Victorian Technology

We all know that the best way to study a foreign language is to go to a country where it's spoken, but can the same immersion method be applied to history? How do interactions with antique objects influence perceptions of the modern world?

The BEST SELLING MISFIT SQUADRON series, a riveting action packed military aviation adventure series set in an alternate, Steampunk World War Two. The Second Great War is going poorly for the Kingdom of Britain - the British Isles are under siege and the only thing standing between the all-conquering Prussian army and victory is a thin strip of blue water and the gallant men and women of the Royal Aviator Corps. As the battle over the skies of Britain progresses and it looks like the Prussians are going to be as dominant in the air as they were on the fields of the continent, the hopes of ...

To live in 19th-century Britain was to experience an astonishing series of changes, of a kind for which there was simply no precedent. There were revolutions in transport, communication and work; cities grew vast; and scientific ideas made the intellectual landscape unrecognisable. This was an exhilarating time but also a horrifying one. In his new book, David Cannadine has created a bold, fascinating new interpretation of the British 19th century in all its energy and dynamism, darkness and vice.

The Mediterranean Division, the latest book in the BEST SELLING MISFIT SQUADRON series, a riveting action packed military aviation adventure series set in an alternate, Steampunk World War Two. Vast amounts of resources were committed to the shores of Britain by the Prussians, leaving them exposed elsewhere around Europe. Sensing an opportunity, Britain and her allies come up with a bold plan to strike their first real blow of the war, but it is an enormous risk and the eventual outcome of the whole war might well depend on the success or failure of the mission. The king once again calls on...

Brilliantly imaginative urban fantasy on a colossal scale from an award-winning author The metropolis of New Crobuzon sprawls at the centre of its own bewildering world. Humans and mutants and arcane races throng the gloom beneath its chimneys, where the rivers are sluggish with unnatural...

After their resounding victory in the skies of Southern England it seems that the Royal Aviation Corps finally has a chance to lick its wounds and rebuild. However, the Prussian Empire’s war machine is unrelenting and, having been turned back from the shores of the British Isles, it turns its hungry gaze eastwards towards Russia. Unwilling to let another friendly power be swallowed by the tide of tyranny that has swept its way mercilessly across Europe, King George VI sends aid in the form of his most effective weapon - Misfit Squadron.

Many young men and women join the Royal Aviator Corps dreaming of one day being fighter pilots and Britain needs as many of them in the cockpits of Spitsteams and Harridans as it can get. It takes hard work, dedication and not a little talent to become a fighter pilot, though, and many don’t make the grade. The intake of recruits from the Midlands in July 1941 is disappointingly small, with only eight cadets joining up and only six of them wanting to be pilots. Will any of them prove that they have what it takes to form part of the front line of defence of the Kingdom of Great Britain ...

With the weather in the Arctic Circle rendering flying and fighting impossible, the Misfits leave Muscovy and head home, looking forward to a quiet Midwinter. The Prussians, however, have other ideas.

The islands of Malta lay squarely across the main shipping lanes supplying the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, crucial to the interests of both the British and the Prussians. When the British receive intelligence that the Prussians are going to escalate the aerial attack on Malta, the War Ministry sends Misfit Squadron to reinforce the defences. Isolated, outnumbered and desperately short on supplies, the Misfits are nonetheless ordered to hold the islands at all cost. Just how high will that cost be, though?

Read by the incredible John Lee Winner of the August Derleth award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Perdido Street Station is an imaginative urban fantasy thriller, and the first of China Miéville's novels set in the world of Bas-Lag. The metropolis of New Crobuzon sprawls at the centre of its...

With his job in Muscovy almost done, all Aviator Lieutenant Drake wants to do is go home to good old England, taking the love of his life, Gwen Stone, a pilot of Misfit Squadron, with him. Unfortunately there are several things preventing that, including a glory-hungry Muscovite flight leader, the small matter of the Crimson Barons, and the trivial question of whether she actually feels the same way about him...

Malta, Cyprus and Greece have fallen, Egypt is under siege and Gibraltar is hanging on by a thread. There are Prussian forces massing across the English channel in preparation for an invasion and no help is coming because Muscovy has its own problems and America has signed a non-aggression pact with Prussia. It seems that the end is fast approaching for the Kingdom of Great Britain and her people do not even have Misfit Squadron to look to, as, just when they are needed the most, they have been disbanded by the Minister for War. However, as the saying goes, “where there’s a will ...

Why did Abby choose someone as straight-laced as Chastity Arrowsmith to join the Misfits? Will Kitty be taken prisoner by the Prussians after having been left behind on Malta? Why is Tanya so good at everything? The answer to these questions and more in this compilation of short stories, which forms the sixth part of the Misfit Squadron series.

Beneath the empire’s polished rails, something ancient stirs—and it’s hungry for more than steam. Disgraced inspector Alaric Voss thought exile had ended his days chasing ghosts. But when a train vanishes without a trace on the Trans-Etherian Line, he’s summoned to the frontier town of Ketter’s Gate. There, he finds a town gripped by fear, an engineer with fire in her veins, and whispers of a conspiracy buried deep in the steel bones of the empire. Riona Flint, brilliant and wary, is searching for her missing father—the chief architect of the railway—and the secrets he left ...

Their defeat in Malta has given the War Minister all the ammunition he needs to disband the Misfits. However, while the squadron might be no more, the king has done everything he can to make sure the pilots are taken care of and that their talents, and lives, are not squandered. While that means that most of them have been given posts they are well suited for, the king has made the surprising decision to send Gwen and Kitty on a secret and vital mission - to find the help that Britain so desperately needs.

The fight for Malta has left the Misfits broken and battered and they are on their way home with their tails between their legs. Things go from bad to worse, though, when their journey is interrupted before they can even get out of the Mediterranean.

Time has run out for the Kingdom of Great Britain. They have suffered defeat after defeat, losing one overseas garrison after another, until the only option left to them was to retreat back to their own shores. Now, though, an army, the likes of which the world has never seen, has gathered on the other side of the channel, looking to deny them even that and bring the war to an abrupt conclusion. Vastly outnumbered and outgunned, Britain will need a miracle if it is to survive and the people once again look to the Misfits and the Royal Aviator Corps to provide them with one.

With her heart broken over losing Harry, Winnie finds her heart opening to other possibilities. She struggles to find her place in Victorian London's glittering society as she helps her aunt, the Duchess of Applegate matchmake her bachelor son. With London inundated with American heiresses looking to marry into British nobility, they have a wide cast to choose from but the Duke has his sights set on one particular heiress but she is already promised to another. Befriended by an American heiress, Winnie is determined to discover the truth when she goes missing. With the help of her new ...

Do you believe in old legends? In an age where steam and steel dominate the world, Victoria, an American heiress and gifted engineer, finds herself betrothed to the enigmatic Prince István of Taliskia, a small Carpathian kingdom. While the alliance promises a lucrative deal and the development of her cherished inventions, mysteries envelop the kingdom and the prince's shadowed past. All of Victoria’s plans are dashed on the wedding day, when a bomb kills her father and leaves her gravely injured. Though her fiancé escapes unscathed and flees back to his country, Victoria is determined ...

What has data ever done for us? Georgina Sturge, House of Commons Library statistician and author of the critically acclaimed Bad Data, explores the rich history of the times the UK has counted itself - from the revolutionary first census of 1801 to modern worries over technological surveillance...