title: The Skystillers: A Scientific Thriller
author:  Walker Larson 
description: Walker Larson is a fly-fisherman, a chess-player, a musician, a writer, and an astronaut. OK, not the last one.
zlib_text:  
       SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
       A Novel by K. J. Anderson
       Based on the Motion Picture
       Written by Kerry Conran
       AN ONYX BOOK
       June 2004
    
    
       episode 1 "MECHANICAL MONSTERS"
    
       A Frightened Passenger
       A Winged Skull
       A Sinister Observer
    
       In the gathering dusk, a snowstorm settled around the huge streamlined shape that eased through the
  cold fog.
       As he stared out at the New York City skyline through the zeppelin's glass observation-windows, Dr.
  Jorge Vargas felt as if he were trapped within an enormous snow globe, the toy of a monstrous giant.
       The trapped feeling was not his imagination. And he was certainly familiar with monsters...
       A cold breeze rattled the panes, and he withdrew from the window, leaving a mist of condensation
  from his heavy, panicked breathing. From up high, the skyscrapers of Manhattan looked like a diorama
  in a museum display sparkling with driving white flakes.
       Around him in the opulen