Kevin P Wright

The Clarity of Cold Steel Kevin P Wright

The kid disappeared two days ago. Missing. Abducted. Murdered. What have you... Just another in an endless line of indigent kids wrung from the dregs of the Machine City.

And now it's my job to find him.

Me. Avinash Singh, detective extraordinaire. Probably you've not heard of me. Not if you run the straight and narrow and ply the right side of the tracks. Cause me? I ply the other.

Two days missing...

Two long days in the Machine City, last bastion of mankind in all its fallen glory. Where the sum total of life's cheaper than in part.

I hope I find the kid. By God, I do. But if I can't find all of him, I pray I find none.

Join Detective Singh in this gritty steampunk thriller sure to set your blood to boil.

Questions with the author

What inspired you to write 'The Clarity of Cold Steel?'

I've always loved detective fiction. After fantasy, it's my favorite genre. And whatever I write, I always seem to inject some hard-boiled, noirish detective element into it.

And well, I wanted to write a story about a Hindu detective because I've always been fascinated with the culture. And I had created the apocalyptic steampunk world of the Machine City for a role-playing campaign I ran for my brother a long while back.

So I married the two ideas and the world of 'The Clarity of Cold Steel' was born.

Q: 'The Clarity of Cold Steel' is a mouthful. How did you come up with that as a title?

It's really just a line from the novel. I had a different working title at the time, but when I wrote that line, I knew it was going to be the title.

Coming up with a title can be incredibly frustrating. After I wrote Lord of Asylum it took me over a year to hammer out a title. I changed it at least three times before settling on it.

With The Clarity of Cold Steel, as soon as I wrote it, I just knew.

Why steampunk? What does it offer that other genres don't?

I had written two short stories set in this world before I wrote Clarity. I loved that they were set in a fantasy/sci-fi world but I could still use real-world history and culture and problems to flesh it out.

Plus, I love using steampunky tropes like clones and evil corporations and weird technological gadgetry.