SALTY POD

That charming scalawag, Phil Johnson, proprietor of the salty piratical podcast, Under The Crossbones, interviewed me last year about my contributions to pirate lore, Alias Hook, and The Witch From the Sea.

Last week, he reached the milestone of Episode 100! And he generously invited me to participate in the celebration with a brief update on what I've been up to since.

And I wasn't the only one. This graphic hints at some of the novelists, historians, and musicians he's had on the air who are filling him in on what's new with their various swashbuckling enterprises.

So, hoist the colors, and let's wish Phil fair winds and fortune for his next 100 episodes!

PIRATES of PODCAST

Ahoy there, pirate fans! Feast your ears on my first podcast!

Last month, it was my pleasure to be interviewed by the effervescent Phil Johnson—stand-up comic and pirate aficionado, proprietor of the salty website, "Under the Crossbones." And today, our podcast went live!

It's a swashbuckling half hour or so, where we natter on about my books, pirate movies, and the allure of all things piratical. And I devote a deal of air space talking about The Witch From the Sea, and how she came to be born, first in the stewing cauldron of my imagination, and then on the page.

 So hoist a pot of rum and check it out here!

PS: My interview starts at about the12-minute mark.)

PIRATE GOLD

Har! Look what the tide washed in, me hearties!

Precious booty, indeed—a box of my author's copies of Alias Hook, freshly arrived from my publisher in  the UK. It is, without doubt and irrefutably, a book!

Hard to resist the temptation to let them sift through my fingers like gold doubloons, to dive into them like Scrooge McDuck in his money bin! But in the interest of common sense and physical possibility (those old killjoys), I guess I'll have to content myself with rapt gazing.

This is a hugely exciting moment in the life cycle of an ink-stained wretch (or ink-stained wench, as my friend Vinnie calls us). But it's not THE most exciting moment. That's the one that comes next, and it can only be achieved with audience participation.

Let the Reading begin!

MY NEXT BIG THING

A couple of months ago, it was my very great pleasure to get tagged in the ongoing Blog Chain called The Next Big Thing. It's an opportunity for writers to introduce the public to their new work, so of course I wrote about my upcoming novel, Alias Hook!

Here are some sample Q&As:

Where did the idea come from for this book?

We don't like to say it in mixed company, but most writers hear voices in their heads. I was writing a review of a live-action Peter Pan movie in January, 2004; of the actor playing Captain Hook, I wrote that he captured "the tragedy of a grown-up Hook trapped forever in Peter's eternal childhood."

Instantly, a caustic voice popped into my head observing the Neverland from Hook's point of view. I hit 'Save,' clicked open a new doc and hastily typed in what is now the opening paragraph of the book. I was off and running!

What genre does your book fall under?

I call it historical fantasy. Yes, it takes place in the Neverland (that's the fantasy part), but in the flashbacks, I've tried to give James Hook a solid historical grounding as an early 18th Century English privateer/pirate.

Read the entire post here!

COMING SOON: ALIAS HOOK

Ahoy, readers: I have a new novel coming out!

I've just signed a contract with Snowbooks a small, award-winning independent publisher in the UK  to publish my fantasy novel, Alias Hook.

While it's not a book in The Witch series, it taps into a similar vein of swashbuckling action, romance, and wry humor.

Not your father's Peter Pan, my book views the children's paradise of the Neverland from the caustic perspective of Captain James Benjamin Hook, its prisoner, a grown man stranded in a world run by a capricious 11-year-old boy.

 Once an embittered warrior with a grudge against the world, now Hook is trapped forever in a pointless war he can never win nor end against the boy tyrant, Pan, and his magical allies.

There's no Wendy or Tinker Bell in my book, but I do make pretty free use of the Neverland as created by James M. Barrie in Peter and Wendy, his 1911 novelization of his famous play. Except I go where Barrie feared to tread, deep into the society of merwives who live beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the Sisterhood of fairies who guard the island, and the Indian tribes who have learned to make peace with the boys.

In my story, a grown woman dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of all the boy's rules. She may be the key to Hook's redemption—maybe even his release—if they can unravel the curse that binds him there before Pan can capture her and drag Hook back into their neverending game.

Eight years in the making, Alias Hook is a story of love and war, male and female, and the delicate art of growing up. Tentative publication date is May, 2013, so watch this space for further details!

(Sketch of Hook at his glass © Lisa Jensen, 2012)