Welcome to a new annual anthology created in honor of the late Joanna Russ, American writer, academic, and feminist whose work shone brightly in the male-dominated field of speculative fiction of the latter half of the twentieth century. Heiresses of Russ offers readers in one volume the best lesbian-themed tales of the fantastical, weird and otherworldly, published during the prior year. Editors JoSelle Vanderhooft (Sleeping Beauty, Indeed and Other Stories) and Steve Berman (the Wilde Stories series) read countless books, periodicals, and webzines to collect a range of talers--from new voices as well as award-winning authors--that celebrate the spirit of Russ's fiction: stories of sorceresses and spectral women, lost daughters and sisters of myth. The transformative power of the written word becomes magic and tests the boundaries of gender, identity and a woman's dreams.

It's Christmas Eve in the city that never sleeps, but Ebenezer doesn't feel like celebrating. Her girlfriend of ten years has just left her, her job as a debt collector is slowly killing her, and worst of all, she hasn't truly acted in years. But when three spirits representing the places and ambitions closest to her heart pay her a visit, Ebenezer just might find a reason to end her life-or a reason to keep going. Set during the global recession, this retelling of Charles Dickens's immortal classic A Christmas Carol explores the vagaries of growing up and exchanging old dreams for new meaning.

"Way will open." She is Artifice. A resurrected criminal and agent of HRH Prince Albert's Secret Commission. An artificial ghost. A Quaker. He is Jim Dastard. The oldest surviving agent of the Secret Commission. An animated skull. A mentor to newly resurrected agents. In a mechanical and supernatural London, agents of Prince Albert's Secret Commission, their criminal pasts wiped from their memories, are resurrected to fight the eldritch evils that threaten England. Amidst this turmoil, Jim Dastard and his new partner Artifice must stop a re-animationist raising murderous dead children. As Art and Jim pursue their quarry, Art discovers clues about her past self, and through meeting various intriguing women-a journalist, a medium, a prostitute, and a mysterious woman in black-where her heart lies. Yet the question remains: What sort of criminal was she? A new beginning, a new identity, and new dangers await Art as she fights for the Secret Commission and for her second life. Experience female detective mysteries with a Victorian superheroine: A gaslamp fantasy in a steampunk, paranormal London, follow the dangerous adventures of an uncanny female sleuth and her senior skull partner set in the same alternate world as Elizabeth Watasin's Victorian Gothic series, The Elle Black Penny Dreads. Enjoy a bonus Art Gallery: The paperback version of Dark Victorian: Risen contains a small gallery of illustrations by Elizabeth Watasin. Learn more about the debut of this intriguing, steampunk lesbian series: It is 1880; black arts sorcery had its time to grow in England and to battle the eldritch evils threatening, HRH Prince Albert's Secret Commission is born. Executed criminals are brought back to life without memories to fight as agents, and among those resurrected is Artifice, a six foot tall strongwoman, Quaker, and artificial ghost, guided by her senior partner, Jim Dastard, the animated skull. Once awakened, Art knows only that she has risen with one purpose: to protect and serve England. Her first mission is to track down a re-animationist who has raised murderous dead animals and children to take revenge upon the living. To do so she must quickly learn more about her past, her new ghostly powers, and especially how she must face threats when her Quaker nature interferes with the needs of battle. But as the re-animationist rallies for a final confrontation, Jim, Art's skeptical partner and the most senior, surviving agent of the Secret Commission, learns what Art will do, and more. The Dark Victorian series, a unique take on lesbian historical fiction: Set eighteen years before words like 'homosexual' and 'lesbian' had yet to be invented, the world of the Dark Victorian series continues the 19th century tradition of British female marriage and romance into a future where same-sex unions thrive. Into this world, Artifice is reborn and while only four days living, quickly learns-from her encounters with a madwoman journalist, a mysterious woman in black, and a French prostitute-where her heart lies . . . Dark Victorian: Risen is the debut paranormal steampunk tale from speculative fiction storyteller Elizabeth Watasin, who delights in bringing you shilling shockers immersed in Gothic Victorian mystery, women sleuths, and the eldritch vestiges of an otherworldly London. Enjoy the deadly battles of a Victorian superheroine and her skull partner as Artifice and Jim Dastard rid the world of threats and monsters. "Risen is only the first of what promises to be a thoroughly enjoyable (if delightfully disturbing) series. Roll over, Arthur Conan Doyle Move over, Philip Pullman " - Trina Robbins Writer, Herstorian, author of The Chicagoland detective Agency series and Lily Renee, Escape Artist Stay Up To Date: to stay up to date on new releases from Elizabeth Watasin, visit her Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/elizabethwatasin and click the button in the upper right "

