From British Fantasy Award nominee Molly Tanzer comes her debut book, Vermilion, a spirited weird Western adventure that puts the punk back into steampunk.

Gunslinging, chain-smoking, and Stetson-wearing Taoist psychopomp, Elouise “Lou” Merriwether may not be a standard nineteen season old, but she’s too busy keeping SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA safe from ghosts, tones, and geung si to treatment much about this. It’s an important work, though most people consider it downright spooky. Some possess even accused Lou of about Vermilion: The Travels of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp becoming more comfortable using the dead compared to the living, and, well … they’re not wrong.

When Lou hears a bunch of Chinatown boys have gone missing somewhere deep in the Colorado Rockies, she decides to saddle up and head into the wilderness to investigate. Lou fears her particular skills make her better suitable for help placate their spirits than ensure they go back home alive, but it’s the right move to make, and she’s the only one willing to do it. On the road to a inexplicable sanatorium referred to as the Fountain of Youth, Lou will encounter bears, eager men, an extremely undead villain, as well as stranger challenges. She’ll need each one of her talents and a whole lot of fortune to create it house alive.

“A splendid page-turner…This hugely entertaining combination of American steampunk and ghost tale is a wonderful yarn with some of the best dialogue around.”-Publishers Regular (starred review)