Jonathan Fesmire writes speculative fiction for fun, and has five books out–four novels and a collection of short stories–in his steampunk western alternate timeline, the Creedverse.
A single father, Jonathan lives in California with his son where they going to movies, to Disneyland, and performing close-up, strolling magic for events as Jonathan and Clark Figment.
Visit the World of Bodacious Creed!
Start with The Adventures of Bodacious Creed Book 1! Or, purchase the entire trilogy!
U.S. Marshal James Creed has known loss, starting from the untimely death of his wife and daughter in a sudden fire. His work, chasing down and arresting outlaws across the Wild West, is all he has to live for. Then one day, in 1876, the infamous killer Corwin Blake catches Creed by surprise and guns him down.
Creed awakes after a mysterious young woman resurrects him in a basement laboratory beneath a brothel. Half alive, Creed feels torn between his need for justice and his desire to fall back into the peace of death. Creed’s instincts drive him to protect the city of Santa Cruz, California, from the outlaws it harbors while searching for Blake.
He uncovers a secret criminal organization, likely protecting Blake, determined to use resurrection technology for its own ends. The former marshal, now faster, stronger, and a more deadly shot than ever before, must work with a brothel madam, a bounty hunter, and the remaining marshals to uncover the criminal syndicate before they can misuse the machines of rebirth and create more mindless zombies. Meanwhile, he must also stop Blake, before the outlaw kills the only people he cares about.
His own death can wait.
Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western is available at Amazon and Audible.
Bodacious Creed and the Jade Lake
The Adventures of Bodacious Creed Book 2
James “Bodacious” Creed stopped a killer and helped bring peace to Santa Cruz, a coastal California city on the edge of the American frontier. Now, the undead lawman, resurrected with steam-based technology, takes on dangerous criminal cases as a private investigator.
One night while riding by the wharf, Creed hears a gunshot. He and his coyote companion, Coconino, rush to the scene. In a forest clearing, he finds two dead men and a dying woman. Mechanical parts ring her neck and wrist, and as she whispers of her travails, the former Chinese slave dies in his arms.
Someone in San Francisco is using illegal machinery to alter and control women like her. To hunt down the perpetrator, Creed travels to the City by the Bay. His journey takes him into the depths of Chinatown, reveals a secret society, and puts old and new friends in danger.
How can Creed learn the truth before more women are changed, manipulated, or killed?
Bodacious Creed and the Jade Lake is available on Amazon and Audible .
Bodacious Creed
and the San Francisco Syndicate
The Adventures of Bodacious Creed Book 3
Investigator James Creed has finally settled into life in San Francisco with his found family, the Brotherhood of the Golden Cog. Though he misses his adult daughter, he has a criminal leader to track down—an outlaw who murders innocents, enslaves the downtrodden, and uses machines to alter the bodies and minds of his many victims.
Months ago, the leads dried up. Creed despairs of ever collaring his enemy, the infamous outlaw Maxwell Gregg, until he spots an illegal automaton on Christmas evening. It’s exactly the sort of technology his nemesis deals in.
The clues keep coming. Mechanically enhanced women stalk the red-light district of the Barbary Coast, and a young rancher leads Creed to the site of a mass grave. Known members of the Evil Eye Syndicate are spotted during the day.
Creed gains an unexpected ally—the mysterious Dockside Poltergeist, a vigilante who stops kidnappings and murders along the Barbary Coast. Now, the two are intent on Creed’s target. But, time is running out and there are dark forces also hunting the undead investigator—forces intent on putting him back in his grave.
Can Creed stop his nemesis before the outlaw catches up to him?
Bodacious Creed and the San Francisco Syndicate is available on Amazon and Audible.
Anna: Daughter of Creed
The Anna Lynn Chronicles Book 1
Anna Boyd misses her father. She lost him when she was six, fled to California, the edge of the frontier at sixteen, became a prostitute at seventeen, and in her early twenties, she changed the world. James Creed returned to her life less than a year ago, but now the private detective is in San Francisco on a murder case.
She continues to run her restaurant and brothel, the House of Amber Doves. Then, she receives a blackmail letter that threatens to expose her secrets: that her fortune came from her inventions, including advanced steam power and automatons. How might society react if people knew that a woman, and a former soiled dove, had ushered in the modern technological revolution?
Anna now has to make choices that could destroy her reputation and her relationship with Miles Morgan, the mogul she secretly works for. As she strives to improve the lives of the women at the House of Amber Doves, and all women, she finds herself fighting a battle between two powerful men and a spy threatening her livelihood and those she loves.
Will her plans help her friends, or destroy her business and their lives? Whatever the cost, Anna is determined to do what’s right.
Anna: Daughter of Creed is available on Amazon.
Guts & Gears: Tales of the Weird West
You hold in your hands a gateway to Jonathan Fesmire’s weird western alternate history. This collection of twelve character-driven stories explores morality, technology, and intrigue in a Wild West that never was but might have been.
Join characters from Jonathan’s novels, like Anna Lynn Boyd, James “Bodacious” Creed, The Dockside Poltergeist, and Lucy Morgan as they face new challenges. The stories include mechanical marvels, love, heroes battling prejudice, and thrilling adventures.
Witness a forbidden romance, the kindness of a friendly automaton, resurrection, and the chaos of the San Francisco Riot of 1877. Even Wild Bill Hickok makes an era-changing appearance.
Whether you’re a longtime fan of the Bodacious Creed novels or a new reader, this collection delivers!
Guts and Gears: Tales of the Weird West provides an ideal introduction to the world of Bodacious Creed.
Guts & Gears: Tales of the Weird West is available on Amazon.
“Wild ideas beautifully scripted, Jonathan Fesmire proves he is writing for a large audience – even if he must recruit them into steampunk.” –Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame Top 100 Reviewer
“It’s the perfect blend of steampunk, hard-boiled pulp, and gritty realism, of Louis L’Amour, Stephen King, and a scosche of Douglas Adams. The best steampunk horror novel you’ll read this season.”–Eric Fisk, The Fedora Chronicles
“…a thrill ride full of fabulous machines, sharp corners, near misses, captures, escapes, zombies, zombie animals, and equal opportunity baddies — females as well as males engaging in mayhem.” –Lee Killough
“Nothing new under the sun? NOT true. Here, originality certainly takes the cake AND pops you in the face with it.” — L.A. Veronie II