Today is August 30th and as promised I'm posting my review of M.K. Hobson's The Native Star which is debuting this September from Spectra. The Native Star is set in 1870s era United States in which magic is common enough to order out of a Sears catalog. Emily Edwards is Lost Pine's local witch. Facing a grim financial future due to cheap catalog-ordered magic, Emily decides to obtain security through marriage. Trouble is, she's impatient and puts her faith into a badly concocted love spell instead of allowing nature to take its course. Add a haunted warehouse, an obsessed lover, a horde of marauding zombie miners and one power-hungry Government Blood Mage and you've got one Emily Edwards, mild-mannered Hedge Witch, in a real mess. Mary Hobson's 1870s America is well-researched and nicely designed. In some ways, it reminded me of a Gilded Age Dime Novel as well as one of my favorite television programs when I was a kid -- Wild Wild West. With wonderful character names like 'Dreadnought Stanton' and 'Penelope Pendennis' you pretty much know what kind of ride you're in for. If you like your steam-punk(?) bustle-punk(?) with a western edge, you should give The Native Star a read.