Who is Elle Black?

Elle Black, an unconventional psychic detective in an unconventional Victorian marriage, leaves her lovely lesbian wife to answer a desperate plea. Guests are vanishing in a mechanical hotel known as the Sundark, and Elle must use her 'anomalous perturbationist' gift-the ability to move objects with her mind-to save herself and the remaining hotel residents from malevolent, sidereal powers. But with apparitions appearing, magnetic lines disrupted, and clairvoyant guests lurking, who is the true murderer...or murderess?Add to your collection of female detective mysteries:

A gaslamp fantasy in a steampunk, paranormal London, follow the telekinetic Elle Black, a twenty-two year old, happily remarried widow, as she solves mysteries in the same alternate world as The Dark Victorian series by Elizabeth Watasin. Where Secret Commission agents Artifice and Jim Dastard haven't time to tread, Elle Black will take up the lead and follow.Experience a bonus Art Gallery:

The paperback version of Sundark: An Elle Black Penny Dread, contains a small gallery of illustrations by Elizabeth Watasin.Learn more about this thrilling, lesbian historical fiction series:

Deep in London's Chiselhurst lies the Sundark, a magnificent, mechanical manor built in earlier times by a master illusionist and his occultist wife. Its guests have been known to stay, only to never be seen again. Now converted into a hotel, is this rumor some publicity lure or a cover for fleeing, non-paying residents? Elle Black, a housewife and telekinetic among London detectives and Secret Commission agents, is summoned to solve this mystery as more victims vanish, faster than before.
What Victorian Gothic adventure awaits as the psychic sleuth leaves her beautiful, lesbian wife Faedra to investigate the seemingly harmless, clockwork turnings of Sundark's rooms and towers? The cynical and rough Mr. Hardwick, current owner of the Sundark, dismisses Elle's ability to solve his hotel's mystery. But during her first nightly vigil, Elle slips into the chilling, preternatural past as ghosts walk, gaslamps become candles, floors and walls mechanically move, and yet another unlucky guest screams in terror and vanishes.
Did a paranormal force abduct the latest victim? What are the blue fires, and what is Abigail Sundark's ghost trying to tell Elle? And is it, as the sleuth suspects, a case of murder? Elle must deal with a sinister gardener, a self-styled ghost chaser, spiritualists claiming to be clairvoyants, and a very obstinate, thick-headed hotel owner, who not only refuses to leave but seems to have his own tragic secret.
As Elle delves further into the mystery, one horror is apparent: more death awaits, both in the ghost filled past and in the present as the Sundark loses yet another guest to unseen malevolence. And when Elle discovers that the house sits upon the triple crossroad of ancient corpse roads, she can't discount its foreboding connection to Abigail Sundark's chosen chthonic, tripartite deity, the underworld goddess Hekate.
But whatever is behind the vanishings did not count on making Elle angry...
Sundark: An Elle Black Penny Dread, is the latest gaslamp fantasy from speculative fiction storyteller Elizabeth Watasin, who delights in bringing you shilling shockers immersed in Gothic Victorian mystery, women sleuths, and the eldritch vestiges of a steampunk, paranormal London. Enjoy this twist of lesbian historical fiction and look for more of Elle Black as she wrestles with the 'small', local horrors Secret Commission agents Artifice and Jim Dastard are too busy to take on.
Stay Up To Date: to stay up to date on new releases from Elizabeth Watasin, visit her Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/elizabethwatasin click the button in the upper right

"I am made of this."

