Anthologies Fantasy Historical LGBT Romance Steampunk

Steamed Up

Name: Steamed Up
Rating: 3.81 (182 reviews)
Author: Amy Rae Durreson

Amy Rae Durreson

3.81 182 Ratings

Ongoing Status

16 Views

Start Reading

Synopsis

Inventors, pilots, tinkers, and soldiers; magical metals to replace an aging heart or a ruined limb; steam-powered fantasy worlds of clockwork nightingales, automatons, dirigibles, and men. The stories in this anthology visit diverse times in the history of modern man, and the men who populate these tales face war and cruelty, masters and autocrats, illness and poverty and greed. Yet the heat of romance outmatches even the steam engines, and time and again, the gears of love rule the day.

Stories included

The Clockwork Nightingale’s Song by Amy Rae Durreson
Caress by Eli Easton
Swiftsilver by Bell Ellis
The Clockwork Heart by Kim Fielding
The Galatea’s Captain by Anka Grace
Screws by R.D. Hero
The Golden Goose by Mark Lesney
Spindle and Bell by Augusta Li
Ace of Hearts by Mary Pletsch
Five to One by Angelia Sparrow
Untouchable by Layla M. Wier

Books similar to Steamed Up

Prosperity

★ 4.16

Alexis Hall

A breathtaking tale of passion and adventure in the untamed skies!

Prosperity, 1863: a lawless skytown where varlets, chancers, and ne’er-do-wells risk everything to chase a fortune in the clouds, and where a Gaslight guttersnipe named Piccadilly is about to cheat the wrong man. This mistake will endanger his life . . . and his heart.

Thrill! As our hero battles dreadful kraken above Prosperity. Gasp! As the miracles of clockwork engineering allow a dead man to wreak his vengeance upon the living. Marvel! At the aerial escapades of the aethership, Shadowless.

Beware! The licentious and unchristian example set by the opium-addled navigatress, Miss Grey. Disapprove Strongly! Of the utter moral iniquity of the dastardly crime prince, Milord. Swoon! At the dashing skycaptain, Byron Kae. Swoon Again! At the tormented clergyman, Ruben Crowe.

This volume (available in print, and for the first time on mechanical book-reading devices) contains the complete original text of Piccadilly’s memoirs as first serialised in All the Year Round. Some passages may prove unsettling to unmarried gentlemen of a sensitive disposition.

Lords of Aether Volume One

★ 3.55

K.C. Burn

In turn of the century London, a handful of men, members of the exclusive Lords of Aether club, discover that the English Imperial Empire is under assault by a nebulous enemy. Murders of key figures in the criminal underworld abound and innocent men are framed for the crimes. Government officials change their stance on political issues overnight following the near death experiences of those close to them. Experiments related to aether are covered up. Inventors and others with military knowledge have mysteriously disappeared. Strange banking and finance issues cripple the Empire. As the government’s funds dry up, crime rises, signaling approaching anarchy. Something dire is afoot and disparate clues lead to one dead end after another for the Lords of Aether.

The search for a missing lover becomes the painstaking uncovering of a plot against the world’s governments that begins with the crippling of the English Imperial Empire. The Lords of Aether battle their own demons and personal issues as they work together to discover just who is behind the ingenious and nefarious plot. When their investigations lead them to an ancient arcane society they find more chaos and evil than they ever imagined existed. A master criminal with ties to the Imperial family, unlimited wealth and resources, and no conscience leads them down a twisted path of destruction and deception. The Lords of Aether must pool their own resources, call upon their trusted friends and family members, and work together to save the Empire and the world.

The Inventor’s Companion

★ 3.72

Ariel Tachna

Gabriel Blackstone’s world is divided quite clearly into castes: everyone knows their place and abides by it. As an inventor in the merchant caste, his life is predictable in its routine until the night his best friends and assistants, Caleb and Andrew, purchase the time—and body—of a companion for his birthday. As an activist in the Caste Equality movement, everything Gabriel believes in tells him to refuse the gift, but then he meets Lucio. The beautiful and alluring companion is far more than the vapid courtesan he'd expected, and he can’t get the man out of his mind.

After that night, Gabriel tells himself to forget about Lucio, but a chance meeting at a ball makes it clear neither of them is willing to ignore the compelling chemistry between them. It will take all their combined trust and cunning, plus the help of a wily aristocrat and a plucky political activist, to overcome the challenges of infidelity, abuse, and social stigma that lay along their road; however, Gabriel knows it will all be worth it if at the end of the day he can call Lucio his own.

