Mud and Brass: A Steampunk Short Story

How far would you go for love, or for justice, or for the perfect gearwheel?

Thomas Niggle grew up a mudlark, hunting for scrap on the polluted banks of the River Burr. One of the countless poor living in the shadows of Mercer Shackleton’s vast factories, he has dragged himself out of poverty using his mechanical skills. An encounter with Gloria Shackleton, the Mercer’s daughter, offers Niggle the possibility of love, but it also offers something else, deep in the heart of the Mercer’s domain.

What hope can the future hold for a boy raised amidst the mud and brass?


A steampunk story of romance, vengeance and twisted technology.