Synopsis
The autumn of 1705 brings Royal Navy Captain Gabriel Wallace to face off against an enemy within the ranks of the Admiralty itself that threatens his career, his reputation, his family, and something even more far-reaching in its plot.
Court-martialed and with Admiral Chambers, the mastermind fearfully known as the Chambers of Hell, out for his destruction, Wallace finds he has allies willing to face the might of the mightiest power on earth, with some allies in the most unlikely of places. The crew of his former command, the Majesty’s Venture, mutinies from the Royal Navy. With capture by his enemies close behind, Wallace agrees to become captain once again.
With a ship at his command, Captain Gabriel Wallace sets out to fulfill his mission, the completeness of which only he knows.
Now a pirate by situation, Wallace sets out for the Colonies and the Caribbean. Will his crew remain loyal as they leave the rule of the Royal Navy behind? Will his lifelong friend, Miles Jacobs, follow Wallace blindly without knowing the whole story? Finally, will the young Lieutenant Maddox Carbonale stay under the command of Wallace or have plans to lead instead?
With these questions in his thoughts, Gabriel Wallace wages war on Chambers and goes after the largest haul in the history of the Spanish Main. Whom does Wallace meet along the way? To whom are his loyalties to: vengeance or something more powerful?
If you love tales of adventure, of the sea, of the struggles of men, and nods to history, this is your book. Read Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling and you’ll have a new appreciation for all of The Razor’s Adventures Pirate Tales.
Isn’t that cover just beautiful, it certainly makes me excited to read the book, here are the links to buy a copy.
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca
Amazon.au
As you will know I’ve been a fan of Ronovan’s Haiku challenges for some time now… that’s how I got to know the guy. In fact Ronovan kind of introduced me to the whole haiku landscape, and for that I am indebted. I doubt that I would ever had written haiku if it wasn’t for his weekly challenge. So with that in mind I thought it would be a lovely idea to do a shout out for his new book, and some questions for him to answer..
Amber Wake sounds a fascinating historical adventure doesn’t it but how did it all come about? I was very interested to discover more about the authorial partnership between Ronovan and P.S. Bartlett, particularly as I would perhaps one day like to write a joint novel with my daughter who also writes. So my questions below focussed on the pros and cons of co-authorship.
I am curious about how you and P.S. Bartlett got together to write Amber Wake Gabriel Falling.
I believe we met through Twitter to begin with, and she offered a copy of her book, The Blue Diamond: The Razor’s Edge. I read it, liked it a lot, and did a review. I followed that up with an interview and we became friends, started exchanging emails a lot about writing and ideas. That led to the ideas of prequels to her book and for me the writing of Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling.
The benefits of co-authoring with a more experienced author.
I’ve been writing books for at least 15 years now. I’ve never chosen to self-publish before and only submitted a few of my books to agents. In the area of the pirate genre, it did help with her knowledge of various aspects of the genre, and she had worked with the editor previously. I keep looking at my work and improving in my writing, and with each look at my novels, I have fresh eyes and new ideas. Maybe someday I’ll actually bite the bullet and put one out. I’ll never think one is good enough.
The positive aspects of co-authoring and the difficulties you may have experienced.
To the positive I would say playing ideas off each other, ideas you might not have otherwise. Also having certain expertise in areas. Being a Historian and writer, I loved doing the research to create the characters, do the character development down to little details people might not realize are important, and then write the story. Then PS Bartlett used fresh eyes to tighten things here and there, add her own ideas and some aspects of her voice in places. We wanted the story in a male voice, since it is from a man’s point of view, but we also needed her voice to show through at times to link the book to her other The Razor’s Adventures Pirate Tales books, even though Ivory Shepard, The Razor, doesn’t appear in the book.
For difficulties, you have two authors that may have differing ideas at times. Neither idea is wrong, just different. It’s hard to see something you become so attached to be changed even in the slightest. However, going into a co-authoring project, you know it will happen. It’s kind of like having your children taught differently than you have raised them to believe. The best thing to do is tough it out and wait for the reviews. We’ve been fortunate to have great reviews so far. I’m sure someone will come along with a negative one, every book has one of those. As a reviewer myself, I know reviews are just opinions. I’ll take it and move on, but consider what each reviewer says.
Do you have very different writing styles, or are you quite similar in your approach?
I think we both have similar styles. We have points we want to cover, but we let the characters and the story determine what happens in between. I know sometimes I write a character I’ll end up not liking, although I meant for him to be a nice guy.
How did your writing styles effect the outcome of the final manuscript?
Our styles compliment each other. The only differences in styles that might have made things interesting would be some thoughts to certain intentions of characters. With there being other books written that occur after this one, certain things need to happen that weren’t in the original manuscript I wrote. Again, as I’ve mentioned before, that’s going to happen in any co-authoring project.
Would you recommend this approach to writing and why?
Our approach was for me to write the original manuscript, free rein. After the original manuscript it then went to PS Bartlett. I think if all involved agree to what is what then it’s a fine approach.
If you had the opportunity again would you go it alone or co-author?
I’m currently writing solo with several projects going at the same time. I would co-author again if the project and co-author are right. There are people I would like to work with.
Do check out Ronovan’s blog and his other links for loads more information, and of course a smashing blog to follow. Support this worthy fellow he really works hard for the blogging community.
Bye for now,
Marje @ Kyrosmagica x
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M J Mallon YA Author and Poet 