I am delighted to welcome Helen Hollick and Jesamiah Acorne to the blog today. Take it away, guys!
Welcome aboard the Sea Witch – swashbuckling adventure in the Golden Age of Piracy!
A new Sea Witch Nautical Adventure has recently been launched!
GALLOWS WAKE
The Sixth Voyage of Captain Jesamiah Acorne
By Helen Hollick
Where the Past haunts the future...
Damage to her mast means Sea Witch has to be repaired, but the nearest shipyard is at Gibraltar. Unfortunately for Captain Jesamiah Acorne, several men he does not want to meet are also there, among them, Captain Edward Vernon of the Royal Navy, who would rather see Jesamiah hang.
Then there is the spy, Richie Tearle, and manipulative Ascham Doone who has dubious plans of his own. Plans that involve Jesamiah, who, beyond unravelling the puzzle of a dead person who may not be dead, has a priority concern regarding the wellbeing of his pregnant wife, the white witch, Tiola.
Forced to sail to England without Jesamiah, Tiola must keep herself and others close to her safe, but memories of the past, and the shadow of the gallows haunt her. Dreams disturb her, like a discordant lament at a wake.
But is this the past calling, or the future?
From the first review of Gallows Wake:
“Hollick’s writing is crisp and clear, and her ear for dialogue and ability to reveal character in a few brief sentences is enviable. While several of the characters in Gallows Wake have returned from previous books, I felt no need to have read those books to understand them. The paranormal side of the story—Tiola is a white witch, with powers of precognition and more, and one of the characters is not quite human—blends with the story beautifully, handled so matter-of-factly. This is simply Jesamiah’s reality, and he accepts it, as does the reader.”
Author Marian L. Thorpe.
CHAPTER ONE
August 1719 – Gibraltar
“Rot? How could there be rot? Master John Benson, back at Appledore several months ago, checked and repaired everything needing checking and repairing.” Captain Jesamiah Acorne stood, legs spread, arms folded, chin tucked to his chest, his leather three-corner hat pulled well forward over his eyes against the glare of Gibraltar’s late afternoon summer sun. He was seething with frustrated anger and failing to keep his annoyance under control.
“Benson? I do not know him. Good chap, is he? And where is Appledore when it’s at home? Never heard of it.” The master shipwright, an English Kentish gentleman by his accent, pulled the stub of a worn graphite pencil from behind his ear and scribbled a few more calculations on the wedge of crumpled paper he held in his hand. Frowned myopically at what he’d written, then said: “It will take us several weeks to find and fit a new mainmast.”
Jesamiah swallowed down a bellow of outrage.
“You can have rot and not know it, Cap’n,” Chippy Harrison said, looking as grim-faced as Jesamiah.
“You’re my ship’s carpenter. You should have known about it,” came the unjustified response.
The answering retort was as tart. “I told you about it as soon as I did know. ’Tis not easy to spot when rot’s starting to take hold at the mast partners or the hounds supporting the crosstrees. There were no sign of anything back in Devon. Benson, as good as he is, would not have found it. Nor would I. As I recall, I advised you to look further, but you were in a hurry to sail.”
“All right, I get the gist,” Jesamiah answered, muttered churlishly, “You still should have seen it.” He knew, as well as anyone, that discovering rot, especially where it was well hidden, was nigh on impossible even to an experienced eye. Plus, he had indeed said no to further investigation; Chippy was right, so the blame, in the end, was his own. However, knowing facts did not help ease the frustration or annoyance.
The shipwright sniffed loudly and, tucking the pencil stub back behind his ear, announced, “From our first quick look, it has not too badly taken hold, but bad enough. We will know more when we strip her down. We will need to strike the t’gallants and topmasts and all the yards, rigging and such, then pull the mast and put a new one in.” He sniffed again and squinted at his rough notes and calculations. “A lot of work. Could easily eat up four, five, maybe six weeks if we have trouble getting a replacement mast.”
“Six weeks!” Jesamiah spluttered. “I can’t wait around here for six weeks! Ain’t you got a suitable mast in that warehouse of yours over there?”
“I might have. I will not know until I look.”
“Well go and look, then!”
The shipwright, refusing to match Jesamiah’s foul temper – the situation was nothing new to him – scratched at the stubbled whiskers on his chin. “I cannot be doing that, Captain, not until the morrow. A few hours ago, I might have had a chance for a quick rummage, but,” he withdrew a gentleman’s gold watch from his waistcoat pocket, squinted at it, “I am about to lock up for the night. My wife will have my guts for her stocking garters if I arrive home late for supper.”
Jesamiah swallowed a few choice words about wives and what they could do with their garters, stockings and suppers. Said instead, “A few hours ago I was clearing my hold ready for your inspection.” Added, “What’s it going to cost?”
The shipwright looked again, more solemnly, at the scribblings on the top sheet of his notes. Made a few adjustments. “This is only a rough tally. I will get a more accurate estimate to you tomorrow morning.” He made another adjustment and showed the result to Jesamiah, who whistled incredulously.
“’Struth! And they call honest seamen pirates! For that much,” he said, thrusting his face closer to the shipwright’s, “I expect the work to be done in no more than three weeks.”
“I’ll do my best, Captain, but we have several frigates in harbour; any Royal Navy vessels requiring my attention will take precedence.”
The thought, blow the bloody Navy, ran through Jesamiah’s mind, but judiciously he only said, “Help him look for a mast first thing tomorrow, Chippy.” He nodded a curt dismissal to both his ship’s carpenter and the Gibraltar shipwright, turned on his heel, thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his old buckram coat and strode away, not trusting himself to glance along the wharf towards where his beloved Sea Witch was moored.
THE VOYAGES
SEA WITCH Voyage one
PIRATE CODE Voyage two
BRING IT CLOSE Voyage three
RIPPLES IN THE SAND Voyage four
ON THE ACCOUNT Voyage five
WHEN THE MERMAID SINGS A prequel to the series
(short-read novella)
And just published...
GALLOWS WAKE voyage six
BUY LINKS:
Amazon Author Page (Universal link)
Where you will find the entire series waiting at anchor in your nearest Amazon harbour – do come aboard and share Jesamiah’s derring-do nautical adventures!
(available Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and in paperback)
Or order a paperback copy from your local bookstore!
ABOUT HELEN HOLLICK
First accepted for traditional publication in 1993, Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Her Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she writes a nautical adventure/fantasy series, The Sea Witch Voyages. She is now also branching out into the quick read novella, 'Cosy Mystery' genre with her Jan Christopher Murder Mysteries, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A Mirror Murder incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working as a library assistant.
Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She lives with her family in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon and occasionally gets time to write...
Website: Newsletter Subscription: Blog: Facebook: Twitter: @HelenHollick
