When Captain Rafe Lancaster is invalided out of the Britannic Imperium’s Aero Corps after crashing his aerofighter during the Second Boer War, his eyesight is damaged permanently, and his career as a fighter pilot is over. Returning to London in late November 1899, he’s lost the skies he loved, has no place in a society ruled by an elite oligarchy of powerful Houses, and is hard up, homeless, and in desperate need of a new direction in life.

Everything changes when he buys a coffeehouse near the Britannic Imperium Museum in Bloomsbury, the haunt of Aegyptologists. For the first time in years, Rafe is free to be himself. In a city powered by luminiferous aether and phlogiston, and where powerful men use House assassins to target their rivals, Rafe must navigate dangerous politics, deal with a jealous and possessive ex-lover, learn to make the best coffee in London, and fend off murder and kidnap attempts before he can find happiness with the man he loves.

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e-BOOK :  Universal link to a digital store near you | Payhip

PAPERBACK : The paperback is available from Amazon, or contact me for a signed copy

AUDIOBOOK LINKS: Audible US | Audible UK

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Publication Dates :
First Edition: 16 Feb 2015
Second Edition: 08 Oct 2019

Audiobook Edition: 14 October 2022

Publisher:
First Edition:Dreamspinner Press
Second Edition: Glass Hat

Audiobook Publisher: Decent Fellows Press

Cover Artist: Reese Dante

Map Illustrator: Margaret Warner

Wordcount: c 114,300 including steampunk glossary.

Category: Steampunk, Gay mainstream.

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I give this superbly woven tale top marks and my highest recommendations to anyone who likes a slow-build M/M romance filled with suspense and intrigue, even if you’re not a fan of steampunk or historicals. The sex portions take place at the beginning of the book, while the suspense fills out the rest. I am honestly impressed with the level of detail, characterization, plot developments, and the writing that matches the subtleties of the created world with its uses of slang and steampunk parlance. I absolutely recommend this to everyone, regardless of your preferred genre. – Long and Short Reviews

The intensity builds slowly and the plot unfolds masterfully, pulling us in until we cannot put down the book. Anna Butler is to be commended for writing such an amazing story for us to enjoy. Great characters, an intriguing plot, science, and love are all in the pages of The Gilded Scareb by Anna Butler. How can you go wrong? The answer, of course, is you can’t!! – Sensual Reviews

4.75 stars – A book like this hinges on the world building, and oh my god, the world crafted here is phenomenal. This is steampunk at its best, a world lovingly crafted and vividly presented so that all the little nuances are instantly understandable. I was transported to another time and place, immersed so fully in the world I half expected to look up and see aeroships flying overhead and autocars outside. For that alone, this book is absolutely worth reading. But fortunately, it doesn’t stop there and we have amazing and consistent characters to bring the world completely to life… Guys, do yourself a favor and run out to buy The Gilded Scarab. An amazing world, fantastic writing, an interesting plot, and engaging characters, it worked for me on every level, and I highly recommend it to you. – Joyfully Jay Reviews

Butler’s newest book is a marvelously creative alternative history that perfectly captures the spirit of exploration and derring-do that is at the heart of the best Victorian adventure novels, and delights in the steampunk devices and imaginative potential. Best of all, she balances this utterly engrossing premise with a moving romance that develops slowly, tentatively building into a love that is lushly romantic and liberating for both heroes. – Romantic Times Reviews

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REVIEWS OF THE AUDIOBOOK

The steampunk setting for “The Gilded Scarab” is expertly crafted to create a historical milieu infused with the particular technological fantasy that the genre demands….The many characters, major and minor, who populate Butler’s story are all intriguing. The danger for the audio book is that any voice narrator must do something with them to be fully effective. Gary Furlong is remarkable in his ability to create distinctive voices for each person in the book, no matter how small a role they might have. His agile voice brings a rich texture to a story that is itself already full of interest and emotion.  –  Paranormal Romance Guild

The world building is incredibly good. Butler has included so many steampunk friendly, scientific details without overwhelming the reader or detracting from the pace of the plot. … I am a big fan of found family and the characterisation in this book is excellently done. The charming and funny Rafe and Ned were so believable… Gary Furlong is fantastic in this book… (he) makes Rafe sound so beautifully spoken and proper, funny, charming and sexy in turn. This book does have mystery and pace but is relatively low angst. It’s so romantic and has ray guns – what’s not to love. I’m really excited to read the next book now. – Love Bytes Reviews

