Wednesday, September 07, 2016

What is Beth Cato reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Beth Cato, author of Breath of Earth.

Her entry begins:
I am currently reading an astonishing nonfiction book called Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don’t Know What You’re Eating and What You Can Do about It by Larry Olmsted. People know me for writing steampunk novels and for my Wednesday food blog called Bready or Not. I love trying new recipes, and I'm game to sample most any kind of food. This book is giving me a lot to mull over. It's delving into subjects I kind-of knew from fleeting news headlines, like how most Parmesan cheese isn't really Parmesan cheese or how prevalent seafood fraud is in...[read on]
About Breath of Earth, from the publisher:
After the earth’s power under her city is suddenly left unprotected, a young geomancer must rely on her unique magic to survive in this fresh fantasy standalone from the author of the acclaimed The Clockwork Dagger.

In an alternate 1906, the United States and Japan have forged a powerful confederation— the Unified Pacific—in an attempt to dominate the world. Their first target is a vulnerable China. In San Francisco, headstrong secretary Ingrid Carmichael is assisting a group of powerful geomancer wardens who have no idea of the depth of her own talent—or that she is the only woman to possess such skills.

When assassins kill the wardens, Ingrid and her mentor are protected by her incredible magic. But the pair is far from safe. Without its full force of guardian geomancers, the city is on the brink of a cataclysmic earthquake that will expose the earth’s power to masterminds determined to control the energy for their own dark ends. The danger escalates when Chinese refugees, preparing to fight the encroaching American and Japanese forces, fracture the uneasy alliance between the Pacific allies, transforming San Francisco into a veritable powder keg. And the slightest tremor will set it off....

Forced on the run, Ingrid makes some shocking discoveries about herself. Her already considerable magic has grown even more fearsome ... and she may be the fulcrum on which the balance of world power rests.
Visit Beth Cato's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Clockwork Dagger.

My Book, The Movie: The Clockwork Crown.

The Page 69 Test: Breath of Earth.

Writers Read: Beth Cato.

--Marshal Zeringue