I’ve been spending a lot of time this week researching and looking at all kinds of awesome steampunk stuff. While I was writing SKIES OF FIRE, my first steampunk romance in The Ether Chronicles series, I stayed away from surfing the net in search of steampunk, since I wanted to make certain that the vision I had for the series wasn’t influenced by other people’s ideas. But now that the book is written and on (virtual) shelves, I’ve been having a great time Oohing and Ahhing over the incredible steampunk clothes, gadgets and images out there.
I started to think, as I did my investigation, what of all the steampunk stuff I found would the hero and heroine of SKIES OF FIRE like? What might they find useful or be drawn to?
The heroine, Louisa Shaw, is an intelligence operative for the British Navy, so she’d want cool spy gadgets.
This spy ring, for example, would be perfect for her:
(BTW, my husband and fellow author Nico Rosso gave me this necklace when I finished writing SKIES OF FIRE.)
Though Louisa is often on dangerous assignments in the field, as she is in SKIES OF FIRE, she’d also want to look pretty for her former flame, Captain Christopher Redmond of Her Majesty’s Aerial Navy. When dining at the captain’s table, Louisa might wear one of these dresses to catch his eye:
Pretty but tough, just like her.
Now, Christopher’s steampunk needs are different from Louisa’s. For one thing, he’s a Man O’War, a hybrid between man and machine, which means he’s stronger and faster than an ordinary man, and has heightened senses. He doesn’t need a spyglass when he can see over a mile away unaided. He might, however, like this steampunk rifle (here modeled by a lovely young woman):
Perfect for using against enemy Hapsburg snipers in airship-to-airship combat.
In the world of The Ether Chronicles, they don’t have computers, but I’ll bet that Christopher would love to have this steampunk laptop on his airship Demeter.
Makes communicating with naval headquarters that much easier, especially if you’re stuck far behind enemy lines, like Christopher and Louisa are.
Proper outerwear is essential when you’re the captain of an airship. A coat like this might suit Christopher (though he’d probably wear a longer version):
Even though Louisa broke Christopher’s heart years ago, the attraction between them is impossible to ignore. Chances are, they’re going to need this:
