TREAD CAREFULLY ON THE SEA
FIRST BOOK BY DAVID K. BRYANT
Buy link: http://amzn.to/1zs9ebu
SOLSTICE PUBLISHING
Step up
the gangplank to an adventure tale set in the 18th Century, when the world made
its money from conquest and slavery, pirates were the muggers of the sea lanes
and life was fragile – with violence and disease never far away.
Tread Carefully on the Sea is the
first novel by retired journalist David K. Bryant. Packed with historical
atmosphere, it will take you on a voyage from Jamaica to the “New World” of the
American colonies. The action comes as rapidly as the horrors in a ghost train,
starting with the kidnapping of an aristocratic young woman on the night of her 21st birthday party by Captain
Flint’s crew.
Amidst conspiracy, murder, cannonades, bare-knuckle boxing,
disease and a devastating storm, there is the chance for all the main
characters to reveal the better or worse sides of their natures. This is a
swashbuckle, yes, but it’s also a story about the strengths and weaknesses of
believable human beings.
“I’ve
written an escapist yarn in the tradition of high adventure but in much more
user-friendly language than the old classics,” says David K. Bryant. “It’s exciting, involving, a bit tear-jerking
and is pure adventure and romance.”
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THE MAIN CHARACTERS
Captain Flint is a lonely man.
His education, intelligence and wit leave him isolated amongst the pirate crew
who sail with him. He feels more affinity with the hostages who are brought
aboard his ship but he becomes trapped by the need to escape the consequences
of the kidnap and the challenge to his leadership from one of his officers.
Flint kills and schemes his way out of several dangers but there are two
threats from which he cannot escape. The first is the failing health that he
refuses to accept. The second is the scale of his own success as a criminal. He
will never be left in peace to enjoy the proceeds of his piracy. In this story
we learn what finally happens to him.
Captain Michael Townsend is the model of a
disciplined and dutiful Navy officer. He is also a man haunted by something in
his past; something that could ruin his future. The decisions forced upon
Townsend by the kidnapping help him to resolve his inner conflicts but
jeopardize the survival of those he wishes to protect. Townsend’s instincts are
to put duty first but will duty deny him happiness?
Jessica Trelawny is the spirited
niece of the Governor of Jamaica. She hates the conformity of 18th century
society. Soon after she is snatched away from her home she puts her rebellious
nature to work against the pirates. Captain Flint learns to admire her — and to
regret that she ever came aboard his ship.
Jessica’s
maid Libby becomes a prisoner simply
because she is with her mistress at the time of the kidnap. She plays a major
role in the fight-back against the pirates. Does she bring into use special
talents inherited from her African origin — or is she simply a very clever
woman?
Patrick O’Hara began life in the
squalor of the Irish famine and by a fluke became an officer in the Royal Navy.
He is thrust into a vicious bare-knuckle fight aboard the pirate ship. Whether
or not O’Hara wins, the legacy of the fight is a power struggle threatening the
survival of Captain Flint himself.
The Walrus is the huge black
galleon stolen by Flint from a Spanish captain. It has a pivotal role in the
narrative and a heart-rending demise when Captain Flint’s voyage of crime comes
to an end.
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EXTRACTS
**
As the
shirt was removed, her eyes came level with a huge tattoo of an eagle on his
chest. Ridiculously, that gave her renewed terror, as though the tattoo was
worse than the man. There was certainly menace from the eagle. It stared at
her, its talons outstretched and its wings spread wide. It looked prepared to
pounce right out of his chest and claw at her face.
**
The cry
that would have brought forth a dozen soldiers was about to leave the
governor’s tongue – but remained unleashed as the pirate warned: “I wouldn’t do
that, Governor, for the sake of your niece’s health.”
**
“Did you get the
name of the ship?” demanded the governor.
“It
was the Walrus, Sir,” the messenger replied.
“Captain
Flint,” said Trelawny, and for the moment that was all he did say.
**
One of
the stories that had evoked within the Royal Navy a sneaking admiration for the
pirate chieftain was that he had captured a big Spanish galleon and made it his
own. Now Townsend could see in front of him the confirmation of that audacity.
The big ship sat on the ocean like she owned it.
**
“Britain
came to this part of the world to find riches. It was very successful in doing
so but it had a major problem. It was shipping around so many slaves and so
much merchandise that it didn’t have sufficient military resources to protect
its new-found wealth. So what did it do about the policing of its trade routes
and the protection of places like Jamaica? It found it convenient to encourage
the people you would call pirates…You had better hope that the King never turns
against the Royal Navy in the same way that he turned against the privateers.
**
Reeling
and with blood dripping down his face, O’Hara got up on one knee, then the
other. By the time he was on his feet, Hugh was charging forward like a stag in
the rutting season. Another head butt was imminent.
**
Flint
bent his knees and placed his hands on them so that his face came level with
Townsend’s. “That’s it, then” barked the pirate captain. “You don’t agree to my
proposal. I don’t agree to yours. Our fates are intertwined.”
**
She
didn’t close her eyes and her brain pitifully tried to distract her from
reality by registering that the gunman was left-handed. His finger was going
back with the trigger. Spontaneously, she said a few words of her native
Ashanti. The phrase had been taught to her by Queen Nanny: “Do not fear death
any more than you fear life.” If Libby was going to die, she wanted those to be
the last words she said.
