My next book is well along. It has a lot of similarities to Magellan’s Navigator. The protagonist is a botanist accompanying one of the great voyages of the Age of Exploration. He enlists for the expedition without realizing its true goals. Once these are revealed, he begins his personal growth from a bookish botanist to … Well, you’ll just have to read the book to find out his personal journey.
I had considered this topic before, but hesitated because it is a large project. Since it is about an actual voyage, the plot is pretty well set. We know what happened. Like in Magellan’s Navigator, my contribution is more along the lines of why things happened. And how the events of the voyage affected those on it, particularly my chosen protagonist, who is a seafaring novice.
This voyage has more first and second person accounts of it than Magellan’s, yet it many ways we know fewer facts about it. The Spanish were voluminous record keepers, so I knew pretty well who was where when during Magellan’s voyage. It this instance, the records were either purposely or accidently destroyed. Which makes my task both easier and harder.
I’m bad about predicting when books will be finished. This one is no exception. It’s already as long as Magellan’s Navigator and I’m only about halfway through the voyage. I hope it’s done the first quarter of next year, but… For my Albo fans. My initial inclination after completion of The Sultan’s Galley was to write another Albo book. This would, or will if I ever write it, take him to the battle of Pavia where King Francis of France was defeated and captured by the Imperial forces led by the Viceroy de Lannoy.
kennethdschultz 