Newly nominated for the 2010 Hugo Award - among the top honors in the sci-fi/fantasy industry - Cherie Priest's novel, Boneshaker, takes on a Washington trapped in territorial limbo as the government deals with a war that will not end, a Pacific Northwest cut off by the decision to route the transcontinental railroad south to California - and a zombie-ridden Seattle walled off from civilization and left for dead.

Says Priest, "My goal was to write an essentially ‘Northwestern' story, something that couldn't happen anywhere but here - even if it couldn't really happen at all ... my latent desire to explore steampunk as an author collided with my new place of residence, and the result was Boneshaker."

The novel is part western, part sci-fi, part thriller, part alternate history and part action-adventure. The genre of steampunk is, essentially, a look at the world as if serious modern technological innovation took off 50 years early, so Priest's war-driven America is filled with combat-ready dirigibles and mad, steam-power inventors.

Priest brings her zombie-ridden take on this increasingly popular form of fiction to Tacoma April 15, reading and signing at 7 p.m. at the Garfield Book Company, off the campus of Pacific Lutheran University.

[Garfield Book Company, Cherie Priest reads and signs Boneshaker, Thursday, April 15, 7 p.m., free, 208 Garfield St S., Tacoma, 253.535.7665]