An Embarrassment of Riches

Clockpunk at its Finest - by Leslie

While I’m not a fan of SF or fantasy, I found Mainspring by Jay Lake utterly engrossing. Here is the premise: the world is part of a gigantic clock mechanism devised by God. When you look up at the sky you can see the brass geared mechanism.

The angel Gabriel appears to a clockmaker’s apprentice and tells him that the world is slowing down and needs to be rewound and he’s just the guy to do it. Unfortunately, the angel gives no clue as to how he should go about doing so.

So begins the apprentice’s adventures, which include a puzzle to solve, a secret society, brief dialogues about the nature of God, and inter-species love.

More about clockpunk, cyberpunk and other literary genres here.