Nicky Barber as Mycroft Holmes!

Introducing Nicky Barber as Mycroft Holmes.  This was one of the most challenging characters to cast for the audiobook.  We auditioned over 60 female voice actors over the course of a month and Nicky was a solid win!

Nicky has recorded many documentaries and shows for Discover Channel, commercials, and audiobooks.  Most recently she worked with Ridley Scott (you know as in 'Bladerunner', 'Thelma & Louise', 'Black Hawk Down', and 'Gladiator') on a Science Channel documentary.  Welcome to the team, Nicky!

Hannah Melbourn as Victoria Valentine

I would like to introduce Hannah Melbourn to everyone. She is the voice of Victoria Valentine for the audiobook version Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus.  In addition to having done a number of commercials, Hannah has narrated a series of other audiobook as well as educational videos for teenagers.  Her voice is absolutely perfect for Victoria who is a young, intelligent, and resourceful (to put it nicely) young woman.

Steampunk Holmes free for "Read an E-Book Month"!

UPDATE 3/11/2012

All we can say is, "Wow!"  Our free give-away in celebration of "Read an E-Book" month was really successful!  What we noticed was that our "sales" were 20 times greater than when the book was priced at $2.99!

As a result, we have to ask ourselves: What is more important making money on the ePUB version of Steampunk Holmes or gaining awareness?  We would like to do both (P.C. Martin has to eat you know) but we want people to try out the book, get hooked, and hopefully buy the sequels.  In a fit of compromise we've lowered the price of the book to $0.99 making it cheap enough for folks to try out yet allowing us to make a little money and pay P.C. Martin some royalties.

You can buy Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus eBook for $0.99 at Smashwords.com right now.  Download it, read it, and spread the word!

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We believe that electronic distribution and ebooks is the future of publishing because its better for the environment, easier to access for everyone, and .... well, let's face it ... cheaper.

In Canada its national "Read an E-Book" month and we are joining in the fun by offering the Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus eBook for free this week (March 4th - 10th, 2012) only. Download it now using coupon code RE100 to get it free (normally $2,99)!

While you are waiting for the enhanced iPad version of this story, download and read a free copy of the novella in HTML, ePUB, Kindle, iBooks, PDF or other formats. We know the story is as great as the art work and now you can decide for yourself. What's stopping you? Written by the talented P.C. Martin (pictured above) its Sherlock Holmes + Steampunk + FREE.  How cool is that?!

Preview of our Kickstarter Video

In order to finance the development of the iPad application for Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus we are launching a Kickstarter project in April of this year (2012) - two months from now!

From the beginning Steampunk Holmes was intended to be a book app; an enhanced ebook for the iPad.  In fact, that was its primary channel although now we've added simple ePUB and Audiobook channels to our future release plans.

The Kickstarter project hasn't started yet but we hope you'll do us the honor of sharing this video with other Steampunk and Sherlock Holmes fans so that they learn more about the it and consider funding the Kickstarter project when it launches in April of 2012.

If you are interested in learning when the Kickstarter project launches, send an email to Richard@Monson-Haefel.com (that's me!) and we'll send you an email when the Kickstarter project launches.  We won't share you email with anyone or abuse it - we just want to keep you abreast of developments in the project moving forward.

Victoria Valentine or Grim Vickie?

Appearances can be deceiving and this character, Victoria Valentine, is far more complex than her Victorian sensibilities suggest. Is she Victoria Valentine, the most innocent and horribly wronged of women, or Grim Vickie, a woman capable of doing horribly wrong things to the innocent? You be the judge when you read, "Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus". Another fantastic character imagined by P.C. Martin and beautiful portrait rendered by Daniel Cortes.

Sherlock's Metal Gauntlets

Metal Gauntlets by Daniel Cortes

A couple of months back we showed an illustration of a battle Sherlock Holmes crew (Sherlock, Watson, and Mycroft) and Captain Nemo's Rajput warriors. In that scene Sherlock deploys another weapon of his own design, his metal gauntlets. The image above shows the technical drawings for those gauntlets which will be animated to show how they deploy from within the sleeve of his coat when needed.

"Holmes cast his revolvers aside; in the torchlight I saw the glint of my friend's steel mitts creeping up over his fists, like the scaly skin of a crocodile, with razors protruding between the knuckles, and thus armed he took his next opponent by surprise, even though the latter wielded a Katar, the dreadful Rajput triple-bladed knife, in each hand. The complex movements and lightning-quick thrusts and parries fascinated me, as though I were watching dancers in a complex choreographed display instead of a desperate battle to the death."

- Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus by P.C. Martin 

Captain Nemo, Jr.

Every story has its villains and its heros and Steampunk Holmes is no exception.  Above is the portrait sketch for the son of Captain Nemo who is one of the main characters of the story.  We learn about his lineage, love life, and political orientation and we get to see him and his Rajput warriors in battle!  It's all good fun and in keeping with Jules Verne's original vision.  Is Nemo the villain, a puppet, or is he a hero?  You'll find out when we release the final manuscript by P.C. Martin of 'Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus'.