I was intrigued when I read this. What in God’s name is Steampunk ?  Being the mental giant I am, I had to go right to dictionary.com and this is what I came up with, direct from the website:

  Steampunk  [steem-puhngk] Like this word?

1. a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world.

2. a subculture inspired by this literary and film subgenre: the fashions and gadgets of steampunk.

Also, steam punk, steam-punk .

Origin:  1985–90;  modeled on cyberpunk

Hopefully that helps a bit. It helped me a little bit. What really helped me lose my mental anguish over trying to understand what this genre entailed, what I was in for, was reading this story. It Rocked! I do not care what genre this goes in, or what label you may wish to place upon this, it is just one very good read. S.L. Schmitz puts together a very nice plotline, engaging characters and carries the action forward with ease. The read is swift, fun and provocative. Who exactly are the Harkers? The universe that Schmitz creates here is rife with subplots, very interesting ones, that have left her many open doors to take us the reader through. The possibilities appear to be fun, different, original and I for one am willing to get my Steampunk on and go for the ride. This is your basic kick a^#  origin story; get in on it now.

Here is the synopsis:

“Ever since she turned eighteen, Katherine Wilhelmina Harker has been keeping a horrible secret; she craves human blood. But she has no idea where this terrible thirst comes from - all she knows is that her father is dead and her mother passed away last year in mysterious circumstances. Katie lives in the London apartments of her guardian, Dr. Seward, and does not want to let anyone know about the dark stranger who sometimes visits her at night.

Now a teacher at the same academy her mother attended, Katie dreams of a world beyond London society, but is too frightened of her odd, newly-developing powers and her desire to drink the blood of all of the young gentlemen who call on her. She knows that there has to be more to the story of her birth than anyone will tell her, so now, to find out who she really is, Katie sets about locating the whereabouts of the missing Dr. Van Helsing to get the answers…  “

 Check out the newest releases from Trestle Press: April Pohren ”Welcome to the Land of Insanity” , Angelique LaFontaine & Eddie Frantom ”Thirty -1: Salvation”, B.R. Stateham ”Insatiable” from the “Drunk on the Moon” series by Paul D. Brazill, David Hoof ”Sharpshooter”, Karen Anna Vogel “The Amish Knitting Circle”, Lisa Taylor “Shana Black: The Invention” , Mark Cooper “Infection” ,Mark Cooper “How I met Your Mother: First Date”, De Miller “12 Steps” volume 2 of the “One” series by Mark Miller, Sam Lang “Reprisal: Shadow Boxing” volume 3, Michelle Vasquez “’Til Death Do Us Part”, Darren Sant ”Community Spirit” volume 2 of “The Tales of the Longcroft Estates”, J.E. Seymour “Pale Horse”, Tom Sumner “All I wanted was a Haircut #5”, Jeffrey Martin & Giovanni Gelati from The Author’s Lab/Collaboration series “Forsaken”, CQ Scafidi “Time Couriers” (Barnes & Noble’s Nook version), Darren Sant “Flashes of Revenge”,S.L. Schmidtz “Mina’s Daughter…The Harker Chronicles, Vol.1”, Chantal Boudreau “Weird,Wicked & Wonderful: Technopathy ,Volume 2”, Werner Lind & Giovanni Gelati from The Author’s Lab/Collaboration series “Mrs. G’s Vampires” , Sam Lang & Giovanni Gelati “Two John’s” from The Author’s Lab/Collaboration series.           T