BNG FRIDAY: Let Androids Eat Cake

Every Friday until its publication, I'm going to blog something about Brave New Girls: Stories of Girls Who Science and Scheme, a YA sci-fi anthology featuring tech-savvy heroines. The goal is to encourage more girls to explore Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math careers. Revenues from sales of the anthology will be donated to a scholarship fund through the Society of Women Engineers. 

Today, I'm spotlighting one of the darker stories in the anthology: Meg Merriet's steampunk re-imagining of the French Revolution, "Let Androids Eat Cake." Teen tinkerer Heloise has spent the Revolution keeping her head down, creating mechanical oddities for her family's shop, but finds herself pulled into the conflict when Marie Antoinette escapes execution using an army of automatons—one of which kidnaps Heloise's baby sister for the evil queen's twisted purposes. The story is a stunning alternate history that throws its heroine into an unforgiving steampunk dystopia, twisted and gorgeous in a unique way. Heloise is a girl who won't back down from a fight—no matter how bizarre circumstances are—and I can't wait for y'all to meet her when the anthology comes out!

TITLE
Let Androids Eat Cake 

AUTHOR
Meg Merriet


STORY DESCRIPTION

The French Revolution takes a shocking turn when Marie Antoinette escapes her execution and amasses a deadly robot army. Heloise, a fiery young engineer, infiltrates the queen's forces, sabotaging her automatons. The youth of France will not be enslaved by the machines.

AUTHOR BIO

Meg Merriet is a medievalist with a Masters in Literature from Tulane University. In print, her short stories have been published in The Antigonish Review and Mad Scientist Journal. She currently lives in New Orleans with her husband and their mechanical wind-up cat. For more Steampunk stories by Meg Merriet, visit megmerriet.com.

THOUGHTS ON BRAVE NEW GIRLS

So often in media, we see heroines whose value is based on beauty and brawn. Brave New Girls appealed to my preference for a female character who would prove her mettle through a unique interest, even if it's as unglamorous as stripping engines or coding late into the night.

BRAVE NEW GIRLS: STORIES OF GIRLS WHO SCIENCE & SCHEME will be released in August 2017!

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