The Fire Opal Mechanism

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Description

Jewels and their lapidaries have all but passed into myth. Jorit, broke and branded a thief, just wants to escape the Far Reaches for something better. Ania, a rumpled librarian, is trying to protect her books from the Pressmen, who value knowledge but none of the humanity that generates it. When they stumble upon a mysterious clock powered by an ancient jewel, they may discover secrets in the past that will change the future forever.

Reviews

Praise for the Gem Universe series:

"[A] sharp, glittering novella about friendship, family, loyalty, and mental instability." --Locus, on The Jewel and Her Lapidary

"A splendid tale of courage and transformation in a world as exquisite as Wilde's prose. You will be utterly entranced." --Ken Liu, Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award winner, on The Jewel and Her Lapidary

"Readers who loved Jewel will be delighted by this outing." --Publishers Weekly

Additional Praise for Fran Wilde

"Extraordinary world-building and cascading levels of intrigue make Wilde's debut fantasy novel soar." --Publishers Weekly on Updraft

Author Bio

Fran Wilde's short fiction has appeared in Asimov's, Nature, and elsewhere. Her debut novel Updraft was published in 2015 to wide acclaim. She blogs about food and genre at Cooking the Books (franwilde.wordpress.com/cooking-the-books) and for the popular social-parenting website GeekMom. She lives in Philadelphia with her family.