About the Book Jewels and their lapidaries and have all but passed into myth. Jorit, broke and branded a thief, just wants to escape the Far Reaches for something better. Ania, a rumpled librarian, is trying to protect her books from the Pressmen, who value knowledge but none of the humanity that generates it. When they stumble upon a mysterious clock powered by an ancient jewel, they may discover secrets in the past that will change the future forever-- Book Synopsis The Fire Opal Mechanism is the fast-paced and lively sequel to Fran Wildes The Jewel and Her Lapidary Jewels and their lapidaries and have all but passed into myth. Jorit, broke and branded a thief, just wants to escape the Far Reaches for something better. Ania, a rumpled librarian, is trying to protect her books from the Pressmen, who value knowledge but none of the humanity that generates it. When they stumble upon a mysterious clock powered by an ancient jewel, they may discover secrets in the past that will change the future forever. Review Quotes Praise for the Gem Universe series: [A] sharp, glittering novella about friendship, family, loyalty, and mental instability. -- Locus , on The Jewel and Her Lapidary A splendid tale of courage and transformation in a world as exquisite as Wildes prose. You will be utterly entranced. --Ken Liu, Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award winner, on The Jewel and Her Lapidary Readers who loved Jewel will be delighted by this outing. -- Publishers Weekly Additional Praise for Fran Wilde Extraordinary world-building and cascading levels of intrigue make Wildes debut fantasy novel soar. -- Publishers Weekly on Updraft About the Author Fran Wildes short fiction has appeared in Asimovs , Nature , and elsewhere. Her debut novel Updraft , first in the Bone Universe series, was published in 2015 to wide acclaim. She blogs about food and genre at Cooking the Books and for the popular social-parenting website GeekMom. She lives in Philadelphia with her family.