New Release with Excerpt! For Steam And Country by Jon Del Arroz

New Steampunk from Banned Author Jon Del Arroz

Jon Del Arroz, whose debut novel Star Realms: Rescue Run was featured here as a banned book, has a new steampunk series which starts out with For Steam And Country: Book One of the Adventures of Baron Von Monocle. And the author has shared an exciting excerpt!

Here's the blurb:

Her father's been pronounced dead. Destructive earthquakes ravage the countryside. An invading army looms over the horizon. And Zaira's day is just getting started...

Abandoned at an early age, Zaira von Monocle found life as the daughter of a great adventurer to be filled with hard work and difficulty. She quickly learned to rely on only herself. But when a messenger brought news that her father was dead and that she was the heir to his airship, her world turned upside down.

Zaira soon finds herself trapped in the midst of a war between her home country of Rislandia and the cruel Wyranth Empire, whose soldiers are acting peculiarly—almost inhuman. With the enemy army advancing, her newfound ship’s crew may be the only ones who can save the kingdom.

And here's an excerpt:

Six people in dark clothes descended from the side of the ship’s hull, rappelling down long ropes. They hollered like maniacs, brandishing guns and swords.

Our guard stumbled backward, mouth agape. He shook where he stood, staring at me. His Wyranth uniform had several holes in it. Before he could do or say anything else, he fell to the ground. Blood pooled around his body. I dragged my feet and backed away. Bile rose in my throat faster than I could suppress. I’d never seen a dead man before, let alone one killed so brutally. The six commandos from the airship dropped to the ground. They spread out, five of them circling around me and James. One I recognized as Marina, but the sixth member of the party surprised me — Captain von Cravat. She glowered at me, but her attention shifted when more shots rang out.

`        One of the Liliana’s commandos collapsed. The three Wyranth soldiers who had left stood with their guns trained on us, using a nearby tree as cover. My rescuers returned fire, several shots hitting one of the Wyranth soldiers in the shoulder. He fell.

The other two Wyranth soldiers wasted no time. Major Anton moved the quickest, charging the circle of my rescuers. His companion fired his gun behind him to cover him, keeping Major Anton from getting shot. Before I could think to yelp, Major Anton had a knife to my throat.

For Steam And Country is available at Amazon and other booksellers today!