On May 1st we had an official book launch via Zoom for “The Day the Pirates Went Mad”, my debut middle-grade historical novel!
I read a few excerpts from Emma Sharpe’s adventures and then answered questions; including a “Spoiler Warning” Q&A segment at the end for those who had already read the early release of the ebook and wanted to know more about the characters, their motivations, what’s next, and other behind the scenes tidbits. 😉
Finishing the book and getting it published has consumed the last few months and we’re so happy to see it released for everyone to read!
This is actually the fourth and last of the four big projects that prompted us to create PlayGames2Learn.com and Silverpath Publishing almost two-and-a-half years ago. The first was my daughter’s educational card game about the human skeleton, “The Bone Game”, and the second was a comedy adventure we co-wrote as a 3-act play, “The King and Queen’s Banquet”.
These two projects were guinea pigs in a way; done specifically to demonstrate to my daughter that one could have an idea for a creative project, make it, and then share it with the world. We did everything ourselves and we learned a lot along the way, especially what it takes to publish a game on TheGameCrafter.com and a book on AmazonKDP.
With that experience in hand, we more confidently pursued two larger projects; a bigger game and a bigger book. For me, pirates have always been an entertaining setting for games, story telling, and education. So, even as we rolled out a number of smaller print-and-play games and activities, we were working on the board game, “Pirate Pursuit – The Spanish Treasure Fleet”, and on the historical novel, “The Day the Pirates Went Mad”. Happily, the research for each largely overlapped with the other! 🙂
A special thanks for these two projects must go to Jon Merchant for making
both of them look so much more professional with his lovely artwork!
Pirate Pursuit – The Spanish Treasure Fleet
This full-sized board game was conceived of at the same time as “The Bone Game” but it had to wait until we got a number of math-centric print-and-plays done; like “Pirates vs Skeletons”, “Cube-or-ACK!”, “Probability Battleship”, and a bunch of others. [See the description & pics on TheGameCrafter.com]
The Day the Pirates Went Mad
4.5 years in the making, this tale was intended to be a short story peppered with nuggets of knowledge about real life during the Age of Sail and the Golden Age of Piracy in particular. But the story quickly grew into the historical novel it is today. Then double-checking the research, revising, and editing went around and around until we were able to release the ebook, and now, finally, the paperback! [See the description & preview chapters on AmazonKDP]
What’s Next?
Now that Emma Sharpe’s first documented adventure has been officially released, we have a chance to look up from the grindstone and think about what we want to do next.
There are definitely some things at the front of the hopper. Like the educational exercises and activities (our 3rd pillar) to go with “The Day the Pirates Went Mad”, and a card-only game about pirate lore to complement & expand “Pirate Pursuit”. But we also have plans for a new language edition of “The Bone Game”, additional tilesets for “Chess Attack”, and a few more add-ons/expansions to existing games. Then there is the list of new games and short stories we want to pursue!
In the short-term, we will be keeping it small. Maybe have an art call. And of course, we have to start plotting out Emma’s next adventure… 😉
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