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The Order of the Air
The Order of the Air Omnibus - Books 1-3
This OMNIBUS edition contains the first three novels in THE ORDER OF THE AIR - Lost Things, Steel Blues & Silver Bullet. Book IV of The Order of the Air - Wind Raker - will be available as of February, 2015. This is your chance to catch up on a wonderful series at a bargain price. Also Included: Chapter One of The Parting, the first novel in the modern day O.C.L.T. series (the two tie-in to one another).
LOST THINGS: In 1929 archeologists began draining Lake Nemi in search of the mysterious ships that have been glimpsed beneath its waters since the reign of Claudius. What they awakened had been drowned for two thousand years. For a very good reason.
Veteran aviator Lewis Segura has been drifting since the Great War ended, fetched up at last at the small company run by fellow veterans and pilots Alma Gilchrist and Mitchell Sorley, assisted by their old friend Dr. Jerry Ballard, an archeologist who lost his career when he lost part of his leg. It’s a living, and if it’s not quite what any of them had dreamed of, it’s better than much that they’ve already survived. But Lewis has always dreamed true, and what he sees in his dreams will take them on a dangerous chase from Hollywood to New York to an airship over the Atlantic, and finally to the Groves of Diana Herself….
The world is full of lost treasures. Some of them are better off not found.
STEEL BLUES: In this sequel to Lost Things, when the Gilchrist Aviation team tries to win the money to keep the business going by placing first in a coast-to-coast air race, things get complicated! A stolen necklace, a runaway Russian countess, and a century-old curse seem like trouble enough, but then there's New Orleans, and the unsolved murders of the New Orleans Axeman. But what if the murderer is one of them?
SILVER BULLET: 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!
LOST THINGS: In 1929 archeologists began draining Lake Nemi in search of the mysterious ships that have been glimpsed beneath its waters since the reign of Claudius. What they awakened had been drowned for two thousand years. For a very good reason.
Veteran aviator Lewis Segura has been drifting since the Great War ended, fetched up at last at the small company run by fellow veterans and pilots Alma Gilchrist and Mitchell Sorley, assisted by their old friend Dr. Jerry Ballard, an archeologist who lost his career when he lost part of his leg. It’s a living, and if it’s not quite what any of them had dreamed of, it’s better than much that they’ve already survived. But Lewis has always dreamed true, and what he sees in his dreams will take them on a dangerous chase from Hollywood to New York to an airship over the Atlantic, and finally to the Groves of Diana Herself….
The world is full of lost treasures. Some of them are better off not found.
STEEL BLUES: In this sequel to Lost Things, when the Gilchrist Aviation team tries to win the money to keep the business going by placing first in a coast-to-coast air race, things get complicated! A stolen necklace, a runaway Russian countess, and a century-old curse seem like trouble enough, but then there's New Orleans, and the unsolved murders of the New Orleans Axeman. But what if the murderer is one of them?
SILVER BULLET: 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!
Kindle Edition
First published February 4, 2015
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About the author
Melissa Scott
100 books447 followersScott studied history at Harvard College and Brandeis University, and earned her PhD. in comparative history. She published her first novel in 1984, and has since written some two dozen science fiction and fantasy works, including three co-authored with her partner, Lisa A. Barnett.
Scott's work is known for the elaborate and well-constructed settings. While many of her protagonists are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, this is perfectly integrated into the rest of the story and is rarely a major focus of the story. Shadow Man, alone among Scott's works, focuses explicitly on issues of sexuality and gender.
She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 1986, and has won several Lambda Literary Awards.
In addition to writing, Scott also teaches writing, offering classes via her website and publishing a writing guide.
Scott lived with her partner, author Lisa A. Barnett, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for 27 years, until the latter's death of breast cancer on May 2, 2006.
Scott's work is known for the elaborate and well-constructed settings. While many of her protagonists are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, this is perfectly integrated into the rest of the story and is rarely a major focus of the story. Shadow Man, alone among Scott's works, focuses explicitly on issues of sexuality and gender.
She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction in 1986, and has won several Lambda Literary Awards.
