Read the details later in this post.
Eddie Jones is a full time freelance writer and author of five non-fiction books, one young adult novel, and an adult romantic comedy. He has written over one hundred articles that have appeared in 20 different publications. He serves as Acquisition Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and is a contributing writer for CBN.com, Christian Devotions Ministries, Living Aboard Magazine, The Ocracoke Observer, and Carolina Currents.
Eddie Jones is a full time freelance writer and author of five non-fiction books, one young adult novel, and an adult romantic comedy. He has written over one hundred articles that have appeared in 20 different publications. He serves as Acquisition Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas and is a contributing writer for CBN.com, Christian Devotions Ministries, Living Aboard Magazine, The Ocracoke Observer, and Carolina Currents.
He has taught writing classes from Pennsylvania and the Carolinas to Colorado. As a book consultant, he has helped clients place completed projects with literary agents, book publishers, and magazine editors. Eddie has a keen eye for evaluating manuscripts and can advise clients on the marketability of their work.
Ahoy there, matey!
I'm a boat swab at heart, and a thief and liar when honest work proves unprofitable. This is why when my boys were little (and by this I mean we could still feed them without maxing-out our credit cards at the grocery store or causing a world-wide food shortage) I’d tell them pirate stories on our sailboat. I no longer have a sailboat. What I have instead are two boys in college. This is way better than a boat because unlike owning a boat, college tuition payments end—if not upon graduation then when the free frat parties stop. Boat alimony, on the other hand, goes on forever. I’m sure in some way, Noah is still paying on the Ark. B.O.A.T., by the way, means: “Break Out Another Thousand.” But if you’ve ever owned a boat you know this.
Anyway, at night, before I’d tuck my small boys into their bunks (a storage locker where we kept the anchor), we’d sit on the bow of our sailboat and I’d make up stuff. Today I do this as a writer but editors have shorter attention spans than my tiny tots. At least that’s what my agent says. So I’d tell these tidal tales and the hero of the story was this guy named Captain Stinky Foot. Captain Stinky Foot was named after my youngest son. If you’ve ever spent any time on a boat in August with a crew of unwashed young males then this needs no further explanation.
Telling pirate stories came naturally to me. I've always been fascinated by the stories of boys snatched away from London and Bristol and forced to serve before the mast. Seems to me life at sea was more fun than peeling potatoes. And more dangerous.
I’d use whatever props I could spy from the bow—a channel marker, boat fender, or crab pot—and I’d work it into the story. A few times every year my boy’s school would invite me in to tell pirate stories. My talks followed a predictable pattern. The teacher would ask everyone to sit quietly and listen, but you know how it is with kids. There’s always some smart aleck who insists on cutting up. The teacher would interrupt, scowl and eventually nod for me to continue. Almost immediately, she’d have to stop me again: this time raising her voice. By the third time I knew she meant business. I also knew I’d get sent to the principle's office if I didn’t straighten up.
Now, when I’m asked to describe The Curse of Captain LaFoote, I explain that it’s a pirate tale awash in buried treasure, romance and dead men's bones. The truth is, this book and the ones that follow in the Caribbean Chronicle series are love stories. But all good books are—or should be. For Ricky Bradshaw, the hero of the book, the story is a quest to find his soul mate and manhood. There are a lot of other deep and important themes explored in the book too. Things like what the poop deck is and why cruise ships no longer use them, the secrets inside Davy Jones’ locker and why Micky Dolenz and the other Monkeys kicked Jones out of the band, why you shouldn’t walk downwind of a pirate who’s just eaten turtle soup. Best of all I attempt to explain how the Apostle Phillip was magically transported from Gaza to Azotus after his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. By the way, I DO NOT explain what a eunuch is. I’ll leave that delicate subject in the hands of the Pope.
But the book is more than just a fun read. It’s a cure for global warming, partisan polices and plantar warts.
Seriously, I’m a romantic at heart and love reading. Always have. I blame part of this on Mark Twain. Until the ninth grade, every book report I wrote was on Tom Sawyer. I even borrowed from Tom in this book and named the pirate ship the Black Avenger in honor of Tom and his friend Joe Harper. So for me, playing make-believe comes naturally.
But I’ve noticed that increasingly boys are drawn to video games, movies and television, instead of books. In fact, according to KidSay Market Researchers, teen and tween online video and virtual gaming increased from 65% in 2007 to 91% in 2010. I’m a writer, not a math whiz, so I have no idea what those numbers mean but they sound really scary. So part of my goal is to give boys a compelling story they can fall into. If I learned anything from English literature classes it’s that life is too short to read boring books—and there were some really dull books printed before the plagiarism of Dan Brown’s work became popular.
So I want to inspire boys to dream of what might have been and what could be. I want them to fall in love with their imagination and pretend, play and create in their heads—not just absorb what’s shoved at them from the flickering screen. I want to create within them a desire to read and set sail for a life of adventure, wherever that journey may take them. When I close my eyes I can see Ricky Bradshaw standing on the sugar-white sands of that island just south of Hispaniola. I am that boy. And so are a lot of other boys.
More than that, I want these pirate stories to speak to boys that don’t have father figures. I want them to know what it means to be a man and what bravery and sacrifice, courage, responsibility, and compassion look like. That’s why in each book I introduce one of the twelve virtues that make any person fully rounded. I show what it’s like to live courageously and with compassion.
Finally, I hope to draw attention to those suffering from epilepsy.
Early in the writing process I needed a way to thrust Ricky back into the age of pirates. I mentioned this to a friend of mine. She suggested I allow Ricky to suffer from epilepsy, explaining that one of the symptoms is that sometimes you “zone out.” In Ricky’s case, his episode happens while he’s leaning over the water trying to save a mangy mutt with shrimp breath that’s fallen into a cold creek. It’s this incident, and his accident in the creek, that kicks him back into the main part of the story.
Turns out, the epilepsy idea was providential because I’ve since met others who suffer from epilepsy and it’s because of that element and their struggle that Port Yonder Press agreed to donate “a few pieces of eight” (half a sandy dollar) to the Epilepsy Foundation’s Heroes Among Us program. Look, it’s not like we’re going to cure this by selling a few thousand books, but if The Curse of Captain LaFoote can raise awareness and a little money for a cure, then it’s a success, regardless of how well it sells.
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Become a Facebook Fan of the Caribbean Chronicles series. Learn more about The Curse of Captain LaFoote at www.captainlafoote.com. If you're a teacher, home school parent, or young lad or lass who loves adventure and romance, contact us. Maybe we can speak to your school or group.Apply to be a pirate! We’re also lookin’ fer crew to sail aboard the Black Avenger in our next novel, Dead Calm, Bone Dry. No experience required. We’ll teach ya how ter talk like a pirate, sail like a crusty seaman and steal from the devil. We may even invite ya to go treasure hunting with us on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Join our crew for a chance to win prizes AND (maybe) be a lead character (or a dead one) in our next book.
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The Curse of Captain LaFoote Giveaway
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