Before Delia, Part 2: The Partnership, An opposites attract, male-male romance novelette with bawdy alt-Victorian Steampunk gadgets (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 5)

Regina Kammer

Jun 2026 · Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles Book 5 · Viridium Press

About this ebook

An academic and a libertine forge an unlikely—and steamy—partnership.

Professor Edward Ockham is simply wretched. Five years after the Third-Wave Industrial Revolution, he still grieves friends lost in the uprising. Students have abandoned his apprenticeships for more lucrative opportunities. He’s got automatons to build, but funds are tight. He’s desperate for a partner with business acumen.

After being chucked out of university, Sebastian Broadchurch figured he’d try his luck in the thriving Third-Wave metropolis of Newcastle. The pubs and back alleys, at least, prove perfect for his libertine tendencies. He’s certain there’s a demand for his bawdy inventions, but requires the workshop space—and the privacy—to create the unusual devices.

Sebastian’s energetic creativity is exactly what Edward needs to elevate his own enterprise. However, Edward’s attraction to the wickedly talented and deliciously debauched young man is entirely unexpected. When their association is threatened, they must decide: Will theirs be a business partnership, a sensual partnership, or, perhaps, both?

Before Delia, Part 2: The Partnership is a male-male romance of physical and emotional discovery which resolves the Before Delia prequel duology. The 13,000-word novelette is the fifth story in The Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles, a queer, polyamorous, Steampunk erotic romance series of nine short stories set in an alternate Victorian world meant to be read in order.

The Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles

In an imagined Newcastle, England, circa 1878, Professor Edward Ockham toils in obscurity at the Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory, creating unusual machines with his partner Special Assistant Sebastian Broadchurch. Until Miss Delia Bennett joins the Lab, sparking unfamiliar desires and inspiring steamy inventions.

One Cheek Or Two? (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 1)

Delia’s Heartthrob (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 2)

Swing Follies (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 3)

Before Delia, Part 1: The Revolution (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 4)

Before Delia, Part 2: The Partnership (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 5)

A Thrilling Combination (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 6)

That Perfect Fit (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 7)

[To Be Determined] (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 8)

[To Be Determined] (Ockham Steam-Works Laboratory Chronicles 9)

About the author

Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and a multi-published writer of provocative historical romance and contemporary romance with a touch of history. Her short stories and novels make history sexier, whether the era is Roman, Byzantine, Viking, American Revolution, or Victorian. She’s even sexed up contemporary settings, Steampunk, and Greco-Roman mythology. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, Story Ink, Loose Id, The Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotic romance when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.

Keep up with Regina via her website: reginakammer.com