The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands

In 1899, an armored Trans-Siberian Express leaves Beijing for Moscow. Its route runs through the Wastelands, a vast wilderness that has been changed into something strange and deadly. Passengers are warned off the view: stare out of a window too long and the mind can come apart.

On the train's last crossing, something terrible happened, and nobody aboard can recall what. The man who made the sealed windows took the blame and was destroyed for it. His daughter, Marya Petrovna, boards under a false name, determined to find out what occurred and clear his name.

She is not the only one with a reason to be there. Zhang Weiwei, sixteen, was born and raised on the train and draws Marya's attention. Henry Grey, a naturalist in disgrace, hopes the crossing will redeem him. Elena, a stowaway, has an uncanny tie to the land outside.

This is historical fantasy in the weird-fiction tradition, with a gothic edge and an atmospheric, enclosed setting. The mood is eerie and unsettling, with wonder alongside the dread. Grief runs through it, and the wilderness beyond the glass starts to bend the rules the passengers rely on.