I have a very exciting promotion for you today!
The Lady Astronomer by Katy Dowd!
Check out this great cover:
Genre: Young adult/middle grade steampunk
Length: Novel 192 pages
Blurb:
Lucretia's life as an astronomer is quickly turned on its head by her eldest brother when he is commanded by the king to build the grandest telescope in the land. Her nights spent on rooftops gazing at the stars are replaced by adventure as the family move to be nearer the king. In a race to build the Forty-foot telescope on time, misfortunes take their toll. The lady astronomer finds court life to be more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Can she find the strength inside to overcome the obstacles threatening her destiny? Only the stars will tell.
A few facts:
I wrote The Lady Astronomer for my eldest son – he was jealous that I had used my younger son’s name in something else I was writing.
I work with an Astronomer on books that require his expert knowledge – the idea for The Lady Astronomer came to me while reading another book that he recommended I read.
The Lady Astronomer is inspired by the life of Caroline Herschel (1750-1848). She suffered from both Smallpox and Typhus, was a milliner, soprano, her brother William’s Assistant – he discovered Uranus, then known as George’s Star for the King who funded the build of the ‘Great Forty-Foot’ telescope – and most importantly, perhaps, became the first woman in recorded history to discover a comet. Not to mention the first woman in the UK to receive a working wage, from the King if you don’t mind.
And check out what people have to say about the book!
“This is a tall tale well-told, full of imagineering and eccentricity.” The British Fantasy Society
"Touching on the welcome terrain of Neil Gaiman's 'Stardust', Katy O'Dowd concocts a canny fusion of alchemy, fantasy and steampunk, rolled up within an adventure story - one that's aimed as much at those of us aged forty as our kids in their teens." Andrez Bergen, One Hundred Years of Vicissitude
“A delightful read, The Lady Astronomer transports the reader into the life of Lucretia The Astronomer and rekindles memories of the fairytales our parents read to us when we were children.” Jenny Thomson, Hell To Pay
"An engaging introduction to the wonders of Steampunk for tweens and young adults, certain to dazzle the imagination." Lunar Haven Reviews and Designs
Author bio and links:
Katy is an arts and entertainment journalist and has worked for Time Out, Associated Newspapers and Comic Relief and her articles have appeared in The Times (London), Metro (London) and many other arts and entertainment publications, paper and online.
She reviews for the Historical Novels Review and the British Fantasy Society, is a commissioning editor at Pendragon Press and is co-editor of the Nasty Snips II Project for that press.
Alongside writing with her Dad under the pen-name Derry O’Dowd, whose first book ‘The Scarlet Ribbon’ was chosen to launch the History Press Ireland’s fiction line, she writes under her own name.
‘The Lady Astronomer’, a YA Steampunk novel, is out with Untold Press. She is currently writing a Steampunk adult series because writing for tweens and teens is damnably hard work. However, the good people at Untold might just have persuaded her to write a sequel set in the Lady Astronomer’s world.
Links:
Katy blogs at www.katyodowd.com
Twitter: @katyod
Facebook www.facebook.com/katy.odowd
That's a great cover!
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