Star-Crossed: The Confounding Calamities of Byron the Cad and Marietta the Zombie

by M.K. Sauer

Given the power over the undead in a London over-run with zombies, how far will one man go to get his inheritance back?

Byron Ulysses Llewellyn-Cave is a disinherited cad with a strange ability to control the undead corpses that have been plaguing a steampunk Victorian England for years. But when he turns Marietta, a bird-watcher and assassin extraordinaire, into a self-aware zombie, Byron must trudge through black markets that sell illicit zombie parts, fight a swashbuckling Spaniard who's allergic to the walking dead, and outwit a mad scientist trying to restore the dead, in order to get his good name and fortunes back from his scheming Uncle. Using his wit, his ability to manipulate those around him, and his uncanny sense of humor, Byron will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Genres: Fantasy

374 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2015

About the author

MK Sauer lives in Boulder, Colorado where she owns a coffee shop and spends entirely too many hours of the day caffeinated. She received a degree in Russian Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Believing that everyone should have at least one party trick, she has finally decided that hers is talking about Stalin for three hours straight. Her favorite RPG character trope is the wily thief who looks like a cross between Indiana Jones and Xena and is somehow afraid of looking up. She developed an obsession with vampires at the age of nine because of her mother's flat-out refusal to allow her to watch Interview with a Vampire. At the tender age of 13, when she was exposed to Russian Literature--mainly Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Bulgakov--her fate was sealed, the sunflower oil was spilled, and her destiny was revealed. High-brow horror was created in the rumblings of her pre-pubescent brain. Nowadays, she tries not to put too many pop culture references in her historical novels. Most of the time, she fails.

Reviews

[John Andreula · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining and entangled story of zombies and blood magic. From the gutters to throne room this tale will make readers laugh and state “damn” at the twists and turns. I certainly hope to be able to reader a sequel if it happens.