Pieces Of Eight - Hardcover

Drake, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0750532831 ISBN 13: 9780750532839

Publisher: Magna Large Print Books, 2010

Synopsis

The second in the rip-roaring adventure series of ‘Treasure Island’ prequels for fans of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’

Once comrades-in-arms, now sworn enemies, Joseph Flint and Long John Silver have a score to settle.

Marooned on a remote Caribbean island with his loyal crew and a fortune in buried treasure, Silver awaits the return of the man who left him there.

In order to defeat Silver and claim the island back as his, Flint will need to raise an army – no easy feat for the man most wanted by the Royal Navy.

But with disease running rampant on the Island and the net closing on Flint, time is running out for both men. But who will survive – and who will get the gold?

About this title

Review:

Praise for ‘Flint & Silver’:

‘Flint & Silver contains the essential ingredients to attract a worldwide following’ Western Morning News

‘An epic tale of friendship and treason’ The Sea

‘Swashbuckling adventure on the high seas doesn’t get much better than this. If you loved Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island as a kid — and who didn’t? — then you will absolutely love this not-for-kids prequel. John Drake writes beautifully, and you’ll be torn between savoring the words and quickly flipping the pages. Any favorable comparison to Stevenson or Patrick O’Brian is totally justified’ Nelson DeMille

From the Author:

Pieces of Eight is your second novel in a series of prequels to Robert Louis Stevenson’s much loved classic adventure story Treasure Island. Why do you think it has had such lasting appeal?
Because Treasure Island is beautifully written and has the classic ingredients for an adventure story: it starts at home where everything should be safe, but it isn’t because the forces of evil arrive, to be fought and pursued by a band of heroes, making an epic journey to an exotic location, and a tremendous struggle for a great prize. Same goes for Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Wizard of Oz. But above all, it’s beautifully written.

What inspired you to write historical fiction? Why does the eighteenth century hold such a fascination for you?
Can I change that to adventure fiction because that’s what I write. The pull of the exotic drives me to historical fiction and I could just as easily write science fiction, except that I prefer to be rooted in reality. And in any case, history is full of stories that take an author by the hand, and lead him to a plot. So why adventure fiction? Because it deals with the conduct of characters under exotic stress: their bravery and cowardice, selfishness and nobility. By contrast, their normal conduct – at home and at peace - is reported ad nauseam in the TV soaps for all to see, but not me. For instance I love ‘Gone With the Wind’ for the first half, where Ret and Scarlett struggle through the disaster of the Civil War. But in the second half, with the war gone, and comfort returned ... what do they do? They tear and rend each other. Self-inflicted. Serve ‘em right. And yes I do like the 18th century because it’s far enough back to be exotic and different, but close enough to be well-documented, which means full of exotic characters. Also it was packed with wars, explorations and technical innovation: the cannon’s roar, the quadrant’s gleam, the chink of gold.

Do you spend a lot of time researching your novels?
Yes. As I type this I sit beside a line of fourteen files, containing research information for my books. And to access that information, I have computer spreadsheets, cross-referenced to these files, so I can instantly find my notes on such matters as scurvy, celestial navigation, or Roman criminal law. A novel takes me between nine months and a year, of which three-to-four months is spent in preliminary research. The result is a head-full of ideas. My sympathy for those who experience “writer’s block” but I never do. My constant problem is how to cram into each chapter, the list of points, events and descriptions that I am trying to use.

Where do you write?
In the ladies fashion departments of Kendals, and Harvey Nichols in Manchester, of John Lewis at Handforth Dean, and – when in New York – at Sachs of fifth Avenue. These are places where I follow my wife on her shopping expeditions, such that my body is present, but not my mind. That goes elsewhere, and it’s amazing how many creative ideas have come to me among the cashmere, silk and leather. I keep a note book to record such ideas as they arrive. So much for creativity. As for the actual knocking out of the copy, I do that on computer in a corner of the loft room of our house, I’m sitting there now because it’s convenient, but I could write anywhere.

Who’s your favourite character Long John Silver or Joseph Flint?
To me, they are equal. Precisely equal. My favourite character is neither of them. He’s Billy Bones: poor, brave, loyal, plodding Billy Bones who’d have been a perfectly decent officer if only he’d not met Flint. Can I also say which is my most difficult character? That’s Selena. How the hell does a middle-aged, middle-class man imagine the thoughts and behaviour of a teenage ex-slave girl? I do my best. I try.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing now?
Wishing I were a writer. There is nothing I would rather be. It is my obsession, and –saving only my family – my greatest love. But ... given different choices in some parallel dimension, I would certainly have joined the Royal Navy as a lad, and it is my lifelong regret that I missed National Service which ended two years before I was eligible.

About this edition

• Publisher: Magna Large Print Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0750532831
• ISBN 13: 9780750532839
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 464