Being the third book in a series, it was important that The Girl and the Clockwork Crossfire fit seamlessly alongside its two predecessors. Nikki had two concepts in her mind; the first was to have Maeko, her female protagonist, kneeling within the rubble of a London hideout with Macak, the cat, by her side. We ran with this particular concept as it was less abstract than the other, and allowed us to show the desperation and helplessness of Maeko’s situation in a single scene. Some of the key elements Nikki mentioned were the stealth black airship and the clockwork key, which is able to open any door, so we incorporated both in the design.
Maeko only wants to protect the people she cares about. Somehow, that goal has taken her from living a life as a pickpocket on the streets of London trying to pay off her mum’s debt, to becoming deeply enmeshed in rising hostilities between the Pirates and the Literati.
Now she has offers from both sides to help protect her loved ones. But things have gotten more dangerous. All around her the Pirates and Lits are hard at work on ways to destroy each other. Meanwhile, things are spiraling out of control with Chaff and Ash.
With Macak as her one constant companion, Maeko is going to have to decide for herself who she will trust. She needs to be at her most clever to survive this and she’s going to need someone’s help to keep from getting caught in the crossfire.
Buy This Book »I had a challenge ahead of me when I lost contact with my prior cover artist. I needed to find someone who could step in and do a cover for the third and final book in my steampunk trilogy that fit the mood and style of the first two book covers. I found Author Packages through a query on Goodreads and was impressed with Mark’s previous work. I thought he might be the right artist to pull off the cover I needed. I was not at all disappointed. We worked through several iterations together and I was delighted by how pleasant he was to work with and was extremely happy with the final product. I will definitely come back for other projects.
