The Guns Above is a military fantasy adventure in the vein of Hornblower and Aubrey-Maturin.
Robyn Bennis is a scientist and airship aficionado living in Mountain View, California. Her apartment is within sight of Hangar One at Moffett Airfield, once the West Coast home to the USS Macon, America's largest airship. The Guns Above is her debut novel. Visit her online at according2robyn.blogspot.com and on twitter at @According2Robyn
"Steampunky navy-in-the-air military tale full of sass and terrific
characters. Great storytelling. Loved it." --Patricia Briggs
"Marvelous, witty, gory AF, action-packed steampunk with exquisite
attention to detail. Bennis's writing is incredible, her vocabulary
impressive, and she honest to God made me believe you could build
an airship from spare parts."--New York Times and USA Today
Bestselling author Ann Aguirre "The Guns Above is a sharp, witty
Ruritanian adventure full of flintlock rifles, plumed shakos, brass
buttons... and airships! Taking place in an alternate
mid-nineteenth-century Europe where dirigibles ply the smoky air
over battlefields and women have been grudgingly admitted to the
air corps, The Guns Above takes a clear-eyed, even cynical view of
the 'glories' of war, complete with blood, shit, shattered limbs,
and petty squabbles among the nobility. The aerial combat is
gut-clenchingly realistic, the two viewpoint characters are
well-drawn and as different as can be, and the action never stops.
Hard women learn compassion, soft men learn bravery, and the fate
of a nation depends on one rickety airship and its stalwart crew. A
winner!" --David D. Levine, author of Arabella of Mars "An engaging
gunpowder adventure with a helping of witty Noel Coward dialogue
and a touch of Joseph Heller." --Tina Connolly, Nebula
Award-nominated author of Ironskin
"Wonderfully adventurous and laudably detailed. Bennis paints
airship battles so clearly you'd swear they were from memory."
--Becky Chambers, author of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
"Most airships seem to be powered by handwaving, but Bennis builds
hers out of solid, believable detail. You couldn't pay me enough to
go up in one of those flying death-traps, but I never question for
an instant why Josette does, and I'm cheering for her every step of
the way."--Marie Brennan, author of A Natural History of Dragons
"Buckle in. The crew of the Mistral will take readers on adventures
they won't soon forget." --Pip Ballantine, author of The Ministry
of Peculiar Occurrences series "Hold on to your goggles, Bennis'
The Guns Above is a nonstop ride." --Suzanne Lazear, author of The
Aether Chronicles Series "A fast-paced military fantasy, full of
colourful characters and quirky humour that had me laughing
throughout. Every fan of airships should read this." --Marc Turner,
author of Dragon Hunters "Bennis's prose is wry and explosive!"
--Lawrence Schoen, author of Barsk "Entertaining from start to
finish, laced with brash banter and characters full of grit,
muscle, and heart."--Jacqueline Koyanagi, author of Ascension
"Bennis writes a pleasing mix of banter and gritty battle scenes,
combining both the adrenaline rush of combat and its horrifying
results, and never indulging in too-sudden social victories that
might cheapen the long struggle against embedded prejudice."
--Publishers Weekly
"An exciting new world that will attract steampunk fans of all ages
and leave them hoping for more." --Booklist
"An inventive military fantasy that will grab readers at the first
page. Delightful, memorable characters make up Bennis' debut, along
with her concise, amusing storytelling. Without a doubt, Bennis'
latest is a highly entertaining read."--RT Book Reviews, four stars
"A fun blend of flintlock rifles, airships, military exercises, and
wry commentary on both gender politics and 'military intelligence.'
There's enough whip-smart dialogue to make any reader laugh
outloud, and readers who are mechanically inclined will love the
detailed descriptions of gears, flight tests, and ballast."
--Fantasy Literature "Delightfully dry whistle-past-the-graveyard
humour, a soupçon of sarcasm, and an approach to military action
that reminds me of nothing so much as Forrester's Hornblower or
Cornwell's Sharpe novels--but with airships and female
officers....The Guns Above is an immensely entertaining, fast-paced
adventure." --Liz Bourke, Tor.com Airships, kick-ass women, and
military fiction with a hint of fantasy... I mean, really, what
more could you want? --Nerdophile "Although The Guns Above may be
author Robyn Bennis' first published novel, it certainly reads as
though she's found her voice-- and a great story to boot."
--Culturess
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