Publisher Description
New Babylon is the capital of the mighty Second Empire. Dirigibles drift over the city, steam trains race down its tracks, and the factory chimneys never stop billowing smoke, even for a moment. The hegemony of science is unquestioned, and yet magic hasn't disappeared from the world. It remains dissolved in the blood of those who are called Illustrious. Hardline reductionists find that hard to accept, but it is not in their power to change the longstanding status quo.
Everything threatens to change with the death of the widowed Empress, and Leopold Orso, an Illustrious gentleman, can sense the looming changes clearer than most. He feels the draw of far-away lands, but a gloomy past holds him in place like a deadly snare. Will the whirlpool of coming events pull our troubled illustrious hero to the very bottom or throw him up to unimaginable heights? And will anything remain to throw him up to?
It's impossible to say. After all, there are highly placed conspirators willing to do whatever it takes just to get what's theirs. Bullets from hired killers, anarchists' bombs, blood magic of Aztec priests, and electroshock therapy in a psychiatric clinic. Leopold will have a difficult time overcoming everything fate has in store for him and remaining himself through it all.
Download and start listening now!
About Pavel Kornev
Pavel Kornev is a popular Russian science fiction and fantasy author whose writing crosses the boundaries of the sci-fi thriller, fantasy adventure, and steampunk genres. Pavel is an economist who worked for a large bank—until his first novel, The Ice, became an overnight bestseller, allowing him to quit his day job.
About the Narrators
Neil Hellegers grew up in New Jersey and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a BA in theater arts and a minor in psychology before getting an MFA in acting from the Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. He moved to New York City in 2003 and, since then, has made a career of theatrical performance, percussion, theater education, and audiobook narration. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.
Neil Hellegers grew up in New Jersey and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a BA in theater arts and a minor in psychology before getting an MFA in acting from the Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. He moved to New York City in 2003 and, since then, has made a career of theatrical performance, percussion, theater education, and audiobook narration. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.