A young woman with the fate of a nation in her hands. An aircraft designed by science, fueled by magic and flown with passion. A World War re-imagined like never before. Strap yourself in for a wild ride as award-winning author Charles A. Cornell takes you on his dieselpunk adventure, DragonFly; a collision of science fiction with fantasy that fast forwards steampunk into an alternative World War Two. In 1942, an unlikely heroine changes the course of history. On the eve of invasion by the Nazis, twenty-two year old RAF pilot Veronica 'Ronnie' Somerset is fighting another battle - winning respect within the stuffy, male-dominated British military. She's feisty and brash and determined to overcome every obstacle to become Britain's first female combat pilot. When Ronnie is re-assigned to Enysfarne, a mysterious Royal Navy base off the coast of Cornwall, fate places her inside the cockpit of the most revolutionary aircraft ever invented. Brilliant engineer, Dr. Nigel Pennbridge has discovered quadra-hydrogen, an element that powers the DragonFly, a remarkable fighter-bomber that carries the hopes of Britain on its blue and silver wings. Across the English Channel, Nazi Germany is busy planning its next conquest. Reichsfhrer Bernhardt Morax, Hitler's personal sorcerer and leader of the Third Reich's Zauber Korps is preparing his Blutskriegers for the invasion; bio-mechanical warriors created by a depraved occult science whose dark secrets cross the boundaries of evil. In DragonFly, Veronica Somerset's adventures unfold in two self-contained novellas:In Part I: 'To Hell and Back', Ronnie proved she was a hard-nosed, quick-thinking daredevil as she embarked on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines to spy on Hitler's invasion plans. In Part II: 'Victory or Death', the Nazi invasion fleet is gathering off the shores of England. Morax, with help from his spies, is determined to seize the DragonFly and unlock the secrets of Enysfarne's Druid past. Will the Druid wizard, Affodill - whose ancestral home of Enysfarne has been expropriated by the Royal Navy - join forces with the British, or will he make a pact with the evil Morax? Can Princess Victoria and Ronnie Somerset convince Affodill to place his magic in the service of a nation that has betrayed his Druid ancestors for centuries?Part II: 'Victory or Death' includes eight color and eight black and white illustrations. But for the ultimate DragonFly reading experience consider 'DragonFly - the Illustrated Edition', packed with sixty illustrations that make the action jump off the page, including character dossiers, historical 'retrographs' and fantastic designs of retro-futuristic aircraft; many exclusive to this omnibus edition. 'DragonFly - the Illustrated Edition' is the logical choice to follow the story of Ronnie's adventures to its dramatic conclusion as she and the DragonFly Squadron must face the Nazi invasion.
