The LATER Anthologies on Sale at Drive-Thru Fiction!

February 5, 2022 Leave a comment

Hail, fellow adventurers! Today’s mission: getting the LATER series anthologies, which are on sale at DriveThruFiction!

Each features pairs of stories set in Jeremiah Willstone’s time at Liberation Academy. We’re adapting these for audio, so I feel this is a good way to get into this universe early!

The sale ends February 11, so strike while the iron’s hot!

-the Centaur

Jeremiah Willstone is On Sale!

December 22, 2018 Leave a comment

Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine is on sale!

Hail fellow adventurers! My first steampunk novel, Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine, is on sale through the end of the month! The Ebook is only $0.99, so now’s a great time to instantly gift yourself with a trip to Victoriana! You can find it at Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Apple, Google Books, or wherever fine books are sold. If you like action, adventure, corsets, rayguns, or a peek at an alternate history where women’s liberation happened a century early, check it out!

Dragon Con Schedule, 2017 Edition!

August 31, 2017 Leave a comment

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Hail, fellow adventurers! Anthony will be back at Dragon Con again this year and reading Jeremiah Willstone – and yes, the picture above was taken from the very chair Jeremiah was sitting in in “Steampunk Fairy Chick”.

Better, almost all the panels have some crunchy steampunk gearworks!

  • Androids & Automatons
    Friday 1pm – Sheraton / Augusta
     This presentation will cover the history of artificial life from the ancient Greeks to modern automata artists. Techniques for creating your own automata will also be shared.
  • Practical Time Travel for the Storyteller
    Saturday 4pm – Sheraton / Athens
     This panel discusses the real science behind time travel, as well as how these scientific theories can place both challenging & rewarding demands on the stories we tell. Time dilation, the grandfather paradox, & others will be explained & these theories discussed.
  • The Magic and Technology of Building Alternate Worlds
    Saturday 5:30pm – Sheraton / Augusta
    Be it alchemical spells or industrial revolution, many alternate history and Steampunk worlds feature magic, fantastic technological marvels, or even both. But each choice shapes the worlds these authors build. This roundtable discuss worldbuilding and the balance between fantasy and science.
  • Author Reading: Anthony Francis
    Sunday 2:30pm – Hyatt / University
     SF & Urban Fantasy author of Frost Moon, Blood Rock and Liquid Fire reads from his work, including selections from Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine, from future Dakota Frost novels, and maybe even some Cinnamon Frost stories!

Anthony was also scheduled to do a SAM Talk, but it was inadvertently booked over his author reading, so if you attend that, you may also get to hear what was intended to be his SAM Talk, “Risk Getting Worse”.

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Come one, come all, and hear more about the future of Jeremiah!

-the Centaur

Back to it …

July 30, 2017 Leave a comment

So, friends, the sale on JW&TCTM is over, but fear not, more Jeremiah is coming! We’re hard at work on the audio version of “A Choir of Demons”, and there are a lot of new Jeremiah things in store. Stay tuned!

-the Centaur

The Centaur at Clockwork Alchemy

May 20, 2017 Leave a comment

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This Memorial Day Weekend, I’ll be appearing at the Clockwork Alchemy steampunk convention! I’m on a whole passel of panels this year, including the following (all in the Monterey room near the Author’s Alley, as far as I know):

Friday, May 26
4PM: NaNoWriMo – Beat the Clock! [Panelist]

Saturday, May 27
12NOON: Working with Editors [Panelist]
1PM: The Science of Airships [Presenter]
5PM: Versimilitude in Fiction [Panelist]

Sunday, May 28
10AM: Applied Plotonium [Panelist]
12NOON: Organizing an Anthology [Panelist]
1PM: Instill Caring in Readers [Panelist]
2PM: Overcoming Writer’s Block [Presenter]

Monday, May 29
11AM: Past, Present, Future – Other! [Moderator]

Of course, if you don’t want to hear me yap, there are all sorts of other reasons to be there. Many great authors will be in attendance in the Author’s Alley:

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There’s a great dealer’s room and a wonderful art show filled with steampunk maker art:

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For yet another more year, we’ll be co-hosted with Fanime Con, so there will be buses back and forth and fans of both anime and steampunk in attendance:

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As usual, I will have all my latest releases, including Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine, the steampunk novel I have like been promising you all like for ever!

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In addition to my fine books, there will also be new titles from Thinking Ink Press, including the steampunk anthologies TWELVE HOURS LATER, THIRTY DAYS LATER, and SOME TIME LATER!

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I think I have about as much fun at Clockwork Alchemy as I do at Dragon Con, and that’s saying something. So I hope you come join us, fellow adventurers, in celebrating all things steampunk!

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-the Centaur

The Centaur Interviewed on Sage and Savant!

April 30, 2017 Leave a comment

One more interview with Sage and Savant … me!

https://www.sageandsavant.com/2017/04/05/anthony-francis-talks-about-jeremiah-willstone/

Q: In your story “The Fall of the Falcon” the main character is female, but she has a male name, Jeremiah Willstone. Why is that?

AF: It’s more than just gender bending: it’s an outward sign of their society’s aggressive approach to women’s liberation. I wanted to tell a steampunk story about a young Victorian female soldier, but the Victorians didn’t have women soldiers – we’ve only recently started to allow them in our military. So I imagined a world where that wasn’t just a little bit different, but comprehensively different – a world where women’s liberation came a century early, and with twice as many brains working on hard problems, they were more advanced in 1908 than we are today. But I needed a way to communicate that in the story, and decided that the women in Jeremiah’s family took male names to try to achieve gender equality. With her history written into her name, I now had the storytelling power to discuss that issue as much as I wanted to – or let it slide into the background until someone innocently asks the question, “So, Jeremiah is female, but has a male name. Why is that?”

