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House of Sable Locks
by Elizabeth Schechter
$5.99 • 90,900 words
ISBN: 978-1-61390-090-1

Circlet Press digital titles are also available at the Amazon Kindle Store, B&N.com, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple’s iBookstore, and many independent booksellers via Google ebooks, as well as specialty ebookstores like All Romance eBooks, and Weightless Ebooks, to name just a few! (Please let us know if your favorite source for digital books does not carry this title and you want them to.)

About the Book:

From Passionate Plume award finalist Elizabeth Schechter comes a steampunk novel of dark passion. In a respectable neighbourhood, on the top floor of a beautiful house, crouches the Succubus; by design, and by temperament, she is all that men crave and fear. To the wealthy and privileged men of London, the Succubus is a test they must pass to gain access to the House of Sable Locks, the most exclusive brothel in town. However, to William, a wealthy young man born and raised in India, she is the very essence of his desires.

William is recovering from the loss of everything he knows and loves when he first meets the Succubus. With great care she tears him apart… and he falls in love again. But their idyll cannot last: there is a killer loose in London, and the darkness of William’s past is about to collide with the terror of his present.

Based on the story “The Succubus” from the acclaimed erotic steampunk anthology Like Clockwork, HOUSE OF SABLE LOCKS lets us enter the mysterious brothel readers previously only had a glimpse of.

About the Author

Elizabeth Schechter was born in New York at some point in the past. She is officially old enough to know better, but refuses to grow up. She has been, at various points in her life, a jeweler, an artist, a counselor, a minister, a fitness instructor, a singer, counter-person in a coffee-shop, a lab tech, a research assistant, quarter-staff master, a daycare worker, a high school English teacher, a kindergarten teacher, a stay-at-home-mom, an editor, and a writer. She firmly believes in the Heinlein adage that specialization is for insects, and is still working on the tinker, tailor, soldier, and spy parts of the list.

Elizabeth lives in Central Florida with her husband and son, and a most accepting circle of friends who are both very amused and very proud of the pervy, fetish writer in their midst.

Elizabeth can be found online at http://easchechter.wordpress.com/, or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Elizabeth.A.Schechter.

Look under the cut for a hot excerpt!

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Chocolatiers of the High Winds
by H.B. Kurtzwilde
ISBN: 978-1-61390-049-9
Word Count: 122,000
List Price: $6.99 $6.29

Circlet Press digital titles are also available at the Amazon Kindle Store, B&N.com, Smashwords, Fictionwise, and many independent booksellers via Google ebooks, as well as specialty ebookstores like All Romance eBooks, to name just a few! (Please let us know if your favorite source for digital books does not carry this title and you want them to.)

This gay steampunk romance follows the globe-trotting adventures of young Mayport Titus, the sole scion of the Titus Chocolate fortune. Mayport’s father, an adventurer and entrepreneur, established the intercontinental chocolate trade using sugar from India, cacao from South America, and a factory in New Amsterdam, before he and his wife were lost when their airship went down over the ocean and left Mayport orphaned. Now determined to make his own way in the world, Mayport attempts to resurrect his father’s old airship, The Dutch Process, with the help of Thiervy, an intimate school friend who happens to be both a pilot and an engineer. Together Mayport and Thiervy not only rebuild the ship, and revolutionize the moribund chocolate industry, they bring a new way of doing things to the world.

But their partnership will be tested. Love between men is not sanctioned in society, punishable by death for airshipmen, and kept behind closed doors in the genteel Confederate society that they enter when centering their new business in the American South. And both men are haunted by their fathers’ legacies of madness and violence. What sacrifices will Mayport make to protect those he loves? And what will he find when he finally flies his ship to that worn spot on his father’s old wooden globe?

Chocolatiers of the High Winds is a rollicking romance in classic adventuring style, punctuated with passion and sweetened with chocolate. The ebook edition collects all 50 chapters of the web serial that ran on circlet.com from 2010-2011, and also includes one bonus chapter featuring a new erotic scene between Mayport and Thiervy… and more chocolate!

