You know we love a good mystery and are always up for an adventure, so we jumped at the chance to participate in the Blog Tour for The Left-Handed Fate, the middle grade steampunk adventure book by the amazing author, Kate Milford, and illustrated by Eliza Wheeler. This book was so much fun, and we’re excited to have main characters Lucy, Max, and Oliver here to interview each other. Let’s get right to it!
***INTERVIEW***
Lucy: The reader, ahoy. Welcome to Nautical Things with Maxwell Ault, Acting-Lieutenant Oliver Dexter, and myself, Lucy Bluecrowne. We discussed possible topics for this interview and decided the most useful thing would be to talk about omens, since landsfolk seem to have absolutely no idea about how to avoid bad luck.
Oliver: A sort of public service, like. And really, it’s all quite simple.
Max: Did neither of you even consider my suggestions? What about discussing Mr. Troughton’s new refractor telescope? Or Mr. Euler’s application of complex numbers in trigonometry? Everyone needs trigonometry.
Lucy: Suppose we start with a round or two of lightning Good Luck or Bad Luck, Mr. Dexter?
Oliver: Splendid. Perhaps the readers will play along.
Max: I’m going to be dreadful at this.
Lucy: Yes, I expect so. I’ll start you with an easy one. Knives: good luck or bad?
Max: Well, you all use them all the time, so . . . good?
Oliver: Not if they’re broken. Bad luck.
Lucy: Obviously.
Oliver: Or if they have white handles.
Lucy: Goes without saying.
Max: How on earth does that go without saying?
Lucy: Let’s try another. Cats: good luck or bad?
Max: Bad. Or wait—good?
Oliver: It’s a trick question. Black cats are good, white ones are bad.
Lucy: Correct. Fridays: good luck or bad?
Max: I distinctly remember someone saying telling good luck from bad was simple. Fridays, now?
Oliver: If it’s not just another Friday, it’s bad.
Max: This is absurd. How can an entire day be bad luck, I ask you?
Oliver: And I’ll tell you. One: you left port on a Friday. Two: you opened a chronometer on a Friday. Three: you ate fish on a Friday.
Max: Four: you breathed on a Friday.
Lucy: Five: you joked about a Friday. Spit for luck immediately, Maxwell. And not into the wind, if you please.
Oliver: I’ve got one. Girls: good luck or bad?
Lucy: You, Mr. Dexter, can take a long walk on a short pier. And as for you, Maxwell—answer carefully.
Max: . . .
Lucy: Very carefully.
***About Kate Milford***
Kate is the author of THE BONESHAKER, THE BROKEN LANDS, GREENGLASS HOUSE, and THE LEFT-HANDED FATE. She is also the author of the self-published Arcana Project series. The first two volumes, THE KAIROS MECHANISM and BLUECROWNE, can be purchased for e-readers at all the usual outlets and in paperback from www.clockworkfoundry.com or www.mcnallyjackson.com. The third volume, THE RACONTEUR’S COMMONPLACE BOOK, will be released in winter of 2014.
Originally from Annapolis, MD, Kate now lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Nathan and son Griffin and their dogs, Ed and Sprocket. She has written for stage and screen and is a frequent travel columnist for the Nagspeake Board of Tourism and Culture .
***About the Book***
The Left-Handed Fate by Kate Milford Published by Henry Holt and Co. on August 23, 2016
Genres: Adventure, Historical, Middle Grade, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Pages: 384
Goodreads Buy the Book
Lucy Bluecrowne and Maxwell Ault are on a mission: find the three pieces of a strange and arcane engine. They're not exactly sure what this machine does, but they have it on good authority that it will stop the war that's raging between their home country of England and Napoleon Bonaparte's France. Despite being followed by mysterious men dressed all in black, they're well on their way to finding everything they need when their ship, the famous Left-Handed Fate, is taken by the Americans.
And not just any Americans. The Fate (and with it, Lucy and Max) are put under the command of Oliver Dexter, who's only just turned twelve.
But Lucy and Max aren't the only ones trying to put the engine together, and if the pieces fall into the wrong hands, it could prove disastrous. Oliver is faced with a choice: help Lucy and Max and become a traitor to his country? Or follow orders and risk endangering that same country and many others at the same time--not to mention his friends?
***GIVEAWAY***
Good luck!
My favorite adventure read was the Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch.