Silver Bullet — Melissa Scott; Jo Graham

Mad Science and Magic A series of mysterious plane crashes in the Rocky Mountains in the midst of a Depression winter call Air Corps reservists Mitch Sorley and Lewis Segura out to fly search and rescue, but it's more than just a simple navigational hazard. Fortunately Mitch and Lewis are more than just pilots. With Lewis' wife Alma and their old friend Dr. Jerry Ballard they're members of an esoteric Lodge dedicated to the protection of the world. The Silver Bullet Mine is haunted -- or is it? Can ghosts bring down aircraft? And are the small-time crooks who are interested in the Mine simply looking to make a buck -- or the vanguard of something more evil and deadly? Aided by their former con artist office manager Stasi Rostov, they've got to get to the bottom of what's happening at the Silver Bullet Mine before more lives are lost. It may be that Jerry holds the key not only to Silver Bullet, but to an even more dangerous secret, one that men have killed to gain for two thousand years. The Lodge is in deep, and there is only one man who can help them, the legendary scientist Nikola Tesla! Melissa Scott and Jo Graham tell yet another gripping story, and with their intense detail and snappy dialogue it is an adventure on the page. -- Historical Novel Society Review on Silver Bullet PRAISE FOR THE ORDER OF THE AIR: Scott (Point of Knives) and Graham (Black Ships) avoid the pitfalls of conventional occult adventure thanks to their clean, well-crafted prose and their embrace of unconventional characters in unorthodox relationships. What could have been a mundane collect-the-plot-tokens supernatural thriller becomes a pleasantly intriguing story in their talented hands. -- Publishers Weekly Although part of a series, it is also a good standalone novel. It contains elements for everyone: a bit of mystery, romance, history, and adventure, plus some paranormal happenings and humour. It has a wonderful, magical sense of time and place and is pure escapism; however, the authors still capture the feel of life in the 1930s. The novel has all the things a great adventure should be: it is a quick and easy read with nail-biting tension and great descriptions and dialogue. -- Historical Novel Society The novel itself is a deft blend of supernatural intrigue and the noir adventure of serials from the 1930s, something that is rare to find and even rarer to find done well. Lost Things is a throwback in the best sense of the word. The action is extremely well-done, and the meticulously researched locations â€" a transatlantic airship, an archaeological dig, pre-Depression Chicago and New York â€" give you a true sense of being tossed back in time. (Lost Things) is a vibrant and utterly believable world peopled by characters you can't wait to see in action again. -- Geonn Cannon for Geek Speak Magazine Melissa Scott has returned. And she's done so in less a whirlwind of activity than a tornado….the entire novel unfolds in this effective, fluidly organic, and ceaselessly engaging way. It's a subtle skill, an impressive book-length balancing act. It's beautifully captured in Bob Eggleton's cover art, in which the novel's airship balances dreamily with symbols of the moon-goddess in the dreamlike sky of another age. And it makes Lost Things a decidedly difficult novel to put down. I hope you'll pick it up. I know I'll pick up the forthcoming sequel, Steel Blues. -- Cynthia Ward for Black Gate Magazine