Aetherium: Legend of the Skyfire Stone (Book 2)

The once-proud Espani nation lost everything to the plagues and monsters of the New World. But fencing master Lorenzo Quesada believes an ancient relic will restore his dying country to prosperity and honor, as long as the military doesn't find it first. Meanwhile, brilliant airship engineer Taziri Ohana is on a routine flight when she is shot down by a secret Espani warship, stranding her behind enemy lines with an odd collection of unruly tourists.

Now thrown together by fate, Lorenzo and Taziri race through a gauntlet of vicious assassins, undead demons, and giant beasts to find the fabled Skyfire Stone in the peaks of the frozen mountains. But when the Espani warship sets sail for Marrakesh, Lorenzo must stop a war that could destroy every nation of the Middle Sea, even if it costs him both the stone and his life.

Welcome to the world of AETHERIUM, where wondrous machines sail the seas and the skies, enormous beasts roam the earth, and the restless dead whisper to the living. Similar to our own world in the sixteenth century, AETHERIUM explores a reality in which many of the megafauna did not die out, including terror birds and saber-toothed cats, and where a devastating Ice Age continues to ravage Europe while African queens rule over the most advanced nations in the world. But strangest of all may be the science of controlling the souls of the dead using a golden metal with many names: sunsteel, orichalcum, and... AETHERIUM!

Keywords: steampunk, steampunk fantasy, steampunk thriller, historical fantasy, historical fiction, alternate history, airships, epic fantasy, dark fantasy, ghosts, demons, werewolves, witches, dragons, gods, Norse mythology, Egyptian mythology, women, feminist fantasy, African fantasy, Indian fantasy, Viking fantasy