(St. Martin’s Press)

In this debut novel, greeting-card writer and narrator Harold Winslow finds himself imprisoned on a zeppelin that is powered by a perpetual-motion machine. Accompanying him are the disembodied voice of Miranda, the only woman he has ever loved; and the frozen body of her father, Prospero Taligent — the mad inventor of the machine. Floating above a city, Winslow composes his memoirs.Kirkus Reviews called the novel “intoxicating.” Palmer is a test developer for Educa­tional Testing Service.