Skip to content

Author L J Green

History and Steampunk Mystery Fiction

  • L J Green Historical Fiction Author
  • Chrono Mystery Guild News
  • Contact Me
  • Publisher Southern Dragon Publishing
  • Books
  • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletter Signup

Chronicling America

Collage of a 1905 Pennsylvania Avenue street scene in Washington, D.C., George Selden's 1895 road engine patent drawing, and a 1904 newspaper clipping, with the title Where Steampunk Stories Hide.
Historical Fiction Steampunk Fiction Writing Business

Where Steampunk Stories Hide: Finding Fiction in Old Newspapers

I do not invent the past, I eavesdrop on it. The research habit behind my newest Chrono Mystery Guild story, the machines that really did vanish, and five writers who start from the true thing.

September 19, 2026

Search Our Site

Read My Books

View Book

Rainy Day Romance

A Widows Dilemma in Cuba by L.J. Green
View Book

A Widow's Dilemma in Cuba

Where Trade Winds Meet by L J Green
View Book

Where Trade Winds Meet

Steampunk Inspiration on Pinterest

Jolenes Online Bookstore

Summer Reading Starts Here: Discover Florida Authors at Jolene’s Online Bookstore

Summer is practically here and that means one thing for serious readers: it is time to build the stack. This May, skip the algorithm and discover Florida authors who are [...]

L.J. Green Books Now Available at Jolene’s Online Bookstore: Historical Fiction and Steampunk Mystery

L.J. Green writes historical fiction and steampunk mystery set in the early 1900s, where women drive the story forward. Her books are now available right here at Jolene's Online Bookstore [...]

Discover Historical Fiction and Mystery eBooks for Under a Dollar at Jolene’s Bookstore

If you love historical fiction and mystery but hate waiting for shipping or paying subscription fees, Jolene's eBook collection is exactly what you have been looking for. Great reads start [...]

Check YouTube

More on the writing, the research and the books: ljgreenauthor.com

People watching is not procrastination. Every stranger is carrying a story you have not thought of yet, which means you cannot run out of material, only out of attention.

My AI, one of many personalities: my face, my voice, AI-generated fun. The books? All me, every word.
Writers Never Run Out of People
Start with the novella: https://bookstore.jolenesbooksandmore.com/product/a-widows-dilemma-in-cuba-by-lj-green/

He is right behind them. That is the whole problem with writing a chase, you have to know exactly how far behind, and you have to keep the reader from noticing you counted.

My AI, one of many personalities: my face, my voice, AI-generated fun. The books? All me, every word.
The Twist That Locks Them In
The Misadventures of Janie and Diane is coming. Sign up and the bonus stories find you first: https://ljgreenauthor.com/newsletter/

Two widows working as private investigators in the early 1900s, in a world of brass, steam and people who underestimate them. Everyone else is still deciding whether anything is wrong. They already know.

My AI, one of many personalities: my face, my voice, AI-generated fun. The books? All me, every word.
Two Women Who Spot the Spy First
New hobby: sword yoga.

Is it a real discipline? Absolutely not. Will it make my heroines better at swinging off a mooring hook? Enormously.

Research takes many forms and some of them are just an excuse.

https://ljgreenauthor.com/newsletter/

#Steampunk #WritingLife #AmWriting #HistoricalFiction #IndieAuthor
Sword Yoga, For Research Purposes
Old machine. Older than it has any business being. And it still switches on.

There is something about working with the actual technology that makes every word land where it should. That is the whole appeal of steampunk in one small stubborn object.

https://amzn.to/4wLj734

#Steampunk #HistoricalFiction #VintageTech #SteampunkFiction #IndieAuthor
The Old Machine Still Switches On
Tea and cakes between chapters. Not a reward. A requirement.

The creative brain does not run on willpower. It runs on breaks, good light, and occasionally on cake.

https://ljgreenauthor.com/newsletter/

#WritingLife #AmWriting #TeaBreak #CozyWriting #IndieAuthor
Tea, Cake, and Why Breaks Are Part of the Work
Three uninterrupted hours. No calls, no errands, nothing on the calendar.

I sat down. I found the line. The exact right line, the one I had been circling for a week.

And then somebody knocked.

https://f.mtr.cool/519hhq5kap

#WritingLife #AmWriting #WritersOfYouTube #IndieAuthor #WritingCommunity
Three Hours of Quiet and One Interruption
Sixty seconds behind him in the west steam tunnels. Sixty seconds is nothing and everything.

Not this time. It is over. You are under arrest.

If you like your detectives stubborn and your tunnels full of steam, the novella is where they start.

https://f.mtr.cool/wp4xhmx00o

#Steampunk #MysteryBooks #HistoricalMystery #Detective #IndieAuthor
Sixty Seconds Behind Him in the Steam Tunnels
The airship landing still is not right. It works on the page, it just does not spark.

Meanwhile the cargo is still out there. I know exactly where it is hidden. I am simply not telling you yet.

https://f.mtr.cool/7nwmsvh72d

#Steampunk #AmWriting #SteampunkFiction #MysteryWriter #WIP
The Airship Landing Still Needs a Spark
Today's writing problem: I cannot get her off this ship.

No exits, no stairs, perfectly logical and deeply inconvenient. Then I spotted the mooring hook. She can swing across to the cargo zeppelin.

Problem solved. Brand new problem created. This is the job.

https://f.mtr.cool/7wr8jlu97v

#Steampunk #AmWriting #Airship #WritingProblems #SteampunkFiction
Writing Problem: How Do I Get Her Off This Airship?
Historical series writers, settle an argument I am having with myself.

I pull names and occupations straight out of census records so my people feel real. What I cannot decide is time. Months between books? A year? Two?

How do you space a series? I am actually asking.

#HistoricalFiction #WritingCommunity #SeriesWriting #AmWriting #CensusRecords
How Much Time Should Pass Between Books in a Historical Series?
My favorite part of this job is not the writing. It is the digging.

Weird, forgotten stories nobody has said out loud in a hundred years. Every strange little fact I drag up makes the fiction sit a bit more solidly on the ground.

https://ljgreenauthor.com/newsletter/

#HistoricalFiction #ResearchRabbitHole #WritingCommunity #Archives #IndieAuthor
The Best Part of Writing Historical Fiction Is the Research
Subscribe
  • Misadventures of Janie and Diane on Facebook
  • LJ Green on Facebook
  • LJ Green on Pinterest
  • LJ Green on YouTube
  • LJ Green on BlueSky
  • LJ Green on Threads
  • LJ Green on Instagram
  • LJ Green on TikTok
  • LJ Green on Goodreads
  • LJ Green on Bookbub
  • LJ Green on Amazon
  • Books

Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.

Create an Author Website
Product successfully added to the cart!