Book excerpt: 1908. New Venice - the pearl of the Arctic' - a place of ice palaces and pneumatic tubes, a steampunk paradise of long nights and vistas of ice. But as the city prepares for spring, there is an overriding sense that something is about to explode. Local 'poletics' are wracked by tension as local Eskimos circle the city, with suffragette riots led by an underground music star, with drugs round-ups by the local police force known as 'The Gentlemen of the Night' heightening the anxiety. What transpires is a literary adventure unlike any before in the beginning of a great new series.'