Steve Libbey's Aqua Pura Trilogy

The Aqua Pura Trilogy

Crixus Oraan is a water artesan, an engineer who builds aqueducts and piping for bathhouses and mansions in the empire of Rond (which bears a resemblance to our own Roman Empire). His guild has entrusted him with a large sum of gold to establish a branch in the up-and-coming coastal town of Restia. In a misguided effort to win enough gold to buy a lavish house for his new fiancé Kharrina, he loses the guild’s gold in a card game.

A shady sea captain present at the game—and possibly responsible for fleecing him—offers to sneak him off to the wild and mysterious continent of Minq. Afraid to lose his status in society for his crime, he agrees, hoping to gain back the gold he lost and compensate the guild back in Rond.

In this first volume in the bold new Aqua Pura Trilogy, Crixus finds employment with the Lamiae of Nistru, a cruel society where those at the top bathe in the lifeblood of those on the bottom. Will his conscience allow him to finish the job?

By turns dark, comedic, erotic and thrilling, The Bloodbaths is a book that transcends genre to stand on its own. Subatomic Books will be publishing book two, The Quartz Odalisque, in 2008. The Good King's Tomb will follow in 2009.

A Word from the Author
The Aqua Pura Trilogy was born out of my frustration at the state of fantastic literature. Much of it appeared to be driven by risk-adverse marketing departments and accountants, thus the preponderance of Tolkienesque and Star-Warsesque soap operas. None of this interested me as a reader, and eventually the game of "you know what would be cool?" coalesced into a book.

I'm intrigued by the struggles of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. In Crixus' case, he creates these circumstances himself by exercising poor judgment in a moment of weakness; how he hopes to overcome his dilemma provides me many opportunities to follow the path of an everyman through dire tests of character.

Some folks have asked, "why a plumber?" The answer is simple. Civil engineers were the cutting edge of science in ancient times, applying mathematics and physics in the real world under the sponsorship of egomaniacal ruling elites. And that right there makes for good stories.



	Read the complete novel as a printable, screen-friendly PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)
	Read the complete novel as a Rich Text File suitable for mobile phones and devices.


	Subscribe to the podcast of the novel chapters through iTunes or another RSS reader, or download the files directly onto your hard drive.


	Sign up to have chapters emailed to you on a daily, thrice-a-week or weekly basis. COMING SOON.
Share the wealth! Subatomic Books releases novels under a Creative Commons license which permits you to share and distribute the novels to your friends and colleagues for free, as long as you give credit to the author (and a link to the website). Try before you buy is the wave of the future for the publishing industry, and we're excited to be able to participate in the revolution.