Bloodmetal

A novel by Darin Bradley.

Desperate to reclaim territory that was once part of their ancestral lands, the Astafo family plots against their distant cousin, Pedir Seda. Pivotal to this conflict is The Holy Sanguinary Academy for the Lame and the Orphaned, a secret long tucked away on Seda's lands. Hundreds of children, many of whom are unwanted bastards discarded by their noble fathers, earn their keep by cultivating rare and magical crops for the Eastreign Consortium for Inquisition Mechanics.

The Consortium intends to tip the balance of power with a new reagent made from these crops. To fabricate this powerful drug, they have made a deal with The Shroud, a powerful cartel who has their own agenda.

This is the powder keg that could burn all the kingdoms. And the spark may be a washed-up, filament-bearing wizard who was never meant to be anything more than a mere tool. A tool in the right hands however . . .

Part Western, part Victoriana, BLOODMETAL spans dusty frontiers and marble ballrooms, slinging swords, corsets, and gun barrels in a thoroughly modern fantasy setting.

Darin Bradley's previous novels were hailed as "worthy successors to all those post-holocaust books of yesteryear" and "environmentalist cautionary tales." With BLOODMETAL, he's built a wild and unchained world where magic and science freely mix. This is the new blood. It tastes like iron and death.