Thursday, 24 July 2025

A Steamy Interview with Karen Bayly

Steampunk Sleuths will be released on the 30th of August (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99). You can also add it today to your Goodreads bookshelf. To celebrate this anthology that perfectly aligns the gears that drive the genres of steampunk and mystery, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Don your aviator goggles, but keep your magnifying glass close at hand, because these steamy puzzles won’t solve themselves!

Hi Karen,

There’s nothing quite as captivating as a great detective story, but what specifically is it about mystery in a steampunk world that gets your gears turning?

Steampunk provides the allure of devious machines and black-hearted cads lurking under the veneer of gentile, Victorian manners. It’s an excellent background for the weird and wonderful.

Tell us about your protagonist. Is this the first puzzle your main character has solved?

Serendipity Windlass is a strong-minded and intelligent young woman who has grown up surrounded by brilliant minds. This, and the fact that she has a rather unusual bio-mechanical leg, sets her apart from other men and women her age. Her best friend, Uncle Ambrose, who is a long-time friend of her father rather than a real uncle. He is the left-of-centre doctor who created her leg, and, in this story, she travels to Whitby on an errand for him. A murder at the guesthouse where she stays and a chance meeting with a famous author leads her to consider a new path in life.

It’s time for Show and Tell! What’s the most steampunk antique, item of clothing, book, game, or household item you have?

This book and hat are the most steampunk items I own. I bought the hat online and it doesn’t fit (too small) so I have never worn it.

Where can we find you online?

Thanks for playing along!



Wednesday, 16 July 2025

A Steamy Interview with S. B. Watson

Steampunk Sleuths will be released on the 30th of August (but the Kindle version is available for pre-order today at just $1.99 instead of $3.99). You can also add it today to your Goodreads bookshelf. To celebrate this anthology that perfectly aligns the gears that drive the genres of steampunk and mystery, we’re interviewing the contributing authors. Don your aviator goggles, but keep your magnifying glass close at hand, because these steamy puzzles won’t solve themselves!

Hi S. B.,

There’s nothing quite as captivating as a great detective story, but what specifically is it about mystery in a steampunk world that gets your gears turning?

Steampunk is a genre that offers nearly limitless possibilities. The only real qualifier is the energy-systems in use, and the feel. Pulp adventure, historical, romance, horror, mystery, fantasy, or a blend of all these things and more can easily fit into a satisfying steampunk story. I really enjoy that wide-open flexibility.

Of course, on the non-technical side, steampunk is just flat out cool. I am the sort of guy who still, even in my adulthood, has dreams about monstrous industrial machinery and huge commercial buildings that go on and on, woven with pipes and gears and weird motors… Nightmare-fuel liminal stuff. When I was younger, these dreams used to terrify me, but now that I’m older I’ve started to enjoy them. Basically, they’re steampunk. Having the opportunity to write a story set in a world like that was a special treat.

Tell us about your protagonist. Is this the first puzzle your main character has solved?

The protagonist in “Tears of the Dragon” is a geisha living in a very alternate history Edo Japan, named Aoyama Ohatsu. Though young herself, she already has a younger geisha-in-training that looks up to her. Living in a strict feudal society, Ohatsu must balance her sense of place and self against her duties as a professional entertainer. Of course, when her house-sister goes missing, Ohatsu’s loyalties to that very caste system are the first things that are tested.

I really enjoyed writing Ohatsu. To me, she was clever, emotionally intelligent, and generous. That being said, because of her place in society, I think it’s unlikely she’ll find herself in the middle of another mystery anytime soon… But then again, who knows?

It’s time for Show and Tell! What’s the most steampunk antique, item of clothing, book, game, or household item you have?

That would probably be this weird clamp-magnifying-glass thing I was gifted years ago. It serves no real functional purpose, just looks cool on my shelf. I’ve only ever used it rarely… but, now that I mention it, I have an idea…


Where can we find you online?

You can find me online at SBWatson.com, on X at SBWatsonMystery, Facebook as S. B. Watson, Instagram at sbwatsonmysteries, and on Goodreads as Theodore Berkawitz Meshak Sibelius the Fourth… Just kidding. On Goodreads I’m—you guessed it—S.B. Watson.

Thanks for playing along!

Thanks for having me!

Sunday, 13 July 2025

Submissions Window: The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2

The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2

Submissions Window: November 1st to December 31st, 2025

Payment: $30 USD for original stories and $10 USD for reprints

Length: 3000 to 9000 words

Halloween 2026 will be spookier than ever with the second volume of The Black Beacon Books of Horror... but we need your help!

Send us your scary stories this November and December. If you're not sure what we want, simply grab a copy of the first volume.

Follow the guidelines to have your story considered. Full details on the submissions page.




 


Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Cover Reveal: The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2

When Greg Chapman posted his latest cover art, we just knew we had to snap it up for The Black Beacon Book of Horror 2. Check it out! Samhain Screams (co-edited by Greg Chapman and featuring his cover art) is going to make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever, and the diabolical plan is to give you the creeps one year later with the second volume of The Black Beacon Books of Horror.

We'll be taking submissions in November and December. More details coming soon!


 

Saturday, 5 July 2025

Halloween Hall of Fame

Black Beacon Books is horrified to announce our table of contents for Samhain Screams, the anthology that will make Halloween 2025 the spookiest ever! Edited by Greg Chapman and Cameron Trost, and featuring cover art by the former, you'll be screaming all night long this samhain! Tell your neighbours not to bother calling the police...

Without further ado, here's our Halloween Hall of Fame! 

The stories are in no particular order at this stage.


Toomie’s Ghost Story - Epiphany Ferrell
Candy Train - Em Starr
Vengeance of Halloween - Kevin M. Folliard
Halloween Under the Sea - Nick Manzolillo
Clyde - Tom Rimer
Hauntology - Matthew R. Davis
Indian Corn - Jacy Morris
The Last Pumpkin - Mia Dalia
The Knock - DJ Tyrer
That Time of Year - Daniel Fox
Where the World is Thin - Arthur Goodhill
We Played the Odds at Whitley - Darren Todd
Whispers - Martin Livings
Sweet Tooth - Brian Moreland
Living Creatures - Elle Jones
The October Shadows - Hannah Baxter
The Revellers of the Rift - Marty Young
The Hollows - C.E. O’Conaing
The Day You Die - S.B. Watson
The Black Van - Tom Coombe