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 as I began researching the minerals involved, the southwest part of Missouri was rich with the mining history I wanted to incorporate into my story. I had traveled through Joplin in April of 2011, and being a Missouri resident since I was a kid, it appealed to me to use a town from the area. Plus, the terrain in that part of the country would be much more conducive to airship travel, without the mountains and weather extremes…barring tornadoes, that is. I was developing the plot when the terrible Joplin tornado hit on May 22, 2011.
I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2013. After surgery to remove the benign tumor in July of that year, I needed some recovery time. Although I continued to work as a graphic designer, I cut back my hours in 2014 and spent the “down time” working on fleshing out my novel.
With The Empress of the Clouds, I attempted to weave lots of historic facts into the story line. Several of the minor characters in the novel are actual historic figures, including David Schwarz, a real-life aeronautical designer from the time period. His connection to Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was key to my story line. I wanted to coordinate the time-line of my novel with the “Great Airship Mystery of 1896,” which had interested me even as a child. I have always been fascinated with World’s Fairs and expositions, and enjoyed supposing what it might be like to attend the 1891 International Electrotechnical Exhibition through my characters.
There are a lot of things I’d like to tell you about the plot, but I had better let the book speak for itself…