The book has lots of interesting elements, but for me, it shines most brightly in the world building. This is sort of an alternate world set in Victorian England…very much grounded in the real world and history of the time, but with this twist that adds such a fun dynamic to it all….Butler does do a wonderful job getting it all arranged and then pulling the pieces together, and I love how the story ends up unfolding….I enjoyed the audiobook with narration by Gary Furlong. I found he really captures the characters well and gets their personalities through the narration…Furlong really captures the tone of the story, as well as the tension, excitement, and more suspenseful moments. – Joyfully Jay

The writing is redolent of Fitzgerald and Evelyn Waugh—sharp and sparkling or lush and languid, by turns. The story is clever and funny and heartbreaking and human, and the plot is just over the top enough to keep the dramatic tension fun, rather than stressful. The characters and the world building are excellent…I just can’t say enough about how well done this is… My only complaint is that I can’t give it even more stars.  – Dolly Longstaffe on Audible.com

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Also nominated by Dreamspinner Press for the Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2015

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“Edward?”

He drew a breath so shaky I heard it from where I stood beside the bed. And another. He turned his head toward me at last, and the firelight sprang up to light the side of his face, limning his cheekbone in red-gold, sliding its way across the side of his neck and pooling shadows in the hollow of his throat, slipping more shadows under his cheekbones and edging the line of his jaw.

The firelight loved Edward Fairfax, breathed living gold into him.

The breath caught in my throat. He was beautiful in this light. Very beautiful.

“I said I’d been away a long time, just as you had,” he said. “The commitments I had… well, they involved other people and promises made that I couldn’t break. It has been a very long time since I was free to be with someone like you, Rafe. And although I’ve been back to Margrethe’s three or four times recently, I haven’t allowed things to go this far.” Edward’s smile, the little crooked turning-up of his mouth, was pained. “I think I’m a little nervous.”

I could understand that. My hands were trembly, and I had to keep working my mouth to moisten it, it was so dry. I may even have been a little nervous myself. Odd, though, how his honesty, the lack of polite evasion, prompted the same in me. “It’s been a while for me too. Not because I was ever lucky enough to find one person the way you did, if I understand what you say about commitment—the Lancaster luck doesn’t run that way. But still, the life I had, the Aero Corps… I couldn’t risk it. So it’s been a long time.” I managed a grin. “At least, a long time since it wasn’t furtive and quick and in the dark, as if it were shameful. Nothing as open as this. But what I remember of it, it’s a pleasure I would really like to taste with you.”

He nodded, and this time his smile looked real. “I would be very glad to retaste it with you, Rafe.”

I took a step toward him. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held it out to me.

I sought for something to say as I took it. His palm was warm and dry, and his fingers curled around mine. “Do you like kissing?”

This time I got the full smile, bright and dazzling and lighting up his whole face. “I do.”

“Not all men allow it.” I made a gesture with my free hand. “There’s a spot there I’d rather like to kiss.”

The particular kissable spot was under his chin, half-hid in flickering shadow, half-lit by the firelight. I laughed when my lips settled against the skin of his throat, and he laughed with me; I felt it thrumming in his throat. I raised both hands and held his face, tilting it away from the fire. His eyes were shadowed. I used my fingertips first, following the light down the side of his jaw, tracing the line of his neck and smoothing into the warm hollow at the base of his throat. The little bones cradling it were hard under my fingers, harder still under my tongue. The hollow of his throat tasted of salt.

Edward sighed, his hands fell onto my shoulders and squeezed, his head tilted back to let me do my worst. It would be all right. We’d find our way back to our old lives together.

The next kiss wasn’t gentle. It set the world ablaze.

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The Lancaster’s Luck series is set in a steampunk world where, in 1900, the eight powerful Convocation Houses are the de facto rulers of the Britannic Imperium. In this world of politics and assassins, a world powered by luminiferous aether and phlogiston, and where aeroships fill the skies, Captain Rafe Lancaster, late of Her Majesty’s Imperial Aero Corps, buys a coffee house in one of the little streets near the Britannic Museum in Bloomsbury.

So begins the steampunk / coffee house / adventure / mystery / m/m romantic thingamjig.
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