Utah Territory, 1874: The long American Civil War is finally over, and the Union restored thanks to the tireless service of the Chinese-built clockwork soldiers of Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's Terrible Mechanical Corps. Many of these discharged "clockies," feared and reviled for their efficiency on the battlefield, have moved West to live peacefully alongside an often suspicious citizenry. One such small company of clockies has been basically accepted as a tolerable nuisance by the Mormons of Lost Creek--until a crippled, alcoholic, Confederate ne'er-do-well, Dickie Tucker, teaches these machines the art and craft of being--or at least seeming--human.
As Lois Tilton wrote in the Internet Review of Science Fiction, this novella is "dark comedy, wonderfully absurd, riotously bawdy, populated by a full set of fantastically flawed characters, such as Two-Ton Sadie the madam, who helps [Dickie] demonstrate the art of copulation, and 'Rabbi' Emet Kohen, who ministers to a congregation of Hebrew Zunis. Yet it is also a poignant tale of wanting to belong, wanting to be counted as a human among humans."
First published in Paradox magazine in 2008, this complete, revised edition of "Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate" includes all new art and illustrations by Chad Sell, and is available exclusively though Amazon. Other stories featuring Dickie Tucker have appeared in Asimov's magazine and the anthology Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded.
