This is a great action/adventure tale, reminiscent of the Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven. Miners accidentally unearth something that should've stayed buried, and the men of the area have all been enslaved by deadly magic. The women of the town must now band together to save their community and stop a revenge-seeking supernatural entity from destroying the world bit by bit. They also need to recruit some bad-ass women from out of town to help them, but will even they be enough? This is a short novel (Novella? Novelette?) coming in at just under 150 pages. Author Michael Merriam does a great job with pacing, building suspense, and with creating characters that the reader will not only identify with, but root for as well. I highly recommend this book to fans of both westerns and supernatural horror.

Deaath By Silver is a fantastic book. The mystery elements are very well written, the magic is fascinating and the story is compelling - a real page-turner. Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold do a teriffic job of setting the stage. Freelance detectives and sometime lovers Manthey and Lynes must solve the murder of the father of Victor Nevett, their nemesis from boarding school. It would be only too easy to allow Victor to be found guilty, but Manthey is a decent sort and, despite his feelings toward Victor, he is determined to find the real culprit before Victor is sent to the gallows. Warning: there are many instances of recounting bullying and abuse via corporal punishment at the hands of more senior students in Edwardian-era English boarding schools. Some readers my find those portrayals upsetting, but they are integral to the story. If you enjoy this book, be sure to check out the further adventures of Manthey and Lynes in A Death at the Dionysus Club: https://www.drivethrufiction.com/product/463044/A-Death-at-the-Dionysus-Club?src=hottest_filtered.

Unfinished Business is a collection of stotries by veteran author Catherine Lundoff. The stories are all dark fantasy, and range from steampunk to gothic horror to homages to classic horror stories from Poe and Stoker. There are twelve stories in all, some being reprints - having appeared in other antholgies - but this is typical for single author collections of short stories. All are delightfully chilling, and keep the reader wanting more. My favorite is the steampunk-themed Medium Mechanique, a tale of spirit mediums, lost loves, and unintended consequences.

Unfinished Business is a fast read; the stories are engaging and well-paced, and it's an excellent value for the price. If you are a fan of horror and unfamiliar with Ms. Lundoff's work, I highly recommend Unfinished Business as an introduction to a fine and talented author. If you enjoy this work, you should also consider checking out her novels availble on Drive Thru Fiction, not to mention other books from her small press publishing house, Queen of Swords Press.

Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures is a delightful collection of three novellas about Captain Marta Ramos - the most dangerous pirate in the Duchy of Denver - and her crew. It stands alone perfectly well, but ties in nicely with Murder on the Titania, the previous collection of stories chronicling these same airship pirates and their adventures.

The middle story of Wireless doesn't involve Captain Ramos at all - directly, anyway. It concerns a mission undertaken by Ramos's right-hand man, Simms, and the good Captain's romantic interest, Deliah. Deliah has her own objectives on this mission; she has more secrets than many nations, and she and Simms get along about as well as oil and water.

All three tales are fun to read, and this book is a page-turner. If you enjoy these stories, I urge you to also pick up a copy of Murder on the Titania for more from these intriguing characters and the author that brings them to life.

Murder on the Titania is a fast-paced steampunk adventure consisting of 5 short stories. The stories are evocative, well-paced, and fun to read; I couldn't put this book down until I finished it, and then I wanted more. (I was in luck; there is a sequel - Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures!) Murder on the Titania is an excellent example of steampunk literature from a veteran author; they've done a terrific job of creating believable characters the reader will identify with, as well as creating prose that is descriptive and evocative without going overboard. The ebook is a bit over 400 pages, but that's deceptive; the layout means each page is quite short. To give you a more clear idea of this, the print version is only 275 pages. I highly recommend Murder on the Titania and its sequel, Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures, to anyone with a taste for high adventure and a good story.