Fiendish Schemes

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 Fiendish Schemes, a tale of George Dower, son of the inventor of Infernal Devices, who has been in new self-imposed exile…accumulating debts.

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 of which he can only guess.

If he can locate and make his father’s Vox Universalis work as it was intended, his future, he is promised, is assured. But his efforts are confounded by the strange Vicar Stonebrake, who promises him aid, but is more interested in converting sentient whales to Christianity—and making money—than in helping George. Drugged, arrested, and interrogated by men, women, and the 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.

For Fiendish Schemes

“In Fiendish Schemes, K. W. Jeter returns to the Steampunk world he left twenty-five years ago with guns blazing—very strange guns, to be sure. To my mind this is Jeter’s best book, with more than enough cool Steampunk ingredients to make me jealous. I wish I could simply steal half a dozen and put them into my pocket for later use, but I’ll have to be satisfied with merely reading—and rereading—the book. You should too.”
—James P. Blaylock, author of the Langdon St. Ives novels

For Infernal Devices

“Jeter is an exhilarating writer who always seems to have another rabbit to pull out of his hat.” —New York Times Book Review