The Hierarchy of Angels

Moby Dick meets The Odyssey, but with airships and Habsburgs. Declan McGowan truly understood naval engineering - but the enormous vessel that nearly destroyed the protected cruiser Atlanta was unlike any ship he’d ever seen, and the mysterious weapon it deployed was powerful beyond anything he could have imagined. But under what nation’s Ensign did it sail? And who could be capable of constructing such a thing?It’s 1887, and skilled workmen are mysteriously disappearing - seemingly at random - throughout Europe. Ships at sea have gone missing in good weather, and there are ominous lights and sounds in the skies above. On routine maneuvers, the Navy's most advanced steel warship is violently disabled under questionable circumstances. Behind closed doors, survivors tell of an attack by a terrifying ship, and an unknown, but immensely effective weapon. After the Pinkerton Detective Agency is engaged to initiate an international investigation, Declan McGowan, a bright young Naval Engineer working at the Brooklyn Yards, is drafted into a covert task force to locate and identify the source of the mystery ship. Then, on a transatlantic voyage he becomes entangled with a singular young woman named Hippolyta McPherson, who has secrets of her own. As they begin to realize they have a shared problem, can they learn to trust one another?So there you have it… A naval engineer on a secret mission. A college professor on holiday, with his daughter. Throw in some inept Pinkerton men, an enigmatic British artificer, and a megalomaniacal aristocrat hell-bent on restoring the Holy Roman Empire—the recipe for The Hierarchy of Angels—an epic Victorian adventure novel, and a 'must read' for fans of Alternate/Historical/Science Fiction!DRAMATIS PERSONNAEAll Declan McGowan really wanted was to enjoy the simple life of a naval engineer working in the Brooklyn Yards, read good books, and occasionally attend a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. He never wanted to be an international spy. He never wanted to be enslaved by a megalomaniacal aristocrat, hell-bent on restoring the Holy Roman Empire. He certainly had not intended to bring down a rain of fire and brimstone on his friends, and his new-found love… and yet, there he was.Hippolyta MacPherson just wanted to become an engineer—was that too much for a proper young Victorian woman to ask? But after meeting a former student of her father on a transatlantic voyage, her life would be changed in unimaginable ways. She didn’t want him to fall for her. She never asked to be kidnapped and imprisoned on a remote island in the Mediterranean. And she certainly never expected to find herself brandishing a crossbow in a besieged citadel, while in the process of stealing an air-ship to escape… and yet, there she was.What Ambrosius Rutherford wanted was hard to say. Enigmatic at the very least, he was very likely only posing as a mechanical engineer while secretly working for—perhaps the Admiralty? He expected he might be caught up in international intrigues. He knew when he was dealing with shady characters, and regularly put himself in harm’s way for his beloved Queen and country. He also knew there was the possibility he might get shot doing all of this… and now there he was.All that Franz Eduard von Hohen und Mächtig ever really wanted was absolute power, and the lack of accountability that came with it—was that too much to ask? Unlike lesser men, losing part of a leg and the use of one eye could not stop him from achieving his goals. Pain was to be ignored, suffering was for other people, and failure was unimaginable. He was surprised, however, to learn that his plans to restore the Holy Roman Empire were not welcomed by the masses, and he certainly never expected to have to lay waste to half of Europe… and yet there he was. Read more