Kaja Foglio is een kunstenares en stripauteur, bekend van de Hugo Award-winnende serie *Girl Genius*, die ze samen met haar man Phil Foglio schrijft. Haar onderscheidende artistieke stijl heeft ook illustraties geleverd voor het populaire kaartspel *Magic: The Gathering* en de covers van talloze fantasy-romans. Foglio wordt geprezen om haar unieke visuele flair, die de werelden van haar verhalen levendig tot leven brengt voor lezers.
Agatha Heterodyne returns to her ancestral home, the warped little town of Mechanicsburg, to convince the artificial intelligence that animates her family's castle that she is, in fact, the new Heterodyne. But things get complicated when an imposter claiming to be the legitimate heir appears.
After escaping from the massive airship known as Castle Wulfenbach, Agatha falls in with a travelling troupe of performers, where she begins training under Zeetha, swordmistress and princess of the lost city of Skifander. With Wulfenbach on her trail, it's going to take more than a spark of Mad Science for Agatha to traverse the treacherous wasteland of war-torn Europa.
The Industrial Revolution has escalated into all-out warfare and Europe is ruled by dynasties of mad scientists, terrorizing the population with their bizarre inventions. At Transylvania Polygnostic University, student Agatha Clay seems destined for a boring career as a lab assistant, until the University is overthrown by a ruthless tyrant, and Agatha finds herself a prisoner aboard his massive airship