Copper Coins [铜钱龛世 ]

★ 4.22

Mu Su Li

It was the twenty-third year of Tianxi. Rumours traversed the streets that the all-knowing Imperial Advisor suffered a great calamity and could not help but enter seclusion to focus on cultivation. However, the commoners secretly clapped their hands and rejoiced. In the winter of the same year, a young monk appeared in the Hui Zhou Fu’s Ningyang District.

The monk’s monastic title was Xuan Min, his memories all missing, yet was versed in the arts of Feng Shui Kan Yu. On the very first day arriving in Ningyang, he did not hesitate to take care of a dangerous manor, picking up Xue Xian, who was hidden there, along the way.

Since then, Xue Xian – who had been all-powerful in the first half of his life – gained a new life pursuit: to get this baldy who had only a good outer appearance to take his last breath and “smile from his grave”.

Xue Xian: If you are unhappy, then I will be happy. If you die, I’ll laugh my ass off.

Xuan Min: …

The Tank

★ 4.11

Cari Z.

All Anton Seiber, newly-minted Master Thaumaturge, wants is to use his training to support himself out in the world. Well, that and to see the man he loves, Imperial Investigator Camille Lumière, more than once every six months.

What he gets instead is an invitation to visit L’Institut D’Ingénierie Technologique in Paris, the foremost research institution for thaumaturgy and the arts of war in the world. It’s an offer he can’t turn down…quite literally.

Getting to the Institute is a mess that Anton barely survives, and that’s just the beginning of his troubles. Drawn into a web of lies and betrayals, Anton will have to use every trick he can conjure to survive—and perhaps hand over the most diabolical spell in the world in exchange for saving the life of someone he loves.

Under the Rushes

★ 3.95

Amy Lane

Ten years after Dorjan trusted a boy’s word over his superior officer’s, he and his best friend, Areau, are still living the aftermath—and trying to stop the man responsible. Locked in a careful dance to bring down a corrupt government, Dorjan struggles to balance his grief with Areau’s anger. Just when Dorjan reaches the end of his rope, he sees a familiar face in the shadows, and the boy he trusted a decade before offers him unexpected kindness.

Taern remembers the soldier who found him under the rushes and listened to his pleas to save his family. When Dorjan reappears in his life, Taern is both captured by his commitment to justice and terrified by the risks he takes. All Taern wants to do is fix him, but the oncoming destruction has been ten years in the making, and Dorjan doesn’t want his help. Not if it puts Taern at risk.

Powers clash and a world's fate dangles between Areau's madness and Dorjan's nobility. While Dorjan fights to save the world, Taern joins the battle simply to save Dorjan, knowing everything hinges on the heart of a man in armor and the strength of the man who loves him.

Mongrel

★ 3.72

K.Z. Snow

Hunzinger's Mechanical Circus, a rollicking seaside carnival where imagination meets machinery, shines as the only bright spot in the dreary city of Purinton. A shadow is cast there one day when a tall, cloaked figure approaches the stand of Will Marchman, a young patent-medicine salesman. Fanule Perfidor, commonly known as the Dog King, isn't welcome at the Circus. No resident of Taintwell is; they're all Branded Mongrels, officially shunned. But Will is beguiled by the stunning, mysterious Perfidor. Their mutual wariness soon gives way to desire, and a bond forms. Soon the naive but plucky pitchman becomes embroiled in a dangerous quest. Fanule suspects Alphonse Hunzinger and Purinton's civic leaders are responsible for the disappearance or incarceration of countless Branded Mongrels. But why? As Will's passion and regard for his tormented lover grow, he's determined to help Fanule get answers and prevent any further persecution... or worse. They just have to stay together—and stay alive long enough—to see their plan through.

Wicked Gentlemen

★ 3.96

Ginn Hale

Belimai Sykes is many things: a Prodigal, the descendant of ancient demons, a creature of dark temptations and rare powers. He is also a man with a brutal past and a dangerous addiction. And Belimai Sykes is the only man Captain William Harper can turn to when faced with a series of grisly murders.

But Mr. Sykes does not work for free and the price of Belimai's company will cost Captain Harper far more than his reputation. From the ornate mansions of noblemen, where vivisection and sorcery are hidden beneath a veneer of gold, to the steaming slums of Hells Below, Captain Harper must fight for justice and for his life.

His enemies are many and his only ally is a devil he knows too well. Such are the dangers of dealing with the wicked.