The Artificer's Knot

Published Copy

Genres

Mafia Fiction, Fantasy Thriller, Fantasy Adventure, Steampunk, Gaslamp Fantasy, and Novels

Trigger Warnings

Violence, Suicide, and Profanity

Type of Ending

Series

Not part of a series

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Number of days to read

Publication Date

May 1, 2024

Page Length

333 pages

Available Formats

ePub, Mobi, and PDF

The Artificer's Knot

Published Copy

Blurb

In a city built on magic & corruption, his only hope lies with a bloodthirsty gangster.

Randyll Tephius should've known he'd get in trouble. The mystical, energetic substance Vril has ushered in an industrial age monopolized by the elite Alchemists. Ran's University thesis on newly-discovered oil deposits threatens them enough to see the student Artificer expelled in disgrace. He survives on the streets until being rescued by an unlikely benefactor: aging mob boss Gouger Nebb, who wants out of the gang life.

Ran seizes the chance to rebuild his career, using mob money to fund ingenious inventions that will let Nebb retire as a ‘legitimate businessman.’ But while struggling not to become a gangster himself, Ran’s efforts meet with sabotage, and he maneuvers among rival gangs, aristocrats and sadistic police to expose the perpetrators. The Alchemists who ruined his life emerge from the shadows, now offering wealth and redemption if he'll switch sides and help them expand their deadly monopoly worldwide. It's a tempting proposal that means betraying the very man who saved him.

Details

Genres

Mafia Fiction, Fantasy Thriller, Fantasy Adventure, Steampunk, Gaslamp Fantasy, and Novels

Trigger Warnings

Violence, Suicide, and Profanity

Type of Ending

Series

Not part of a series

Author Prefers A Review On

Goodreads, Amazon, BookBub, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or Apple Books

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

May 1, 2024

Page Length

333 pages

Available Formats

ePub, Mobi, and PDF

Author

Eric is the author of several works of speculative short fiction published in Nature, Speculative North, Cossmass Infinities, Electric Spec, Bards & Sages Quarterly, the anthology Crash Code, and various other pro, semipro and amateur venues. His short stories are also available in the collections Tricks of the Blade and As It Seems.

His greatest writing influences are Frank Herbert, Robert Graves, Sharon Kay Penman, Colleen McCullough, Peter S. Beagle and Joe Abercrombie. By day he is a research scientist weathering the latest rounds of mergers and layoffs and trying to remember how to be a person again long after surviving grad school.

When not subjecting his writing to one rejection after another he can sometimes be found browsing antique swords he can’t afford, or searching for the perfect hiking trail or archery range. Don’t ask where because he’s never lived anywhere for longer than five years.