Welcome, friend! Hope you are having a nice October so far. I have just returned from a 32℃ vacation in Mexico to 4℃ temperatures in my home town. Celebrating my return by sharing a book excerpt and interview with you! 🙂 Today I have Jof Croxford today telling us about Wreck’s Wake.
Get to know the author: Jof Croxford
Hi Jof! Welcome to Armed with A Book. Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
Thanks for having me! I’m a newly published writer, though I’ve been writing novels for the better part of twenty years, along with a host of other creative pursuits I’ve been enticed into trying my hand at. I’ve been a painter, a musician, and for the last five years (or so) I’ve been the founder of a family-friendly card game publisher (but don’t get me wrong, my new book is by no means family friendly, and I’ve been careful not to cross-promote it too irresponsibly to the same audience).
But no matter how many creative outlets I’ve chased, I’ve never been able to shake my desire to write, to create stories that invite others into my imagination in a way no other outlet seems to offer. As a result, I’ve decided to focus my next season of life more wholeheartedly on developing and sharing my love of writing. Publishing this new book is the first step in that daunting process. Thanks for being a part of it!
What inspired you to write this book?
I was fortunate enough in my younger years—before I got married and had children that is—to land a spot on a ten-person yacht, sailing the Whitsundays in Australia and stopping wherever we fancied to snorkel or sip wine while the sun set. It’s likely no words could ever suitably describe how magical or adventurous that holiday was, but I’ve always wished to try.
Wreck’s Wake is inspired by that holiday, and each plot development is inspired by the intriguing little moments my mind imagined while on it. It’s important to note, however, that the plot and setting of Wreck’s Wake are only inspired by this region, not in any way meant to be synonymous with it. The book takes the wonder and adventure of my holiday and combines it with a collection of broken characters and unfriendly world dynamics ripped straight from my wandering imagination, where drama and turmoil, it seems, are happily at home.
What makes your story unique?
While Wreck’s Wake is in essence a pirate tale, with treasure and guns and oversized sailing vessels, it is given unique character by its fictional, small-scale setting and its highly emotional themes. The driving force behind its plot comes from the characters’ struggles with their situational misfortune rather than external sources, making it intimate as well as adventurous. And if that doesn’t sound interesting enough, there’s more than one unexpected twist that might genuinely surprise you.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
Wreck’s Wake is not a fantasy novel in the traditional sense, but I suspect it would appeal to lovers of fantasy anyway, given its imagined world and outlandish story. I think it reads as much like a fantasy as any other genre. It hopefully also would appeal to lovers of sailing, or of historical novels centred around 18th century culture. And, of course, anybody who is into meaningful character development; at its heart this book is a study of loss and the many ways in which we can choose to respond to it.
What’s the best piece of advice you have received related to writing?
A (very) well-known author once explained to me how he wrote books for himself, and not for anyone else. While this seems self-indulging (and incorrect), I’ve come to see the truth in it over the years. I’ve written novels before that were entirely designed to appeal to literary agents. Not only have I had less fun writing these novels, they’ve ended up devoid of the sort of unique character that might one day capture an audience’s attention more than a book written with a specific audience in mind ever would. I apply this advice in moderation of course, but I now only write the novels I feel like writing, in the styles I feel instinctually drawn to. I hope that doesn’t dissuade you from reading any of them!
Where can readers find you on the Internet?
I’ve only just started forming an online author presence following the publication of my first book.
My new Instagram page is @jofcroxford
A website is likely coming some time soon as well (but not yet)!
Wreck’s Wake
Historical Fantasy
Half a world away, beside the newly discovered continent of Southland, dwell the Sentinels, an archipelago of overgrown tropical islands brimming with gold. Amongst their rocky slopes fly the sails of traders, pirates and sealords all, none more feared than those stained threatening black.
When Southland convict Wesley King and his family are finally pardoned after three hard years of toil, they delve into the islands’ embrace searching for a fabled treasure long lost. But the quest quickly transforms into a desperate struggle for survival when the Kings become ensnared in the region’s delicate web of piracy and treachery, where blood is repaid with blood, and a mysterious ship has resurfaced four years after it was wrecked.
Content notes:: Graphic violence, Implied sexual violence, Racial relationships (between fictional people groups, including indigenous people groups), General adult themes
Book Excerpt from
Wreck’s Wake
There were less than a dozen of them, in the end, that had come across from the Black Beast. First came a few familiar faces Seb had often seen in Wreckrest, followed by Gus, the Black Beast’s quartermaster, then the Greyhide himself, Wulfric Blackbone. From the moment the sealord stomped his great big leather boots onto the Blood Hammer’s deck, there could be no denying his authoritative and frightful presence. Despite his age, Wulfric seemed capable of snapping any other man in two, and was dangerous enough to try. Due to the wind, he had forgone his hat—an unusual sight for any Southland sailor—and its absence allowed the man’s grey mane to fly around his gruff face like cold fire. It was for this monstrous fur that the captain was afforded his pet name, regardless of the colour in his bones.
The slanted rain stirred Wulfric’s dark coat, partly concealing the young apprentice he had brought with him. Seb was fully aware of whom this man was. Kit Blackbone, they named him, the heir to the Blackbone fleet. He was likely to become Seb’s nemesis in the times when they would both succeed their fathers.
The most curious visitor, however, was the one hiding behind Wulfic’s other elbow. A girl, plain notwithstanding her hardy crewman’s outfit. She was of an age no older than that of Liz, but innocent, and too scrawny for Seb’s tastes. She looked as frightened as a kicked dog, though she stood straight, and did not turn her face from the assembled collection of Seablood’s finest.
