The Clockwork Dynasty

Prologue
The age of a thing is in the feel of it. Secrets are locked in the fingerprints of cracked porcelain and the bloom of rust on metal. You've just got to pick up a dusty artifact in both hands and squeeze your eyelids shut. With a little thought, the mind-reeling eons of time will stretch out before you like a star-filled sky.

I didn't learn this feeling in a classroom. No scientist does.

My grandfather, my dedushka . . . he taught me this awe for the forgotten past.

When I was sixteen, Vasily Stefanov caught me hiding in his toolshed, rummaging through his war souvenirs and trying to open the brass padlock on a battered green ammunition box with a screwdriver. He whistled low, like a cuckoo. This was how he'd gotten my attention since I was a little girl, and I froze in embarrassment.

Instead of punishing me, he told me a story.

"You are so curious," he said, words soaked in the heavy Russian accent he brought to the United States from another life. "What are you looking for?"

"I'm sorry, Dedushka," I stuttered. "Nothing. I only wanted to-"

He waved me off with a callused palm.

"It's okay. Curious people learn things," he said.

My grandfather took the ammunition box from me and set it clattering on his workbench. He unlocked the padlock and opened the dented lid, revealing a few faded photographs, an old pocket watch, and scattered medals. Then, he lifted out an oily cloth with something heavy wrapped in it. Without a word, he dropped the shrouded bundle across my palms.

Inside, I found something metallic and dense, something so intricate and alien that my breath caught in my throat. Etched into a crescent-shaped slice of metal the size of a seashell, I saw a labyrinthine pattern of grooves-a language of bizarre angles.

"This thing," he said. "This incredible thing. I always meant to share it, you understand? But the years march."

"It's heavy," I said.

"It is a relic from a war. With a story I have never told

DANIEL H. WILSON is the bestselling author of Robopocalypse, Robogenesis, and Amped, among others. He was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and earned a B.S. in computer science from the University of Tulsa and a Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and two children.

"The Clockwork Dynasty is my new favorite secret history novel! It's like some fantastic hybrid of Highlander and The Terminator--or maybe a cross between I, Robot and The Difference Engine, with a dash of Blade Runner for good measure. It reads like classic steampunk on steroids. In other words, it's totally bad ass and you're going to love it."
--Ernest Cline, The New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One

"Daniel H. Wilson is one of the foremost prophets of the near future. . . In The Clockwork Dynasty, the irrepressibly readable Wilson has retreated to pseudo-vampiric sentient robots. I say retreated because he's dealing with the past and present, rather than the future - though his rewriting of the past is no less radical than his speculative work. . .The plot is driven by a human protagonist, June Stefanov. She represents human history and continues Wilson's excellent run of female lead characters - a distinction not to be sniffed at in male-written robot sci-fi."
--The Los Angeles Review of Books

"This bold adventure is a stew of cult-classic concepts-the avtomat reflect the Immortals in the Highlander franchise, while the ancient and deadly Elena is reminiscent of child vampire Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. It may wear its influences on its sleeve but it's also a welcome treat for steampunk and fantasy fans. A thrilling mix of influences, much like Sylvain Neuvel's Sleeping Giants and HBO's Westworld, that creates a captivating scenario begging for many sequels."
--Kirkus (starred review)

"Brilliantly conceived and executed . . . this is science fiction at its best-thoughtful, challenging, beautifully written and astonishing."
--Booklist (starred review)

"The Clockwork Dynasty is a hybrid: engrossing historical fiction starring ancient androids and mile-a-minute present-day action thriller . . . June's mad dash to flee a secret society bent on taking her knowledge and her life evokes the best moments of Dan