Remember the Vella experiment? The story I had serialized there is coming to Amazon at the end of June as a print book and e-book!
Godfather Death and the Amazing Diagnostic Machine is a steampunk novella think a half-length novella. Let’s unpack that sentence from the end. A novella is longer than a short story but shorter than the average novel. In this case, that’s about 50 pages; a nice, short read but long enough to get the full story in. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction and/or fantasy developing on Civil War era technologies; you see a lot of steam engines, gears, airships, etc. GDatADM definitely gets into the steam aesthetic but doesn’t forget the punk aspects of bucking societal norms.
Let’s go ahead and address the title. Yes, it’s long. It’s a mash of the Grimm fairy tale its based on (“Godfather Death”) and the steampunky invention central to the plot (the diagnostic machine). Splicing them together gives the story a quirky, antique feel appropriate to the genre. At least that’s the intention.
So what’s it about?
Katrine lives with her eleven siblings in her father’s prosthetic limb shop. When a client arrives who is more metal than flesh, Katrine and her siblings ascribe him the moniker Death. When he offers Katrine training and opportunity as a physician, he insists she call him Godfather. However, Katrine uses these gifts — including the diagnostic machine — in ways her godfather did not intend, shifting her perception of him from benefactor to nemesis. Can Katrine and her loved ones escape Godfather Death’s intentions for them? Find out in this steampunk retelling of the Grimm fairytale “Godfather Death” and never look at blue flames the same way again.
How do I get it?
I’m so glad you asked! You can preorder it on Kindle right now! It will also be on Kindle Unlimited for you voracious readers that subscribe to that. That will be available June 30th, as will the print version. (If it’s not June 2025 when you read this, then it’s available right now!) As with my short story collection, Baker’s Dozen, I’ll keep a link to the Amazon page in the sidebar of this site. Or you could just click a link now…
Once you’ve read it, pretty please, leave a review! It’s the nicest thing you can do for me. (Second nicest is buy Baker’s Dozen as a follow-up.) Reviews increase the visibility of the book which increases my visibility as a writer. Thanks in advance!
Scott W. Baker .net 