Time is running out. The Empress of the Clouds, a revolutionary airship designed by her husband Heinz before he was murdered, must be located. The future of the United States is at stake. (Cover art by Howard David Johnson)
Joplin, located in southwest Missouri, was a boomtown at the turn of the last century. Lead and zinc were the players. Money flowed like water, and crime was a by-product.
David Schwarz, a character in the book, was an actual historical figure. From Wikipedia: Schwarz was a Croatian-Hungarian aviation pioneer born in the Austrian Empire. He is known for creating an airship with a rigid envelope made entirely of metal. Some sources have claimed that Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin purchased Schwarz's airship patent from his widow, a claim which has been disputed.
An embittered Southern millionaire who resents the fact that the damned Yankees won the Civil War, Marchand has a plan to employ the futuristic airship in his nefarious plot to create anarchy.
I began thinking about my steampunk adventure / alternative history novel, The Empress of the Clouds, in early 2011. I wanted to have the main setting take place in a mining town, and Colorado seemed to fit the bill. But
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