To read more, check out my interview, and also check out the podcast on Sage and Savant!

-the Centaur

Book Giveaway with Sage and Savant!

April 24, 2017 Leave a comment

Almost let this one slip by … Thinking Ink Press and Sage and Savant are partnering to give away copies of anthologies containing Jeremiah Willstone stories, TWELVE HOURS LATER and THIRTY DAYS LATER!

Book Giveaway with Sage and Savant!

If you’re waiting for a chance to jump on the Jeremiah Willstone train, now’s a great time to do so! The stories are from the Plague of Gears storyline, chronicling Jeremiah’s time at Liberation Academy, and – shh! – have some inevitable spoilers about JEREMIAH WILLSTONE AND THE CLOCKWORK TIME MACHINE, so, enjoy, but be warned – or pick up JW&TCTM first!

Enjoy!

-the Centaur

The Steampunk Drinking Game

March 26, 2017 Leave a comment

Hail, fellow adventurers! To help celebrate steampunk (and Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine :-D), our friends at Bell Bridge Books have come up with the Steampunk Drinking Game!

Here are the rules: Pick out a steampunk movie or book of your choice. Beverage may be of your choice. For each item you come across, take the prescribed drink. (Best played with others who don’t actually plan to go anywhere afterward.) The last person standing wins!

  • Aether = 1 drink
  • Airship = 2 sips
  • Automaton = gulp
  • Bodice = 1 drink
  • Corset = down the whole shot
  • Gears = 1 sip
  • Goggles = three sips plus bite of lemon
  • Her Majesty and/or Queen Victoria = down the whole shot
  • Horse and/or carriage = 3 drinks
  • Inventor and/or mad scientist = 4 drinks
  • Inexplicable device = 1 drink
  • Mention of social rank (Duke, Marquess, Earl, Barron, etc.) = 4 sips
  • Parasol = 2 drinks
  • Presence of bioengineering = 4 drinks
  • Puff of steam = 1 drink
  • Raygun = chug
  • Top Hat = 3 drinks
  • Tesla coil = down the whole shot

Now, remember: drink responsibly, and definitely do not attempt to play the drinking game in one sitting with Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine!  According to our calculations, if you followed the Steampunk Drinking Game rules with JW&TCTM, you would end up:

  • taking 155 drinks
  • taking 1,115 sips plus 34 bites of lemon
  • taking 16 shots
  • and would have to chug your drink 12 times!

You know a book is full of steampunk when the Steampunk Drinking Game tries to knock you out with it!

So, I hope you responsibly enjoy JW&TCTM, and celebrate Steampunk!

-the Centaur

Pictured: coffee and pocketwatch from Pixabay, beer sampling by Paul Joseph, by way of Wikimedia Commons.

Women’s History Ongoing

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A brief note: I had planned to write five articles for Women’s History month, but I can’t not do something thoroughly, and because real life sometimes intervenes, it looks like three of these (women scientists, computer scientists, and female soldiers) will roll off the end of the month. And that’s OK! Because women’s history is ongoing and isn’t confined to a month – but I do appreciate your patience!

Twelve Hours Later Returning to Print!

March 19, 2017 Leave a comment

I’m happy to announce that Twelve Hours Later, the anthology with the very first Jeremiah Willstone stories (chronologically, that is, if that has any meaning in a heavily tangled time travel universe), is returning to print this Friday, March 24th!

The Jeremiah stories in here are from the “Plague of Gears” storyline detailing Jeremiah’s days in Liberation Academy, and include “The Hour of the Wolf” and “The Time of Ghosts” (shh, that one has SPOILERS for The Clockwork Time Machine).

My friends and colleagues at Thinking Ink Press worked with the editors and authors of Twelve Hours Later to bring this gem back into print. From the release announcement:

Back by popular demand, Thinking Ink Press is republishing the out-of-print steampunk charity anthology Twelve Hours Later: 24 Tales of Myth and Mystery. The brainchild of the Treehouse Writers, fifteen talented authors, artists, and poets, Twelve Hours Later was released at Clockwork Alchemy 2015 and features pairs of stories set within the same day.

Myth! Mystery! Intrigue! Dirigibles!

Support public libraries and explore the world of steampunk fiction. Twelve Hours Later, 24 Tales of Myth and Mystery will thrill you with round-the-world and round-the-clock adventure, weaving lore from ancient Egypt, Greece, Japan, and more into a steampunk tapestry!

  • A devoted nursemaid braves mythical Japanese spirits to save a child’s life
  • Daredevil adventurers tangle with a Chinese demon called the Lord of Death
  • A lady archaeologist battles thieves for possession of Egyptian hieroglyphs

Linked pairs of stories, set 12 hours apart, fill a 24-hour day with a whirlwind of steam, legends, spycraft, and the occasional forest demon!

Half the proceeds of the anthology will be donated to nonprofit organizations that support literacy, including the San Jose Library System. As you indulge your literary senses, you’re also helping to promote literacy!

Twelve Hours Later will be released on Friday, March 24th, and is available for preorder on Amazon. So get a copy and find out what happens … Twelve Hours Later!

-the Centaur