Book Review of STORMING, a New Dieselpunk Novel by K.M Weiland

Though I've always enjoyed such films such as Indiana Jones, The Rocketeer, Captain America, and so on, I've never read a deiselpunk (or ANYpunk) novel until now, but I thoroughly enjoyed K.M. Weiland's brand new release Storming, a deiselpunk that is set among the post war, air show, barnstorming circus era. Interestingly, I've read that sometimes deiselpunk can seem to glorify nazi-ism due to the nazi components in these stories, but Weiland's novel is a clear depiction of anti-fascism. (The fascists are the bad guys.)

The story is full of intrigue from the very beginning, when barnstormer Hitch Hitchcock nearly flies into first one body, then another, tumbling out of the sky from who-knows-where. There isn't another sign of plane or anything else up there in the clouds. When he rescues the mysterious foreigner Jael she talks of Schturming, her home in the clouds, and for a while, there's the great mystery of what Shturming is, or where it's exactly located. The answer is quite a lark!

But there's so much more to Weiland's story. There's the traumatized little boy, Hitch's nephew, who hasn't talked in several years but is drawn to Hitch more than anyone else in his life, and about whom another mystery swirls. There's Hitch's estranged brother, who happens to be a town deputy, and Hitch is definitely flying around on the fringes of the law. There's the town sheriff himself, who has a hold over Hitch and knows just how to call in a favor, even more than once. There's Hitch's sisters-in-law who aren't ready to forgive him for his wife's death. There's his buddy Earl, who stands by him when the rest  of the circus only has use for his talents when it's in their favor.

And mostly there's Jael, the strange, strong-headed, daring girl who fell from the sky and became a flying circus pilot's dream as a wing-walker -- and something more. Weiland does a fantastic
job of pulling readers into the cares of these people and sets the final scenes in the heavens (no spoilers! Can't tell you about the actual Schturming!) full of bravado, daring do, and death-defying romance, familial love, and forgiveness. Oh -- and a great climax for the bad guys.

Like I said, deiselpunk is new to me, but I think readers who really seek out this genre would get a great kick out of Storming!

Available on Amazon