Automata Futura — Stephen D. Sullivan

Is automation the future? Dr. Victor Von Lang thinks so, and he's hired brilliant-but-shy mechanic Zoe Tesla to help him. Their goal: to build a human-like worker robot -- the Automata Futura -- that can survive conditions too dangerous for human beings. Lang, a scientific genius, has a personal stake in the project: his wife was killed in an industrial accident. To Zoe, their work together is only a job. But where the human heart is concerned, can even a “straightforward” collaboration actually be so simple?

“Automata Futura” is the second stand-alone story in the Steam Nations series, and features characters from the previous tale, “Kit Chapman-Challenger & The Last Ranodon.” The story's mixture of sci-fi, romance, and intrigue is sure to please both new readers and steampunk fans of all stripes!

Stephen D. Sullivan is the award-winning author of dozens of novels and stories, including trilogies for Legend of the Five Rings, Spider Riders, and Dragonlance.