Not Less than Gods

[Bakers] a fine prose stylist with a skeptical intelligence and a black sense of humor. The Los Angeles Times Book ReviewBaker's Company novels are a monumental achievement of imagination and whimsy. StarlogEdward Alton-Bell Fairfax seems to be the perfect Victorian hero. The mysterious circumstances of his birth lead to his rise through public school and a career in the British navy before his recruitment by the Gentlemens Speculative Society, a secret fraternity pulling the strings of governments and individuals alike to bring about a scientifically-driven Utopia. Edward is trained as a spy for the Society, and joins a group of the GSSs special agents on a journey through nineteenth-century Europe and the Middle East, armed with savoir faire, banterand the GSSs special gadgets. A James Bond for the Victorian era, Edward encounters self-propelled carriages, a galvanic underground train, flying machines, and unsavory characters. And through all his adventures, he learns that the Society might be connected to an even more shadowy organization. . .