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    Mud and Brass
    Mud and Brass
    Mud and Brass
    Ebook28 pages22 minutes

    Mud and Brass

    By Andrew Knighton

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    About this ebook

    How far would you go for love, or for justice, or for the perfect gearwheel?

    Thomas Niggle grew up a mudlark, hunting for scrap on the polluted banks of the River Burr. One of the countless poor living in the shadows of Mercer Shackleton’s vast factories, he has dragged himself out of poverty using his mechanical skills. An encounter with Gloria Shackleton, the Mercer’s daughter, offers Niggle the possibility of love, but it also offers something else, deep in the heart of the Mercer’s domain.

    What hope can the future hold for a boy raised amidst the mud and brass?


    A steampunk story of romance, vengeance and twisted technology.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAndrew Knighton
    Release dateFeb 12, 2018
    ISBN9781386310006
    Mud and Brass
    Author

    Andrew Knighton

    Andrew Knighton is a freelance writer and an author of science fiction, fantasy, and steampunk stories. He lives in Yorkshire with his cat, his computer, and a big pile of books.

    Read more from Andrew Knighton

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      Book preview

      Mud and Brass - Andrew Knighton

      Mud and Brass

      Andrew Knighton

      Published by Andrew Knighton, 2018.

      This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

      MUD AND BRASS

      First edition. February 12, 2018.

      Copyright © 2018 Andrew Knighton.

      ISBN: 978-1386310006

      Written by Andrew Knighton.

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      Mud and Brass

      Also By Andrew Knighton

      About the Author

      Mud and Brass

      Gas oozed up through the thick, putrid mud, bubbles bursting with a dull 'phut' and spattering Niggle's coat with green-brown blobs. Some awful things must be rotting away in the river bed, but Niggle didn't need gas to tell him that. He'd spent years watching the filth dumped in the River Burr. Even now, the dregs of Mercer Shackleton's dyeing vats seeped into the water, ribbons of black, red and blue mingling to brown as they trailed away from the brick cliff of the factory. Up above, porters came and went, throwing waste from an empty air dock. Higher still the Mercer's chauffeur pissed out the window of his airship, laughter whipping on the wind as he tried to hit the gulls.

      Mud squelched half way up Niggle's boots, thick, foul and full of promise. He settled down on a step by the bank, nudging around in the muck with the tip of his boot. He remembered when this was his livelihood, young and barefoot, his toes feeling for shapes in the mudflats by the river. Those toes had been able to grasp a cogwheel or a penny out of the mire. He'd been filthy and stinking, but he'd only had to go neck deep for the really big salvage. Now he had his own shoes, and a room to go back to at

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