‘Wulfric Blackbone!’ Ted called through the energetic wind, before some of the visitors had yet found their feet. The Seablood captain laced his booming voice with a welcoming chortle, whilst simultaneously demonstrating his inhospitable intent by neglecting to escort his guests into the sterncastle.
‘Teddy Seablood,’ Wulfric replied, with equal verve.
Ted snorted. ‘I’m afraid you’ve drifted into my territory, Greyhide! What has brought you so?’
‘Ominous tidings. Ones that must be discussed, for the good of us both. May we speak in private, captain?’
Ted raised his decorated arms. ‘The rain wetting your fur, is it?’
‘Set your hostility aside, Seablood,’ demanded Wulfric. ‘I’m not the one dressed like a fool at a fool’s court. It’s the ears that trouble me. Must our parley be heard by everyone?’
Ted grunted. He was not happy about it, but there was no denying a decent audience without some firm basis on which to support the alternative. ‘Fine. We’ll meet in my cabin. Come. But have your escort wait here. I shouldn’t want to risk this becoming too long winded. Diego, you have the helm.’
Reluctantly, Ted waved his entourage aside and gestured for Wulfric to go ahead of him, aft to the sterncastle. Sebastian noted with intrigue that the captain of the Black Beast brought the girl with him, as well as his son. At this, the younger Seablood stepped in beside his father, joining Salvino as the group filed in to Ted’s cabin.
Having visited the Black Beast’s chart room himself, Seb was embarrassed for the Blood Hammer. Though the former indoor space boasted a comparable size, it was made complete with a large table, numerous chairs and plenty of standing room. On the contrary, the cabin they now entered was no less than the sailing master’s work area, the fleet’s counsel chamber and the captain’s own sleeping quarters, all in one. Even Salvino spent the better portion of his precious time decorating its floorboards, in spite of the small partition he was allotted elsewhere in the brig. A preposterously lavish four-poster bed was pressed up against the stern-facing windows, greeting them all. A desk sat beside the entrance and dressers lined the walls behind it. A couple of stools stood guard either side of a black rug, finishing off the musty cavern in their stumpy, pestilent way.
Uncomfortably, the six conveners pressed into the room and each found a place to stand. Seb was quick to rest his backside on the edge of the bed, while Kit dragged over a stool for the girl, who rejected his offer in the most polite manner imaginable.
‘Alright, Greyhide, you’ve got me where you want me. Now what business do you have trampling up my way? And what business do you have escorting ‘round such a young lady as this one? Don’t tell me you’re trying to fish out a grandson already!’ Ted’s face scrunched into a triumphant gloat behind a veil of wet blobs that continued to drip from the edges of his hat. Already, a pool of water was forming around his polished shoes, soaking into the dry wood beneath them.
Wulfric’s features remained expressionless, though his offense was plain. ‘I’m not so vulgar as you, Teddy, as you’ll do good to remember. The girl is the reason I’m here. For weeks I’ve had my vassals bring me ill reports, but this woman represents the first eyewitness account.’
Ted stroked his beardless chin. ‘Ill reports of what manner?’
‘The Dreadwinds have been operating outside their territory,’ Wulfric explained.
Ted paused, then proceeded to pace back and forth over the rug in the room’s centre, so much as he was able to considering the cabin’s restricted floor space. Black tufts of wool thirstily drank the droplets that fell from his soaked livery. ‘Oh yes,’ he said. ‘That would be a grim circumstance, indeed. Bad news, it would be, bad, bad news, I fear. But how do you know it to be true? You’re to trust the account of a skinny little girl? Tell me, what did she see that has you so convinced?’
‘The Kraken,’ Wulfric explained, not without peering sideways at the girl as if to confirm that he told it true. ‘Stinger Dreadwind’s barque. She saw it sailing northward through the Langdon Channel, south of Warhawk’s Bluff. There’s no chance it was any other vessel, as she recalls without question the stingers upon its black sails.’
Ted stroked his chin again. ‘Wulfric, my friend. On any other day, I would believe you. I would. But it so happens your girl may have been mistaken.’
Wulfric was taken aback. ‘How so?’
‘I know of another vessel sailing the Sentinels, sharing a similar description. I’ve seen it myself, trespassing upon my own sea. A ship of Sirlish oak, three masts, and black sails adorned with the sign of the Warhawk. An eagle is not a stinger, I know, but from a distance… couldn’t the two be confused?’
Seb huffed, angrily. Not this again!
‘You speak of the Frontiere,’ Wulfric confirmed. ‘But you and I both were there the day Halfeye’s ship sank to the sea floor. You have your logic backwards, it seems. If you thought you saw Halfeye’s ship, then perhaps it is you who are mistaken. Could you have spied the Kraken? It would fit well with my reports, and give us the justification we need to take action against the Dreadwinds.’
‘I know the bloody difference between the Kraken and the Frontiere, Greyhide!’ Ted hissed, his skin fading in hue through pink to red. His arms became animated as he spoke. ‘Even at a distance! And I know it better than some pretty little girl of yours. I saw the Frontiere with my own eyes, in the daring light of day! It has returned, my friend. Returned to our plane, to our earth. A ghost ship.’
Interested?
Find Wreck’s Wake on Amazon and Goodreads. I am eagerly awaiting my copy in the mail and next week, sharing some of what I read on my vacation.
If you are an indie author and would like to do a book excerpt, check out my work with me page for details. Check out other book excerpts here.
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