So this is my first post to this site. The purpose of the blog is to (careful, internet cliche coming at you) share my thoughts on whatever comes to mind. Hopefully, though, I don't do this in an extremely boring or self-aggrandizing manner. Well, maybe a little self-aggrandizing is okay given that the site's other purpose is to keep folks apprised of where I'm at in my writing and of what I've got published and available for reading.
Yep. That's right. I'm another one of those guys who puts words down on blank white screens believing that it's worthy enough of someone's attention (or hoping that it is, at any rate). When it comes to the blog, though, I will be upfront in saying that I am not one of those who believe that anything I have to say is something the world needs to hear. That to me is simply a little too vane, so in that regard I will try to keep politics and such things outside of the scope of these posts. Come and go at your pleasure.
Oh, yeah. For those of you who don't know (and that's plenty more than who do), I am the author of The Missionary Position: A Tale of Adventure on the South Seas. And, no, this book is not a sex instruction manual discussing modifications to the missionary position discovered while traveling the South Seas. I probably just lost 90% of my potential readership with that disclaimer, but so be it.
It is a story written when I needed a break from writing a much longer novel that is as of yet unpublished. I needed a break from it, and suddenly the voice of my protagonist, Jack Halloway, popped into my head and began telling me his story in the first person. I swear it was one of the easiest and most natural writing evolutions I ever had. From start to finish, the story was written in less than two weeks, though editing and revising and constant procrastination has put it off until recently for publication.
The downside to this tale, however, is that Jack Halloway was never a vampire, a vampire hunter, a teenage heartthrob, nor does he have any supernatural abilities. In other words, he was not born into a popular genre with today's readership. His tale is one of adventure, set in the South Seas of the Pacific in the 1930s. This was another era and place where the frontier mentality of the American West lived on for another generation of adventurers. They were ex-pats, trampers, freighter captains and crews from all parts of the world who came on their own journeys in search of adventure and wealth. They dealt with heavy seas and typhoons, jungles, cannibals, and disease. The rule of law had yet to reach many of the islands here and, to be frank, still have not made it to some. It was a place where dreams could come true for a lucky few, but where most who sought better lives found theirs lost and forgotten to subsequent generations.
I have tried to revive some of their stories through Jack Halloway's own misadventures into danger. I can only hope that today's readers might still like to read something that does not involve the undead! If Jack's tale proves somewhat popular, well, that's great because he's still speaking to me and trying to tell me a few more stories. I have outlines for quite a few more, but I'm also trying to finish a master's degree right now too, so for now they're being filed away at the back of my mind.
Anyway, welcome to you all. First post out.
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