The novella “Victoria” by Paul Di Filippo was published for the first time in 1991. It was also published in the “The Steampunk Trilogy” anthology.

Cosmo Cowperthwait conducted various experiments on newts ending up obtaining a human-looking one that has a curious resemblance to Queen Victoria. That’s why British Prime Minister William Lamb asks for his help: the queen has disappeared, nobody can find her and the newt is the only double available. The scientist agrees to help his country but the fake queen has an insatiable sexual appetite and that’s a huge problem.