In a mechanical and eldritch Victorian London, a black arts surgeon is ripping out the bones and organs of the healthy poor to transplant into the afflicted bodies of the wealthy. Anti-vivisectionists battle with medical doctors, medical doctors condemn supernatural practitioners, and amidst it all the Bone Stealer hunts for his most elusive prize yet: the skeleton of a woman over six feet tall. Secret Commission agents Art, the artificial ghost, and Jim Dastard, the animated skull, rush to stop him before another woman dies. And Art, only six days living after being resurrected to serve the Secret Commission, might be that woman.Experience female detective mysteries with a Victorian superheroine:

A gaslamp fantasy in a steampunk, paranormal London, follow the dangerous adventures of an uncanny female sleuth and her senior skull partner set in the same alternate world as Elizabeth Watasin's Victorian Gothic series, The Elle Black Penny Dreads.Enjoy a bonus Art Gallery:

The paperback version of Dark Victorian: Bones contains a small gallery of illustrations by Elizabeth Watasin.Learn more about this intriguing, steampunk lesbian series:

It is 1880; black arts sorcery had its time to grow in England and to battle the evils resulting, HRH Prince Albert's Secret Commission is born. Executed criminals are brought back to life without memories to fight the eldritch evils threatening, and among those resurrected is Artifice, a six foot tall strongwoman, Quaker, and artificial ghost, guided by her senior partner, Jim Dastard, the animated skull. Fresh from their victory over a re-animationist, they must face London's latest threat: the bodies of the poor are being found, fully clothed and completely whole of skin, yet with all their bones and organs ripped out.
What cruel and deadly black arts surgeon is afoot? And what desperate need has he for healthy bones and organs? Dubbed "The Bone Stealer" by alarmed newspapers, just as his victims' remains are pulled from the Thames, afflicted aristocrats-an arthritic viscount, a hunchback baron, and a clubbed-footed debutante-are suddenly free of disfigurement, claiming the intervention of heavenly miracles. While such nobility flee England to enjoy their newfound vitality, Art and Jim turn to London's streets for answers: The Black Market.
The Black Market, the notorious haven for outcast surgeons, sawbones, and corpse dealers. Driven underground by scientific men and the established medical profession, the Black Market's supernatural practitioners are the last hope for the poor, the dying, and the desperate. Art and Jim enter the Market and learn that the Bone Stealer has invited peers and wealthy patrons to an exclusive demonstration, one that will showcase his extraordinary bone transference technique. But can Art and Jim prevent the Bone Stealer from performing his demonstration and claiming his next victim? A victim who could be Art herself?The Dark Victorian, a unique take on lesbian historical fiction:

Set eighteen years before words like 'homosexual' and 'lesbian' had yet to be invented, the world of The Dark Victorian series continues the 19th century tradition of British female marriage and romance into a future where same-sex unions thrive. Into this world, Artifice is reborn and while only six days living, quickly learns-from her encounters with a madwoman journalist, a mysterious woman in black, and a French prostitute-where her heart lies...
Stay Up To Date: to stay up to date on new releases from Elizabeth Watasin, visit her Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/elizabethwatasin and click the button in the upper right

Welcome to a new annual anthology created in honor of the late Joanna Russ, American writer, academic, and feminist whose work shone brightly in the male-dominated field of speculative fiction of the latter half of the twentieth century. Heiresses of Russ offers readers in one volume the best lesbian-themed tales of the fantastical, weird and otherworldly, published during the prior year. Editors JoSelle Vanderhooft (Sleeping Beauty, Indeed and Other Stories) and Steve Berman (the Wilde Stories series) read countless books, periodicals, and webzines to collect a range of talers--from new voices as well as award-winning authors--that celebrate the spirit of Russ's fiction: stories of sorceresses and spectral women, lost daughters and sisters of myth. The transformative power of the written word becomes magic and tests the boundaries of gender, identity and a woman's dreams.