Instructor: Beth Daniels. The American West was wild – hey, we’ve seen the movies, heard about the outlaws, maybe even seen the various boothills where the legends are buried while we were on vacation. But the American East was just as wild – it lacked tumbleweeds and shootouts between only two men in a dusty little town, but the cities had gamblers, prostitution, corruption, gang wars, graft, and more. And considering that machines and big business were in the process of changing, and polluting, the world as well as tromping down the immigrants, well, we’ve got the perfect settings for some humdinger Steampunk tales. 

Our focus is not only the Weird West Steampunk story but Steampunk tales that take place on either side of the Mississippi, in fact, those that could roam from “sea to shining sea.”  

We’ll look at what’s been written, what elements in American history are just asking for inclusion in a tale after having gone through a bit of warping, twisting, mauling and morphing into whatever suits that story that’s been hovering in the back of your mind.  

And if there are interested parties among us, will touch on Australia as well. As I understand it, Australia in particular had a lot in common with the Wild West and no doubt, the equally Wild East. There’s story fodder just waitin’ fer ya, mate. 

I came to Steampunk after one too many editors and agents said “no one is buying historicals set in the Old West”. The choice was grind my teeth and throw in the towel or recreate the Old West – and East – in a different genre. I wasn’t interested in the prairie romances. I wanted a tad more adventure, danger, and evil to deal with. If you feel the same way, Steampunk’s the place to be. 

The workshop is 4-short weeks long but you’ll need to whip your horses up, shovel a lot of mental coal, and tinker and reinvent the 19th century as best suits your story needs. It’ll be a heck of a lot of fun so, hope ta see ya here, pilgrim.

Beth Daniels currently writes as Beth Henderson and J.B. Dane, though she answered to Lisa Dane and Beth Cruise in the past as well. She has worked with editors at Berkley, Zebra, Leisure, Harlequin/Silhouette, and Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks, done e-books for a now defunct company (not her fault, she says), and began her writing life with hardcover books slated for library use with a publisher that got out of the romance business (again, not her fault). More recently she’s had a number of articles about writing picked up by e-zines, saw a short story published in a mystery and suspense magazine that turned up its toes the next year (really, really not her fault), and has a story in the MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD anthology from Dragon Moon Press.

For over a dozen years Beth taught college level composition, both in the classroom and online, and a credit course on Novel Writing. Five of her former Novel class students are now published.

Twenty-six of Beth’s manuscripts have appeared in print or e-book format. These have been historical romantic adventures (6), romantic comedies (10), romantic-suspense (3), and young adult romantic comedy (7). Her titles have appeared in 12 different languages in over 20 countries. At the moment she is working on various manuscripts and collaborated with another RWA member on a contemporary/fantasy/romantic adventure. She also ventured into self-publishing to keep her out-of-print backlist in print.