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The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder
A notorious Victorian legend leaps from fog and folklore into a dizzying chase through altered history. With explorers, inventors, and scoundrels in the mix, London becomes a playground for impossible gadgets and twisted conspiracies. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack blends pulp energy with steampunk flair for a romp both witty and weird.
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In The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, did you enjoy ...
... brass-and-steam Victorian tech run amok—airships, gadgets, and science spawning monsters?
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
If the steam-driven contraptions, airship derring‑do, and bio‑tinkered horrors around Sir Richard Francis Burton and the chaos unleashed by Spring Heeled Jack thrilled you, you’ll love how Boneshaker plunges you into a ruined, gas‑choked city where mad science has literally reshaped society. It’s the same heady blend of clockwork ingenuity and grotesque side effects—only with sky pirates and desperate runs over rooftops to match the pulse of Burton’s breakneck chases.
... a Babbage-powered 19th century where history takes a sharp, technology-driven turn?
The Difference Engine by William Gibson, Bruce Sterling
Enjoyed Hodder’s reworked Victorian timeline where Burton rubs shoulders with real historical figures while inventions rewrite society? The Difference Engine dives deep into a Britain transformed by functioning analytical engines, giving you the same thrill of historical cameos, political ripples, and world-shaping tech that make Spring Heeled Jack’s disruptions in Burton’s London so addictive.
... time-hopping into a perilous, occult-tinged London that warps fate and identity?
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
If the temporal shockwaves from Spring Heeled Jack’s meddling hooked you—the sense that one traveler can derail an entire era—The Anubis Gates delivers that same intoxicating danger. You’ll follow a scholar hurled into 19th‑century London, dodging sorcerers, body‑snatchers, and paradoxes with the kind of twisty stakes and historical texture that made Burton and Swinburne’s timeline‑skewed hunt so compelling.
... bizarre Victorian investigations through freakshows, secret societies, and impossible crimes?
The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
If you were drawn to Burton and Swinburne’s sleuthing through London’s underbelly—tracking mutilations, conspiracies, and uncanny technology—The Somnambulist hits the same nerve. Magician‑detective Edward Moon and his towering, silent partner unravel occult schemes and theatrical murders with a showman’s flair, echoing the strange clues and shadowy cabals that drive Burton’s case.
... witty, manners-and-monsters banter in a gadget-laced Victorian London?
Soulless by Gail Carriger
If Burton and Swinburne’s crackling exchanges and the book’s sly humor kept you smiling between chases and duels, Soulless brings that same effervescent wit. Alexia Tarabotti spars—verbally and otherwise—with werewolves, vampires, and officious bureaucrats, all amid clever gizmos and social satire that complement the playful, tongue‑in‑cheek tone threaded through Burton’s adventures.
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