Tread
Carefully on the Sea by David K. Bryant
Solstice
Publishing
Buy link: http://amzn.to/1zs9ebu
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DAVID K.
BRYANT – BIOGRAPHY
I started writing fiction after retiring from journalism
and public relations. I suppose the books waited their turn during all the
years I wrote articles, features, speeches and promotional material for other
people. My career included running a district office for a
daily newspaper, helping to introduce professional PR into the British
police service and promoting a major parliamentary Bill for Margaret Thatcher’s
government.
I live in Somerset, one of the nicest counties in England, and
am blessed with a wonderful family. My wife Stephanie and I have been married
for forty years. We are proud of our two children Matthew and Melanie, grandson
Henry, son-in-law Jamie and daughter-in-law Fleur.
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Tread Carefully on the Sea – the background
I
was seven years old or thereabouts and I walked round the garden reading Treasure Island. When I got to
the bit about the musket and cutlass battle I was so engrossed I walked into a
tree. I was proud of my bleeding nose – I imagined I got it in a fight with a
pirate.
What
intrigued me most about that classic book by Robert Louis Stevenson were all
the references to Captain Flint, a pirate king who was brutal, intimidating and
quite likely an alcoholic – yet obviously very clever.
Without
Flint there would have been no Treasure
Island for he was the man who
had buried the Treasure on the Island.
Yet in that book we hear about Flint only in reminiscences from some of the
protagonists because Flint is dead by the time the story begins.
Stevenson’s
narrative tells us Flint took six men ashore with him to stash the loot. But,
having apparently murdered the others, only Flint came back to the ship, giving
him the security of being the only man who knew where the cache was.
There
had to be a story around that. For me, Flint deserved a biography of his own.
What’s more, it should answer all those other questions posed by Treasure Island. If, as
Stevenson tells us, Long John Silver had lost his leg in the same broadside as
Old Pew lost his ‘deadlights’, what were the circumstances of that broadside?
And how come that Billy Bones, the first mate, came into possession of Flint’s
map where X marked the spot of the buried loot?
It’s taken me a long
time but now I have supplied my own answers. I hope you enjoy them and I hope
you identify with the experiences of the other characters I’ve created when you
read Tread Carefully on the
Sea.
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INTERVIEW WITH DEBORAH
MELANIE
Thanks to my friend
Deborah Melanie for interviewing me.
Deborah is at http://londoncatreviewsanddesign.blogspot.co.uk/
Can you tell us how to
came to be an author? Has it been an easy or difficult journey?
It’s a journey I
didn’t know I was going to make. I spent my career in journalism and public
relations, writing reams of stuff for other people. During that time I made one
attempt at a book, a pirate story. Many years later I read it to my young son.
Then in about 2010 when he was in his twenties he asked to read it again. I was
ashamed to give him the sub-standard original so I set about re-writing it. It
became Tread Carefully on the Sea, which has now been published by
Solstice. It's my first published book – at the age of 68.
What motivates you as
an author?
This should be a
simple question to answer but it’s got me stumped. Hoping not to sound trite, I
think I want to produce something that people will enjoy. I want it to be good
in terms of making sense, being exciting, having some originality and a
believable set of characters. I think it’s important to create characters who
readers can associate with, feel their emotions, understand their faults – and
like.
How do you deal with
rejection and setbacks as an author?
I think I can boast
that I deal with them well. I approached 370 literary agents with Tread
Carefully on the Sea. But I wasn’t going to give up until there was nobody
left to try. Then I started sending to indie publishers who took direct
submissions and Solstice took me on. God bless Mel Massey-Maroni (my
editor-in-chief).
How do you deal with
writer’s block?
While it’s very
frustrating, I think you have to wait. All of a sudden when your mind is
totally elsewhere, you’ll get an idea of how to continue your story. I think
it’s worth always carrying a notepad around and writing down thoughts whenever
they occur to you. And if you can’t write at that particular moment because
you’re driving or something, then keep repeating the idea inside your head so
you don’t forget it.
Do you have any
motivational books or websites which you find useful from time to time?
I am so glad there is
a thing called the internet because it answers so many questions. Motivational
books – The Odyssey, one of the oldest bits of literature around.
It’s about a guy who spends ten years encountering all the dangers of reality
and fantasy yet he never gives up.
Who has been the
biggest influence upon your writing?
My dear brother Ray.
He helped me get into journalism and he was an author himself. His main work
was published in the 1980s and is still available from Amazon. It’s
called Warriors of the Dragon Gold and is based on the Bayeux
Tapestry. Ray died far too early.
Tell us about a
typical day for you. Do you have any special routines which you strictly keep
to?
I’m retired so my time
is my own and a lot of it is spend hitting the keys I’m hitting now. I make a
conscious effort not to leave my wife an ‘author widow’. But she’s very
understanding and helpful with the books.
How have family and
friends reacted to you as an author? Are they supportive?
Yes, they are
supportive. They make constructive suggestions and have stopped me falling into
a few traps.
Do you have a muse? If
so, please could you tell us a little about him/her?
No, I don’t think so.
Going forwards as an
author, what do you realistically hope to accomplish?
Recognition for being
good. I’m not being conceited and saying I am good, but I would love the world
to judge me so – and enjoy my work.
ENDS
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