In addition to writing, Scott also teaches writing, offering classes via her website and publishing a writing guide.
Scott lived with her partner, author Lisa A. Barnett, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for 27 years, until the latter's death of breast cancer on May 2, 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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June 3, 2018Wonderful fantasy fun with a small aviation business in 1920s USA, run by widowed Alma, WW1 ace Mitch, and archaeologist friend Jerry. They are also the remains of an occult lodge, and subsequent developments blend the problems of early aviation and small businesses and the Depression with the problems of demonic possession and occult attack.
Absolutely fantastic stuff, briskly written and vastly entertaining, with lots of romance (mostly m/f in these three but bi rep and a gay character who I pray is getting his turn in book 4, can't wait, nobody spoil me) and some delicious dialogue. Just the ticket if you've read all the Astreiant books twice and are roaming like a starving wolf desperate for more Melissa Scott. I glommed all three in quick succession and there are two more, oh frabjous day.
Absolutely fantastic stuff, briskly written and vastly entertaining, with lots of romance (mostly m/f in these three but bi rep and a gay character who I pray is getting his turn in book 4, can't wait, nobody spoil me) and some delicious dialogue. Just the ticket if you've read all the Astreiant books twice and are roaming like a starving wolf desperate for more Melissa Scott. I glommed all three in quick succession and there are two more, oh frabjous day.
July 2, 2020
I really loved the first two installments, but starting with the third one, something changed and not in a good way, the stories start to lose the steam, the personal "boring" life becomes the main plot in the series and all the high adventure fades away into insignificance. Yes, it depends what you expect from a fantasy novel. It is simply not satifying to me any longer, just watching the characters living their everyday life as the centerpiece of the plot and the novels. In some respect, it was not too far from becoming a sermon on advantages of "patchwork" families. OK, I don't object to the moral point, just that I am not a 19th noblewoman who would pass time reading sermons.
However, the 1930s setting is perfectly rendered, plus all the aviation terms must have required one hell of research. Well done!
However, the 1930s setting is perfectly rendered, plus all the aviation terms must have required one hell of research. Well done!
January 30, 2020
I was first introduced to Melissa Scott and Jo Graham via their Stargate novels. The aviation details for the period (1919-1932) are well researched, as are the historical periods themselves. The major characters are refreshing and the romantic relationships are complex and unconventional.
Worth a look, if you are into historical fiction that is heavy on the adventure with a little romance and paranormal thrown in.
Worth a look, if you are into historical fiction that is heavy on the adventure with a little romance and paranormal thrown in.
May 30, 2020
The Order of the Air follows the adventures of a small aviation crew in America during the 1920's. They run a tiny airline and try to protect the world from evil magic, as you do.
I was glad I picked up the omnibus because otherwise I would've stopped after the first book and the other two are better. Not that the first one is bad, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham are great writers, but the second book with the race and the introduction of a certain Countess was more fun.
I was glad I picked up the omnibus because otherwise I would've stopped after the first book and the other two are better. Not that the first one is bad, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham are great writers, but the second book with the race and the introduction of a certain Countess was more fun.
January 2, 2016
I prefer Melissa Scott writing in her own worlds, but the 1930s is a fun era to read in especially when one of the main characters is a woman who was a WW1 ambulance driver and is now pilot & part-owner of a small aviation company.
In the first book, I liked the presentation of one of the characters who was Catholic; but that faded almost entirely away in the subsequent books.
The magic is reminiscent of Katherine Kurtz (though not as elaborately described) and I liked the general theme of "good people fighting for goodness & niceness even though we can only do our small part".
In the first book, I liked the presentation of one of the characters who was Catholic; but that faded almost entirely away in the subsequent books.
The magic is reminiscent of Katherine Kurtz (though not as elaborately described) and I liked the general theme of "good people fighting for goodness & niceness even though we can only do our small part".
September 19, 2015
Ugh. Preachy, condescending. A lecture on the occult presented as gospel truth for the poor ignorant reader. Feh.
May 1, 2016
Very cool series, especially the 3rd book. I'm hooked!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews