Thrilling Tales of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences (40 page)

Victoria looked down to the proposal still unopened in her hand, then back to the professor. “I barely know you, sir, but I believe you will.” She raised her sherry glass. “As decreed by Her Majesty, Queen Victoria of England and the British Empire, I raise a glass to your new charge…”

And then she paused. Her silence became a small chuckle of delight, and she raised her glass a fraction higher.

“A toast, to the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences.”

On their glasses touching, just over the chatter and jocularity of their pub, a lone dog cried out in the night.

Our Agents

Jared Axelrod
is an author, an illustrator, a puppeteer, a graphic designer, a sculptor, a costume designer, a podcaster and quite a few other things that he’s lost track of but will no doubt remember when the situation calls for it. He is the author of
The Battle of Blood & Ink
, a steampunk graphic novel published by Tor, as well as the writer, producer and main voice talent of the companion podcast
Fables of the Flying City
. Both of these works led to Jared’s nomination for the 2013 Philly Geek Awards for Comic Creator of the Year. He is writer and producer of the science-fiction podcasts
The Voice Of Free Planet X
and
Aliens You Will Meet
, a founding member of the groundbreaking daily flash-fiction website
365 Tomorrows
, and his works has been published on the website
I Should Be Writing
, as well as the anthologies
Have Blaster Will Travel, Gimmie Shelter, Podthology: The Pod Complex,
and
The Sovereign Era: Year On
e. He currently resides in Philadelphia with his immensely talented wife. He is not domestic, he is a luxury, and in that sense, necessary.

J.R. Blackwell
is a writer of short fiction, appearing in the anthologies
We Are Dust
and
By No Means Vulgar;
and an ENnie award-winning game designer for her live-action zombie roleplaying game,
Shelter in Place
. J.R. is also an accomplished editor, her skills bringing together authors for highly-acclaimed collections such as
Gimmie Shelter
and
The Lost
. She is also a celebrated photographer, her works featured in the dark narrative
Her Side
by Mur Lafferty, and magazines, newspapers, journals, blogs, book covers and book-jackets across the country and around the world. You can find out more about her work at
jrblackwell.com
.

Karina Cooper,
after writing happily ever afters for all of her friends in school, eventually grew up
(sort of)
, went to work in the real world
(kind of)
, where she decided that making stuff up was way more fun
(true!)
. She is the author of dark and sexy paranormal romances, steampunk adventures, crossover urban fantasy, and continues to write across multiple genres with mad glee. Her award winning steampunk series,
The St. Croix Chronicles
, is the RT Reviewers Choice Awards recipient for Best Steampunk Novel 2012.

One part glamour, one part dork and all imagination, Karina is also a gamer, an avid reader, a borderline hermit and an activist. She co-exists with a husband, a menagerie and a severe coffee habit. Visit her at
karinacooper.com
, because she says so.

Delilah S. Dawson
is a native of Roswell, GA and author of the Blud series for Pocket, including
Wicked as They Come
and
Wicked as She Wants
, as well as two e-novellas,
The Mysterious Madam Morpho
and
The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance
. She has a short story in the
Carniepunk
anthology and an e-novella called
Follow Me
Boy,
set in the Shadowman universe for Amazon’s Kindle Worlds. Her first YA,
Servants of the Storm,
is
a creepy paranormal set in Savannah, GA and will hit bookshelves in summer 2014
.
Wicked as She Wants
was recently awarded the May Seal of Excellence from RT Book Reviews, who called her “a wonderfully fresh new voice!” and “on the fast track to the top of the genre!” Delilah enjoys horseback riding, cupcakes, and geekery and lives with her family in Atlanta. Visit her at
delilahpaints.blogspot.com
.

Glenn Freund
is a biologist and artist who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and is part of LoS Productions LLC a southern California based Production Company. While at Berkeley he studied Neuroscience, Animal Behavior, and Endocrinology, later applying those skills at Pomona college in immortality research. While in Southern California he became one of the founding members of the Jr. League W.A.T.C.H. a community building organization which is a spoof of the Jr. Park Rangers and the Neighborhood Watch, bringing in the tongue and cheek nature of
The League of S.T.E.A.M.
He is also the producer and engineer for the
S.T.E.A.M. Geeks
podcast, a bi-weekly podcast, which discusses a variety of topics in and around steampunk. The podcast can be found on Twitter at
@steamgeeks
while Glenn can be found at both
@DrGlennClock
and
@jrleaguewatch
.

Lauren Harris
is a fantasy writer, voice actress, and the co-creator of 2012 Parsec Finalist,
Pendragon Variety Podcast
for aspiring writers of genre fiction, where she is known as “Scribe.” Her voice acting can be heard on
Audible.com
as well as fiction podcasts such as
EscapePod, The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine,
and
The Drabblecast B-Sides
. On occasion, she can also be seen cosplaying in a variety of steampunk fashions. Though she spent three years living in Tokyo, Lauren currently resides in a renovated tobacco shed in rural North Carolina, where she is pleased to have running water, wifi, and all her teeth. Find out more about her voice, costume, and editorial works at
lscribeharris.blogspot.com
.

Leanna Renee Hieber
is an award winning, bestselling author, an actress, and playwright who graduated with a Theatre degree and a focus in the Victorian Era. Her debut novel,
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker
won two 2010 Prism Awards, and is currently in development as a musical theatre production.
Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul
, was named an American Booksellers Association “Indie Next List” title and selected for a Scholastic edition as a highly recommended title. Leanna’s short fiction has been featured in
Wilful Impropriety
, on
Tor.com
, and in
Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: Tales of Gaslight Fantasy
. Her new series
The Eterna Files
, launches in 2014. A member of Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Leanna works often in film and television on shows like
Boardwalk Empire
. When not writing or on set, she’s telling ghost stories, cavorting at Goth clubs, corset shopping, channelling Narcissa Malfoy, wandering graveyards and adventuring about New York City, where she resides with a wonderful gent and their beloved rescued lab rabbit. Take a look at all she is up to at
leannareneehieber.com
.