Sean McMullen is one of the hottest new writers working today. He is a three-time winner of the Ditmar Award in his native Australia, and has also won that country's Aurealis Award. His last novel, Souls in the Great Machine, began the steampunk saga of Greatwinter and garnered him much critical acclaim. The Miocene Arrow continues McMullen's story of a far-future Earth flung back to its pre-technological roots.
Ultra-light American diesel gunwings can hold their own against Australian human-powered battle computers and a tram-based net. But, they are helpless against the ultimate doomsday machine: The Miocene Arrow.
In a fortieth-century America of ancient kingdoms with opulent courts, hereditary engineering guilds, and rigid class distinction in warfare, a centuries-old balance of power is shattered by a few dozen Australian infiltrators. Against a rich backdrop of war, chivalry, conspiracy, and a diesel-powered arms race, a dangerous secret alliance has formed. Now the unlikely trio of an airlord, an abbess, and a fugitive are joined together in a desperate race against time to stop the Miocene Arrow from being launched-and save the world in the process.
"With remarkable imagination and insight, McMullen conjures a complex and lively story."
Booklist (starred review)
"McMullen's prose is plain but lucid, and, nicely enriched with low human comedy, coincidence and farce, is perfectly suited to explication of his crowded story of heroism and cupidity in this cross between an old-fashioned air-ace adventure and Arthurian Romance. . . . McMullen ties up the numerous plot twists with an admirable facility, and the final pages are imbued with the burgeoning sense that the diptych of Souls in the Great Machine and The Miocene Arrow is destined to become a classic."
