DIAMOND ROCK PUBLISHED!

Cover of 'Diamond Rock'

My new book, ‘Diamond Rock’ is published today.  (Diamond Rock at Amazon) It’s very difficult for authors to self-assess their work, but I’m pleased and grateful that ‘Diamond Rock’ has received favourable reviews, and pre-orders have been strong.  One review I was very flattered by was from well known author Damien Lewis (Damien Lewis):

‘A gripping tale of swashbuckling derring-do on the high seas. Impeccably researched and wonderfully drawn, with a protagonist to rival Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe, Diamond Rock will keep you burning the midnight oil.’ 

My boat Kadash anchored in Anse a la Barque, Guadeloupe

In my books I try for geographic and what I might call hydrographic accuracy by setting the action in places I have visited by boat or ship.  Diamond Rock is set mostly in the West Indies where we cruised earlier this year in our 40’ sailing boat.  We anchored for several days in Anse a la Barque on the west coast of Guadeloupe where most of the book’s action is set, and saw evidence of its violent past in the form of broken French cannons in the undergrowth. This started me thinking about the plot for what became 'Diamond Rock'.

Unlike some authors of historical fiction I don’t insert my characters into historical events, but use original plots.  However, you can’t make everything up, and the plots must be historically plausible.  This has not been difficult in my previous novels, but as Diamond Rock is set in 1805, and the plot is woven around the campaign which ended in the Battle of Trafalgar, which is not only well documented but very complex as well.  I thoroughly ‘read myself into’ the events of the Trafalgar Campaign, and even created a spreadsheet of the real and my imaginary timeline.

Timeline (dates are +200 years as Excel objected to 1805 as a year)

Crashing to windward against a blustery Trade Wind, we passed close to the precipitous island of Diamond Rock just off Martinique’s south coast, and wondered at the wonderful seamanship and engineering prowess displayed by the Royal Navy in fortifying the Rock, only a few miles from Empress Josephine’s birthplace, and the audacity in incorporating it into the Service as HMS Diamond Rock.

Off the coast of Martinique, Kadash beats up towards Diamond Rock

Similarly, I hope that the authenticity of my descriptions of sailing ships crossing - or in one case nearly crossing (read the book for an explanation!) - the Atlantic is helped by my own experience of trips under sail across the Pond, most recently a Trade Wind passage between Lanzarote and Grenada.

Kadash rolls down the Trade Wind as the crew, Martin Weston and Ed Sadler, repair the mainsail

Now, what next?  Winter’s approaching, nights are drawing in, I can write pretty well anywhere, and we’re lucky enough to have a boat in the West Indies.  I appreciate that quoting Kipling is a bad habit to get into, but … to quote Kipling:

"Over then, come over, for the bee has quit the clover,

And your English summer's done"

I hope that inspiration for a further novel will come from next year’s cruising.  We plan to island hop from Grenada north to the Virgin Islands, and then across a bit of Atlantic to the Bahamas.  Then to Florida and along the Intracoastal Waterway.  It’s quite an ambitious programme, but although the total distance is considerable, most of the individual trips will be fairly short and we manageable.