Can you say Steampunk? I am very excited to feature my first Steampunk author, Kara Jorgensen.

The Winter Garden is her latest release and it is Book Two in the

The Ingenious Mechanical Devices

series.

Blurb:

All it took was a potion and a drop of blood to tie Emmeline and Immanuel's souls. When Immanuel brought the young medium back from the dead, he never expected to be kidnapped from the Bodlein Library and held captive by a man who desires the secrets of restoring life. Just when hope seems lost, Immanuel and Emmeline escape but find the mad nobleman's reach lies far beyond the walls of their prison. With the help of a dandy and a physician, Immanuel and Emmeline set out to save themselves and the secrets of life and death.

You can buy a copy here: Amazon: The Winter Garden

Book One is available here: Amazon: The Earl of Brass

Check out those fantastic reviews while you are there!!!

Interview:

1. Tell me about steampunk. It's a fairly new category and you're the first author of that genre I have featured.

Steampunk is a genre that spans a wide range of time periods, geography, and styling. The general idea is Victorian inspired stories where the internal combustion engine has been replaced by the steam engine as the main power source, and the stories look at how this will alter history. Some stories take place in Victorian England, others in the American West or even India. Some writers make fantastical new worlds that dabble in Lovecraftian scifi while others edge toward realism, whether it's set in the past or future. It's a broad genre with lots of nooks and crannies left to be explored.

2. I see this is the second book in your series. Does it work as a stand alone or do you suggest starting with the Earl of Brass?

The Winter Garden, along with every book in the Ingenious Mechanical Devices series, is a standalone. Most of the characters in The Winter Garden are brand new, but there are characters who reoccur from book one. As with most writers, I would prefer my readers go in order, but it definitely isn't necessary and it won't take much away from the story. Starting with book one will give a greater insight into some of the characters who crop up during book two. Each book takes place within the same world and share characters at times, but the storylines tend to not overlap.

3. What is your writing routine and do you have a set schedule to write?

I'm still working on that. Currently, I'm in graduate school, so my writing schedule is thrown off by papers and things I have to read for class. What I like to do during the summer is read and plot earlier in the day and write in the evening/night. Before I start writing, I need an outline of what the chapter should or may cover. Without that, I tend to flounder and not get much done. At night, I make myself a cup of coffee and reread and edit what I wrote the previous session. This gets me reacquainted with my work and gets me ready to write again. With any luck, I get words on the page before I start to nod off.

4. What are you working on now?

Currently, I am working on book three of the Ingenious Mechanical Devices series, which is entitled The Earl and the Artificer. It will involve Eilian and Hadley, who are the stars of The Earl of Brass, as they venture to Eilian's ancestral home in Dorset. The story involves a very strange house, an ancient plant long-thought extinct growing in a greenhouse, and a murder. Most of the characters in this book are new apart from our two heroes. Book three will hopefully be out by Winter 2015 or Spring 2016. I also plan on writing a book of novellas and short stories and then book four, which will involve the characters from The Winter Garden.

5. For those who are reading this what can you tell them about steampunk and specifically your books that might encourage readers to give them a try?

I would say that even if steampunk is a genre you haven't read before, it isn't much different from historical-fantasy or fantasy in general. If you like Victorian fiction or fantasy that creates new worlds, I would say give it a chance. Every writer puts their own spin on it, so even if you have read one steampunk book and didn't like it, they're all different and you may like another author better. I like to take modern problems and put them in a new context to encourage my readers to think about how this problem affects their own world. My books feature women struggling to find their place in society, men who feel they do not meet society's expectation, LGBT characters, and of course, the occasional dastardly villain. While I like to tackle issues, I also love a bit of fantasy. There are underground cities that store information on crystals, Spiritualist mediums who talk to ghosts, and a soul-stealing and -imparting machine all within the same series.

Bio:
Kara Jorgensen is an author and professional student from New Jersey who will probably die slumped over a Victorian novel. An anachronistic oddball from birth, she has always had an obsession with the Victorian era, especially the 1890s. Midway through a dissection in a college anatomy class, Kara realized her true passion was writing and decided to marry her love of literature and science through science fiction or, more specifically, steampunk. When she is not writing, she is watching period dramas, going to museums, or babying her beloved dogs. Her poems have been featured in Selfish and Literary Orphans.

You can follow Kara at the following links: