Update: There have been some delays. Publication is now planed for January 2023.
I have a new book coming out soon: Dark Waters: The Voyage of the Bar Jack.
The plan is to publish mid November if all goes well.
The book is an alternate-history sailing adventure with horror and paranormal elements, much of it inspired by Mayan mythology. The work sprang from a fantasy role-playing game that my brother and I are developing called Dark Trails. The novel is intended to help create a world ripe with possibilities for adventure.
I've been describing it as "flintlocks and sorcery" with pirates, monsters and ESP. I plan to write more about the book's origins and development in later posts.
In the meantime, here's a look at the opening passage:
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Chapter 1: A Fool's Errand
17 February, 1819, London
With a degree of nervousness, I stepped out of the carriage and beheld the imposing edifice of Newgate Prison, made more ominous by the chilly winter drizzle. The gloomy interior of gray stone, heavy banded doors and iron gates did little to lighten my mood, nor did the stench. The Keeper ushered me down a corridor and into a small visiting room.
“Wait here, sir, if you please,” he said. “We'll bring the prisoner shortly.”
The door clanged shut. I removed my gloves and top hat, put them on the rough-hewn wooden table, sat down and checked my pocket watch – ten o'clock. As I idled the minutes, my nervousness verged on trepidation. I was about to meet a pirate.
The pirate had been the sailing master of the notorious Vipere, a French-built corvette that had dared to prowl the waters off England's coast, plundering many valuable cargoes. Its crew even once brazenly pillaged a seaside village, murdering two of its men and raping several women. Despite the war and the threat of invasion, the Admiralty had to act. Piracy in the remote corners of the world could be overlooked pending other priorities, but piracy so close to home could not be suffered.
A squadron was dispatched but the Vipere kept eluding its grasp. Eventually a timely bit of information led the squadron to the West Indies and, after a lively chase, it cornered the Vipere and battered it into submission. The surviving crew members were hauled back to London, tried and sentenced to hang. However, after last year's colossal naval battle at Guernsey, the King suspended the hanging of pirates, such was the need for men to refill the depleted ranks of the Royal Navy.
The door opposite me opened and a guard escorted the shackled prisoner into the room. Though I am loathe to admit it, my nervousness edged toward fear when the prisoner sat in the chair across the table. There was a disturbing fierceness in the eyes of the pirate before me, the eyes of Ann Rackham.
...
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