The kid disappeared two days ago. Missing. Abducted. Murdered. What have you... Just another in an endless line of indigent kids wrung from the dregs of the Machine City.
And now it's my job to find him.
Me. Avinash Singh, detective extraordinaire. Probably you've not heard of me. Not if you run the straight and narrow and ply the right side of the tracks. Cause me? I ply the other.
Two days missing...
Two long days in the Machine City, last bastion of mankind in all its fallen glory. Where the sum total of life's cheaper than in part.
I hope I find the kid. By God, I do. But if I can't find all of him, I pray I find none.
Join Detective Singh in this gritty steampunk thriller sure to set your blood to boil.
Questions with the author
What inspired you to write 'The Clarity of Cold Steel?'
I've always loved detective fiction. After fantasy, it's my favorite genre. And whatever I write, I always seem to inject some hard-boiled, noirish detective element into it.
And well, I wanted to write a story about a Hindu detective because I've always been fascinated with the culture. And I had created the apocalyptic steampunk world of the Machine City for a role-playing campaign I ran for my brother a long while back.
So I married the two ideas and the world of 'The Clarity of Cold Steel' was born.
Q: 'The Clarity of Cold Steel' is a mouthful. How did you come up with that as a title?
It's really just a line from the novel. I had a different working title at the time, but when I wrote that line, I knew it was going to be the title.
Coming up with a title can be incredibly frustrating. After I wrote Lord of Asylum it took me over a year to hammer out a title. I changed it at least three times before settling on it.
With The Clarity of Cold Steel, as soon as I wrote it, I just knew.
Why steampunk? What does it offer that other genres don't?
I had written two short stories set in this world before I wrote Clarity. I loved that they were set in a fantasy/sci-fi world but I could still use real-world history and culture and problems to flesh it out.
Plus, I love using steampunky tropes like clones and evil corporations and weird technological gadgetry.
About the Author: Kevin Wright studied writing at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell and fully utilized his bachelor's degree by seeking and attaining employment first as a produce clerk and later as an emergency medical technician and firefighter. His parents were thrilled. For decades now he has studied a variety of martial arts but steadfastly remains not-tough in any way, shape, or form. He just likes to pay money to get beat up, apparently. Kevin Wright peaked intellectually in the seventh grade. He enjoys reading a little bit of everything and writing sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. He does none of it well. Revelations, his debut novel, is a Lovecraftian horror tale. GrimNoir is a collection of his best short stories, and Lords of Asylum is an insane detective fantasy. His mom really likes all of them even though she's never read any of them and wonders continually why he can't just write anything 'nice.' Kevin continues to write in his spare time and is currently working on a sequel to Lords of Asylum tentatively entitled, The Hall of the Leper King. It's romantic comedy.
