About this item

A mystical vision of an airship appears to fifteen-year-old Juanita. The ethereal captain commands her to prevent California's thrown-away people--including young children--from boarding trains to an asylum. That institution's director plots murder to reduce the inmate population. Yet to save innocent lives Juanita must take lives of the corrupt. How can she reconcile her assignment with her belief in the sacredness of all human life? And will she survive to marry her betrothed? Juanita sets out despite inner trepidation to sabotage the railroad. Her ancestor Billy guides her. Then bit by bit, she discovers the gut-wrenching truths all of her ancestors neglected to reveal. Come visit Juanita's world--an alternate nineteenth-century California--where spirits meet steampunk, where both love and anger emanate from beyond the grave.



About the Author

Laurel Anne Hill

Laurel Anne Hill is the author of the award-winning spirits-meet-steampunk novel: THE ENGINE WOMAN'S LIGHT. Her story relates the life-saving mission of a young Latina spiritualist in the Nineteenth Century. Laurel dedicates the book to her husband, David, Steam Engine Number 2472, and her Mexican Great-Grandma, Hipolita Orendain de Medina. The publisher is Sand Hill Review Press.

THE ENGINE WOMAN'S LIGHT received the 2017 Independent Press Award (Steampunk Category) . It also received a "Kirkus Star." To read the Kirkus Review, go to: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/laurel-anne-hill/engine-womans-light/.

She also is the author of "Heroes Arise" (2007, KOMENAR Publishing) , a parable about breaking the cycle of vengeance, about reaching into our personal darkness and finding the light of reason. ForeWord Magazine selected "Heroes Arise" for a Book of the Year Award (2007 bronze award, science fiction category) and as a finalist in the young adult category. "Heroes Arise" was a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, young adult and best cover design categories. In 2008, KOMENAR Publishing released "Heroes Arise" in trade paper with cover endorsements by Jean M. Auel, Robert J. Sawyer and Kim Stanley Robinson.

Laurel's shorter fantasy/science fiction has been published in a variety of venues, most recently in the anthologies "A Bard Act to Follow," "Once Upon A Scream," "Fault Zone," "Horror Addicts Guide to Life," "How Beer Saved the World," and "Shanghai Steam." Her writing has also appeared in Nth Zine, Lynx Eye, Space and Time, the Contra Costa Times, AOL News, the San Jose Mercury News and a variety of small-circulation magazines. KQED-FM (NPR, San Francisco) broadcast her perspective in 2004 about the plight of homeless families. Several of her podcasted stories have been broadcast by HorrorAddicts.net, and HorrorAddicts.net fans voted her Most Wicked 2011 for her steampunk/horror podcast: "Flight of Destiny."

She also has her own podcast: Welcome to my Bedroom Closet, which may be reached through iTunes or www.laurelannehill.com.

In 2005, Laurel was awarded first prize in the Ninth Annual Captivating Beginnings Short Story Contest. She received an honorable mention in the 2004 Soul-Making Literary Competition, an extended community arts outreach program of the National League of American Pen Women, Nob Hill, San Francisco Bay Area Branch.

Laurel is a member of California Writers Club, Wicked Women Writers, Broad Universe, The Greater Los Angeles Writers Society and Women Writing the West. She enjoys talking to young writers about breathing life into their writing. She serves as a speaker, writing contest judge, and the Literary Stage Manager for the annual San Mateo County Fair.

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