Dru Pagliassotti was a bookworm as a girl, happiest when she was immersed in science fiction or fantasy.

Now she's written a novel of her own, a mix of romance and fantasy that takes place in a twist on Victorian London, where the protagonist flies over the city on metal wings, mingling among rigid castes.

"Clockwork Heart" came out this spring.

"This is something I've wanted to do since I was a child," said Pagliassotti, 41, of Camarillo. "I always wanted to write the same kinds of books I loved as a kid."

She may have dreamed of writing as a child, but Pagliassotti grew up to become a professor of communication at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, where she has taught for 10 years.

At CLU, she's known for her creativity in the classroom, said colleague Tim Hengst, director of the multimedia program.

"She's creative in looking at ways of bringing education to our students," Hengst said. "She does a lot to involve students."

Hengst's multimedia students have created online promotions for Pagliassotti's book. Those promotions, similar to online movie trailers, should be ready for YouTube in the next week or so.

"You have to market yourself," she said.

Pagliassotti also edits an online magazine, "The Harrow," devoted to fantasy and horror stories. The magazine recently published an anthology of stories, "Midnight Lullabies," to raise money for Doctors Without Borders.

Pagliassotti grew up as a "military brat," moving around the world with her mother, an artist; her father, an Air Force officer and civil engineer; and her younger sister. As a teenager, she lived in Naples, where her father was stationed, and fell in love with Italy.

That experience made her an avid traveler. She has returned to Italy several times and lived in Venice for three months during her last sabbatical in 2006. She's also traveled to the Galapagos Islands and recently led a CLU trip to India for three weeks.

"If you get stuck in the U.S., you think this is how things are everywhere," she said. "I like to see other cultures, see how things are different. It's helpful as a writer to see different experiences."

So what's next? Another novel — this time, a political fantasy, she said.