Today we would like you to meet Petra Slováková, one of the "Steampunk Writers Around the World" authors. Petra has contributed the short story "THE GOLDEN APPLE", one of the stories you will be able to read in English.
Above, you can see Jay Johnstone's image created for this particular story. Jay is also responsible for creating the cover of the anthology.
Petra Slováková first introduced herself to the readers with a short story in the magazine Pevnost. She won several prestigious literary competitions – for example, the Karel Čapek Prize. She published a book of poetry entitled Básně (Poems), a book of short stories named Železonoc a jiné podivnosti (The Iron-Night and Other Oddities), a book of two novellas Cvrček v krabičce (The Cricket in A Box), and is currently working on a steampunk trilogy Ve službách královny (In the Service of the Queen). The first part of this trilogy is called Démon z East Endu (The Demon of East End) and came out in 2015. The second book is planned for late 2016. She is the artist, author of many short stories and a leading figure in Czech steampunk community.
You can pre-order your copy on our website, through your usual outlets, or even pick up a copy in Helsinki, during the Worldcon!
We leave you with a little teaser of Petra Slováková's story. Enjoy!
THE GOLDEN APPLE
The steam train huffed across an expansive country of woods and meadows, deep within the dreaming Slavic heart of Europe. They say of Moravia that it displays the splendour of ages long past, when the land prospered. The women there were beautiful, the men brave and fearless. Even though the revolution sweeping across the countryside had created factories, monstrosities with belching poisonous fumes, one could still find wild brooks, untamed by dams and dykes.