H.B Kurtzwilde lives in the wet, sticky, mosquito-ridden depths of Florida. When not busily avoiding alligators, he scribbles out futuristic and paranormal fiction, as if this is any way for a grown person to behave. His works include Phoberia, Guide to Survival, and Sea Turtle Inn, among others. Drop by his Livejournal or his personal blog at hbkurtzwilde.circlet.com to say hello, or to make a donation in support of his artistic efforts.

Hot excerpt under the cut…

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.

Chocolatiers of the High Winds by H.B. Kurtzwilde
A gay steampunk adventure. Follow the weekly travails of young Mayport Titus, and his intercontinental airship journey to restore the fortunes of the Titus Chocolate Company. (Do you need to start at Chapter One?)

Epilogue

Mayport lay on his lounge, made comfortable by one of Elias’ medicines. His arm was slung to his chest, and leg bound to heal. Elias had proven himself an able surgeon in retrieving slugs and stitching flesh, though he was unhappy with the necessity. It seemed best to show gratitude by obeying his commands during convalescence.

Joseph had turned himself into a nurse, going so far as carrying Mayport when he needed to move. He attended Mayport constantly, worried over fever and infection that was never allowed to set in. It was as if he had never seen Mayport at labor on the decks of the Dutch Process and had suddenly come under the impression that his husband was made of spun sugar. In the first day after Mayport’s duel, he had sent urgent word to New Amsterdam, attempting to inform Costor of the facts before rumor could worry the poor fellow.

Costor’s reaction had been to come south by steam coach and see Mayport for himself. Some shade of the day young Gasteau was lost had moved him to an abundance of caution. Mayport was touched to find their friendship could make Costor leave his comfortable home if his aid was needed.

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.

Chocolatiers of the High Winds by H.B. Kurtzwilde
A gay steampunk adventure. Follow the weekly travails of young Mayport Titus, and his intercontinental airship journey to restore the fortunes of the Titus Chocolate Company. (Do you need to start at Chapter One?)

Chapter 52: Focus

Mayport left the house early the next morning, long before the sun had risen. He did not allow himself himself even one kiss of his sleeping husband. He had every intention of returning, and claiming what was his by right.

He made his way to his factory and walked through, admiring the machines Joseph had devised and installed. They were nothing like the monstrous contraptions his father had created. Joseph had reduced the process to simple steps, and created engines to perfect each one. Frog presided over the production line, and lived in set of rooms near the factory itself. No amount of spoiling could persuade the boy’s return to Titus Farms.

It was he who found Mayport sampling the wares, and frowned with suspicion. “What are you doing here?”

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.

Chocolatiers of the High Winds by H.B. Kurtzwilde
A gay steampunk adventure. Follow the weekly travails of young Mayport Titus, and his intercontinental airship journey to restore the fortunes of the Titus Chocolate Company. (Do you need to start at Chapter One?)

Chapter 51: Commitment

After his wedding, Mayport enjoyed a domestic peace he hadn’t anticipated. Frog quietly usurped the lead position at the factory, then defended it with all he had. Joseph trusted the boy, beyond all reason, and only went to town if a machine needed his attention. Otherwise, he occupied himself with plans for the future of the plantation.

Mayport made himself stay focused on the office work, from which neither Frog nor Joseph could liberate him. He had presumed that, without governor or judge, the townspeople would be used to settling things outside a court of law. Instead, he discovered that many had grown long on patience, if short on temper. Like the debts he had first found, grudges were handed down father to son. He was glad to have Jesse’s help to organize all the disputes that were submitted to his desk.

“I think you’d better allow the dueling,” Jesse said over a stack of complaints. “You’ll never stop them doing as they’ve done all along.”

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.

Chocolatiers of the High Winds by H.B. Kurtzwilde
A gay steampunk adventure. Follow the weekly travails of young Mayport Titus, and his intercontinental airship journey to restore the fortunes of the Titus Chocolate Company. (Do you need to start at Chapter One?)

Chapter 50: Establishment

The Titus Chocolate Company became established in May Port with no fanfare. Joseph had already scouted the men he wanted for his machinist crew. He carried a book with him as a preacher might cling to his Bible. Within lay the collected knowledge from their experiments with the engines.

