Fiendish Schemes (George Dower Trilogy, 2)

In 1986, K. W. Jeter coined the term steampunk, applying it to his first Victorian-era science fiction alternate-history adventure. At last he has returned with a new tale of George Dower, son of the inventor of Infernal Devices, who has been in self-imposed exile…accumulating debt.

The world Dower left when he went into hiding was significantly simpler than the new, steam-powered Victorian London; a mad whirl of civilization filled with gadgets and gears in the least expected places. After accepting congratulations for his late father’s grandest invention—a walking, steam-powered lighthouse—Dower is enticed by the prospect of financial gain into a web of intrigue with ominously mysterious players who have nefarious plans about which he can only guess.

If he can make his father’s Vox Universalis work as it was intended, his future is assured. But his efforts are confounded by the strange Vicar Stonebrake, who promises him aid, but seems more interested in converting sentient whales to Christianity than in helping George. Drugged, arrested, and interrogated by men, women, and a steam-powered Prime Minister, Dower is trapped in a maelstrom of secrets, corruption, and schemes that threaten to drown him in the chaos of this mad new world.

“This is the real thing—a mad inventor, curious coins, murky London alleys, and windblown Scottish Isles…. A wild and extravagant plot that turns up new mysteries with each succeeding page.” —James P. Blaylock on Infernal Devices

“Jeter is a modern Arthur Conan Doyle…. [Fiendish Schemes] reads [like] a Sherlock Holmes adventure.” —Tee Morris, author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series

'Jeter's sequel proves well worth the wait, and sets a new high bar for that ever-evolving style of speculative fiction whose Frankensteinian form he first galvanically jolted into life.' - Locus; 'A full-bodied rambunctious adventure of preposterous proportions that is full of knowing when it comes to people and weird contraptions.' - Strange Alliances; 'Fiendish Schemes is a darkly humored portrayal of Victorian London written in the style of the period and is not for the faint of heart.' - Historical Novel Society; 'Jeter's vision of a Victorian world transformed by steam power is fascinating and funny, populated by ambulatory lighthouses, grain-disdaining meatpunks, anarchist coalpunks, and depraved 'fex' addicts obsessed with 'valve girls'. He thoroughly entertains readers with brilliant speculation and a charmingly reluctant hero.' --Publishers Weekly, starred review

PRAISE FOR INFERNAL DEVICES:; 'K W Jeter has created quite a marvelous world in Infernal Devices. Sometimes rather weird and alien but always consistent.' - The Traveler's Steampunk Blog'; 'This is the real thing - a mad inventor, curious coins, murky London alleys and windblown Scottish Isles... A wild and extravagant plot that turns up new mysteries with each succeeding page.' - James P Blaylock, author of Homunculus and Under London; 'What we see in Infernal Devices is not just the presage of what steampunk is, but what it could have been, a marvelously self-aware and inventive attack on the obsessions and degradations of the present.' - Strange Horizons; 'Goddamn, what a book. This is like H G Wells with H P Lovecraft's descriptions of darkness run through the mind of Sherlock Holmes writer Arthur Conan Doyle. It's about as screwy as it gets, complete steampunkery, with a duo who are scamming their way across the land through an entirely different set of devices. Must read... Pure joy. I couldn't set it down.' - SFBook.com; 'Suddenly I can see exactly what the whole fascination with Steampunk is all about. Jeter sets the Victorian scene here so skilfully, it's absolutely perfect. I could easily have been reading a novel written in 1840. He's impressively deft and accurate in his language of the time, making the novel completely believable, and yet he still writes in a style that is effortlessly readable. His Victorian London is dark, menacing, and compelling.' --Fantasy Nibbles

'A delicious and quite insane romp through the gas-lit streets of London. Absolute must-read!' - SFRevu; 'I'll save you the trouble of reading this entire review by simply saying that K W Jeter's Infernal Devices is one of the best executed novels I've read in a long time, and I easily expect it to be one of my top reads for the year. I guarantee you will enjoy it.' - The Little Red Reviewer; 'A truly fantastical journey that requires a suspension of disbelief - but makes you all the happier for it.' - My Shelf Confessions; 'A skillfully handled, wonderfully inventive, and agreeably witty adventure.' - Kirkus Reviews; 'Infernal Devices is a ripsnorting, grandly comical Victorian-era potboiler that is far more entertaining than the most recent Indiana Jones movie; indeed it is more exciting than any big budget Hollywood blockbuster that I have seen in the past five years. It is that rare book that is both literary and cinematic. You can't help but pine for a movie version even as you realize that it could never be as good as the book. It's full of crazy, clockwork automatons, cliffhanger chapter endings, sinister conspiracies, and gloriously impossible super-science. It is a book which will transport you to another reality.' - Tetsuo Broker; PRAISE FOR K W JETER:; 'At times Jeter can be profound, deep observation swirling into the bizarre.' - Bearcave 'Jeter is an exhilarating writer who always seems to have another rabbit to pull out of his hat.' --The New York Times Book Review