs. McGillicuddy Mystery.

- An Introduction by author Louise Bohmer. Learn more about the steampunk genre, where it is and where it's going.

More than 30K's worth of free material. Please note this book is available as a FREE download at

http://khkoehlerbooks.wordpress.com

Praise for A Clockwork Vampire:

"Outrageous fun." —BookLove

"If you like your steampunk and/or vampires on the very steamy side, this one is for you." —Steampunk Canada

Product Details

• File Size: 368 KB
• Print Length: 124 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: K. H. Koehler Books (September 4, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005LBQGTC
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #264,594 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars "Steamy" cross-genre appetizer October 14, 2011

By SciFi Kindle

Format:Kindle Edition

With her "Mrs. McGillicuddy Mysteries", of which The Clockwork Companion is the starting entry, Author K. H. Koehler ventures into the Steampunk genre with a cautious foot still firmly planted in horror and urban fantasy. A story is enjoyed for it's plot, but remembered for its setting and characters. Because of this, I feel both Clockwork Companion and it's fuller-length follow-up book, A Clockwork Vampire will live eternally in the minds of readers, much like their undead protagonist, the title vampire Edwin McGillicuddy. In what other realm do vampires, were-creatures, and twenty-first century computers coexist with steam-powered orbital airships and clockwork artificial hearts? Here's a welcome result of Koehler's genre-mingling.

Readers are introduced to Edwin and his mortal wife, Eliza, in the moment where the couple themselves are introduced to one another. It is only by Eliza's mechanical know-how that the critically injured Edwin is rescued from the second, and final death, after he wanders into her clock repair workshop one rainy night with a gunshot wound to the heart. The wind-up prosthetic she outfits him with endears him to her in a Nightingale-reminiscent moment. Before long, romance ensues, and Koehler cements the reader's attention with the first of several "steamy" steampunk love scenes.

The story continues by previewing the first few chapters of The Clockwork Vampire and establishing the mysterious circumstances that set the McGillicuddy twosome in pursuit of a vampire-killing assassin. Further summary is best left to a review of that book, so I'll switch now to describing the remaining 'bonus features' included in The Clockwork Companion.

A very helpful Glossary informs readers of the complex sub-culture of nonhumans in Koehler's world, defining key concepts such as courtier life and legal status of vampires in the larger society. However, I recommend readers skip over it until after reading the story proper. It includes entries for major characters that are robbed of a splashy entrance in the story if you've already become acquainted in the Glossary.

The other inclusion in The Clockwork Companion is one that can't be fully appreciated by the eye's alone: a playlist of suggested songs to accompany your reading of the story is an idea that intrigues me. The songs are purely for mood setting, so readers need not worry about synchronized playback or anything. I know many readers who prefer to read this way, but I'm no synesthete myself, and so I can't comment on the selections offered. Enjoy or Ignore as you will, but it seems a like a thoughtful insight into the author's inspirational sources.

My final recommendation on The Clockwork story pair is a solid 4/5, with points earned for uniqueness and seasonal appropriateness for the week I chose to read (October 2011). My personal tastes for Steampunk stories favor a little more gadgetry and little less romance, but I'll forgive the matter here out of gratitude for the delightful characters we've been given. I hope future stories with the McGillicuddys are forthcoming!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Steampunk March 20, 2013

By Lov Vamps

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I loved this book. Wonder storyline. So much careing and romance. The humor pulled the story together great. Can not go wrong buying this book.

More About the Author

K. H. Koehler is the author of various novels and novellas in the genres of horror, SF, dark fantasy, steampunk and young adult. She is an associate editor at KHP Publishers, owner of K.H. Koehler Books and a partner in The Job Octopus, which specializes in editing and cover design. Her books are available at all major ebook distributors, her covers have appeared on many books in many different genres, and her short work has been featured on Horror World, Literary Mayhem, and in the Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology Demons, edited by John Skipp. She lives in the beautiful wilds of Northeast Pennsylvania with two very large and opinionated Rottweilers. She welcomes reviews and fan mail. Visit her site at http://khkoehlerbooks.wordpress.com.