Now that the equipment was proven, Mayport’s job was considerably easier. Frog had developed a taste for bossing his elders. He had his fun with making quality checks on the production line, and had only Mayport to answer if things went wrong.

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.

Chocolatiers of the High Winds by H.B. Kurtzwilde
A gay steampunk adventure. Follow the weekly travails of young Mayport Titus, and his intercontinental airship journey to restore the fortunes of the Titus Chocolate Company. (Do you need to start at Chapter One?)

Chapter 49: Deviation

What elation Mayport felt at Joseph’s capitulation was soon lost in an agony of labor. Captain Cully arrived with a cargo of cacao from May Port. He also brought gold ornaments from his expedition to the western kingdom across the water. To Mayport, it was apparent that Cully expected gratitude, reward and forgiveness for all his adventures.

Joseph had no patience for his initiative. The cacao needed processing, and had grown more expensive for being moved north. His plans for porting their factory works south was thrown off its timetable. The gold offset the overhead, but in principle irritated Mayport’s sense of accounting.

For weeks, Mayport ran his factory at its hardest pace. The weather shifted for the worse, but he raced on anyway. The local tinsmiths turned an easy penny supplying him with packages for his powder. Meanwhile, Chef Gasteau enjoyed a spate of fashionability with his innovation in cocoa butter. Mayport knew the recipe to be a revival of lost confection. The town knew nothing of it, and awarded the chef all honors for its recent introduction.

As shocking as white, waxy chocolate was, Joseph’s change of stripes went far beyond it. One afternoon, Joseph presented him with a sapphire ring fashioned after the broad signets that were still popular in the north. Mayport accepted the gift without hesitation, but wondered over the sudden treasure.

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.

Chocolatiers of the High Winds by H.B. Kurtzwilde
A gay steampunk adventure. Follow the weekly travails of young Mayport Titus, and his intercontinental airship journey to restore the fortunes of the Titus Chocolate Company. (Do you need to start at Chapter One?)

Chapter 48: Intentions

Mayport enjoyed his role of figurehead in all of Uncle Jesse’s machinations. The position required little of him. He was only asked to withhold his objections on matters he did not understand. In this capacity, he failed on one account.

“I can’t allow slavery,” Mayport said. “Too many men, of all complexions, find themselves in debt to me. Such a law could be seen as a threat of action. I would be ruined by the sudden evacuation of debtors, if they were to panic.”

“I see your point,” Jesse had said, before the occasion of his departure.

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.

Chocolatiers of the High Winds by H.B. Kurtzwilde
A gay steampunk adventure. Follow the weekly travails of young Mayport Titus, and his intercontinental airship journey to restore the fortunes of the Titus Chocolate Company. (Do you need to start at Chapter One?)

Chapter 47: Patience

Mayport hovered at Chef Gasteau’s table, jittering with anticipation. For once, he wasn’t dreading the opinions and advice. With the Chef, he was guaranteed excesses of both. This time, he truly wished to share what he had created.

Chef took his time over powder and butter. Each was tasted and held to the light. At last the cocoa powder was pushed aside. “It’s well enough for your Dutch drink, at least. The butter is very fine. Your standards have raised somewhat. And you say this is to be available in quantity?”

“For you, it will be,” Mayport said.

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.

Chocolatiers of the High Winds by H.B. Kurtzwilde
A gay steampunk adventure. Follow the weekly travails of young Mayport Titus, and his intercontinental airship journey to restore the fortunes of the Titus Chocolate Company. (Do you need to start at Chapter One?)

Chapter 46: Anticipation

After his first consultation with Uncle Jesse, Mayport had drifted along on a heady fantasy. He went so far as to request particulars of a jeweler, in case his audacious suggestion was not rejected outright. His estimation on the expense gave him a small shock. It was nothing on the disappointment he felt after leaving the shop in a panic, empty-handed.

He got the feeling his state of hysteria was part of a widespread epidemic. He privately enjoyed the wild exuberance that lurked in the breast of similarly ambitious young men. Like no gold or jewel ever had, Joseph Thiervy inspired in him the unwavering need to possess.

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Mirrored from Circlet Press: Welcome to Circlet 2.0.