Harry Takes Off: Astounding Stories of Adventure (Iron Pegasus Book 1) Read online

  Winifred Churchill stood up. She would not tell him what she suspected. She would not write it up for the Manchester Guardian. This was a story that encompassed the world, and at present she had nothing solid.

  She smiled at him. “Thank you for letting me read your story.”

  His crestfallen look threatened to break her heart in two. She went over to him, laid her hand on his and gave him a peck on the cheek.

  “Stay alive for me,” she said. Then pulled on her gloves, adjusted her hat, gathered up her things, and left.

  ~ end ~

  What to read next

  Iron Pegasus #2: Harry in the Wild

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Steve Turnbull has been a geek and a nerd longer than those words have had their modern meaning.

  Born in the heart of London to book-loving working class parents in 1958, he lived with his parents and two much older sisters lived in two rooms with gas lighting and no hot water. In his fifth year, a change in his father's fortunes took them out to a detached house in the suburbs. That was the year Dr Who first aired on British TV and Steve watched it avidly from behind the sofa. It was the beginning of his love of science fiction.

  Academically Steve always went for the science side but he also had his imagination and that took him everywhere. He read through his local library's entire science fiction and fantasy selection, plus his father's 1950s Astounding Science Fiction magazines. As he got older he also ate his way through TV SF like Star Trek, Dr Who and Blake's 7.

  However it was when he was 15 he discovered something new. Bored with a Maths lesson he noticed a book from the school library: Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. From the first page he was captivated by the beauty of the language. As a result he wrote a story longhand and then spent evenings at home on his father's electric typewriter pounding out a second draft, expanding it. Then he wrote a second book. After that he switched to poetry and turned out dozens, mostly not involving teenage angst.

  After receiving excellent science and maths results he went on to study Computer Science. There he teamed up with another student and they wrote songs for their band - Steve writing the lyrics. Though they admit their best song was the other way around, with Steve writing the music.

  After graduation Steve moved into contract programming but was snapped up a couple of years later by a computer magazine looking for someone with technical knowledge. It was in the magazine industry that Steve learned how to write to length, to deadline and to style. Within a couple of years he was editor and stayed there for many years.

  During that time he married Pam (who also became a magazine editor) who he'd met at a student party.

  Though he continued to write poetry all prose work stopped. He created his own magazine publishing company which at one point produced the subscription magazine for the Robot Wars TV show. The company evolved into a design agency but after six years of working very hard and not seeing his family—now including a daughter and son—he gave it all up.

  He spent a year working on miscellaneous projects including writing 300 pages for a website until he started back where he had begun, contract programming.

  With security and success on the job front, the writing began again. This time it was scriptwriting: features scripts, TV scripts and radio scripts. During this time he met a director Chris Payne, who wanted to create steampunk stories and between them they created the Voidships universe, a place very similar to ours but with specific scientific changes.

  With a whole universe to play with Steve wrote a web series, a feature film and then books all in the same Steampunk world and, behind the scenes, all connected.

  You hold the first finished product in your hands.

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  Table of Contents

  Harry Takes Off

  i

  ii

  iii

  iv

  v

  vi

  vii

  viii

  ix

  x

  xi

  xii

  xiii

  xiv

  xv

  xvi

  xvii

  xviii

  xix

  xx

  xxi

  xxii

  xxiii

  What to read next

  Journey into Space, 1874

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 04:00

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 06:00

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 06:30

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 08:03

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 08:15

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 08:25

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 09:00

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 09:35

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 10:10

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 10:45

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 11:10

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 11:14

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 11:16

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 11:24

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 11:31

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 11:46

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 11:53

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 12:01

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 12:18

  Sept 3rd, 1874, 12:28

  Epilogue

  About the Author