Virtue at Market Price by M.E. Meegs

In April 1924, airship pirates descend on the luxury liner S.S. Paris and make off with a bounty of young female captives. When the various authorities appear powerless to act, one man steps forward, pledging himself to recover said booty and thereby render American womanhood secure.

Unfortunately for all concerned, that man is E. Pluribus Van Slyke….

Motivated by his twin appetites for personal enrichment and female companionship, this transoceanic con man and cashiered naval officer deftly persuades a succession of equally ignoble characters of his suitability for the task. Then, given command of a decrepit airship, Van Slyke heads into the empyrean with a crew of half-wits, misfits, and felons.

Category: Science Fiction – Steampunk