Friday, June 1, 2018

#CharactersTell Main Characters Week - Interview with Jacob Scar

Hello there ladies, gents, and everyone in between as well!
Summer is here - maybe not officially, but with the heat, the schools about to close, people preparing to take time off work to go get a vacation, it's hard to argue it is, innit? And with June starting, we're back with #CharactersTell interviews, as always exploring another Main Character!



Going by this ref picture, he's quite
the force to have at your side.



Tonight's guest is Jacob Scar - a rugged man who, along with Kestrel, goes on adventures on the high seas as a blade for hire in historical Nassau. A man with a good heart, a practical mind and strong morals, who will tell us a bit more about his life.







He can totally rock a hat better than me, too.
He's one of the two main characters from Andy Roberts' work in progress series "Gentlemen of Fortune", where we will follow Jacob and his adventuring partner Kestrel as they work for various crews in the unforgiving freedom of the pirating life. Andy is a pulp-writer, and you can find him on Twitter using this link. He has a blog as well, where he speaks about all sorts of things - from videogames, to Han shooting first, to writing and personal life, and you can find it here.



But let's get to know him, shall we?

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And we start a new month! The heat is rising, the sun shines bright, the windows get open and the seaside gets more and more alluring...but that doesn’t stop us from getting more questions and interviews! We get back to Main Characters Week, and to do so we open the month with our guest! Would you please introduce yourself, your book and your author please?

Good day. The name’s Jacob King, but everyone calls me ‘Scar’. Me and my friend Kestrel are from “Gentlemen of Fortune”, a series of high seas adventures being drafted by Andrew Roberts.

Oh dear! High seas adventures! Definitely the right thing to get into this time of the year! Can you tell us a bit more about your world? Is it like ours? Is it completely different?

My world is the Caribbean, and I believe Charles II ruled England when I first met Kestrel. So, it is like your world.

Interesting! So, your story takes place in the past. That was quite the adventurous age for seafaring in that period… Tell us, what side are you on? What sort of ship do you sail in?

Kestrel and me, we’re on our own side. Which tends to be whichever ship we’re serving on, or whoever’s paying us. Or whatever quixotic crusade Kestrel’s sworn himself to. Usually when there’s a woman involved.

Then you do tend to be more like people for hire for the various crews? I guess, with the title of the series, that might be the case… Is there a lot of competition in that field?

Well, often. Port Royal has plenty of people willing to hawk anything we don’t make use of ourselves. But when prizes are thin, competition gets fierce. But if you mean within a single vessel, anybody who can wield a blade is good enough for most captains.

I can imagine that...but isn’t it weird to you know, have to sail off with a crew that doesn’t know you yet? I can imagine a lot of times there might be trust issues. Have you two ever been in a ship where people just didn’t really take to you?

Kestrel has a silver tongue, and I’m large enough to keep most people from getting hostile. But we’ve had our fair share of captains who really don’t take a liking to us for one reason or another.

Well, at the very least that’s helpful. But...how did you get into this sort of life? Was it something you always thought would happen and looked for, or is it something unexpected?

I met Kestrel in prison and we broke out together. We’ve been companions ever since then. I was with a Maroon community before that, helping slaves escape the plantations on Antigua. Kestrel thought the pirate’s life provided better freedom.

A Maroon community? I have to admit, I don’t think I’m particularly familiar with it. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

The colonial powers have been profiting from the blood of slaves for a long time. But there are communes on every island who resist, providing aid to those who manage to flee.

That’s a very valorous goal. And speaking of that, let’s talk about morals. How do you conciliate that with a pirating life? I mean, especially as men of fortune, I doubt all of your endeavours on the various ships aligned with your personal moralities...have you ever found yourself in a situation where you wouldn’t want to have anything to do with?

There are butchers, yes. But most pirates are merely sailors who want more independence or slaves looking for freedom. When all necessities have to be stolen, it can drive desperate men to do desperate things. But I’ve never killed anybody who didn’t deserve it or was trying to kill me first. And I refuse to stand idly by when a crewmate wants to execute somebody who isn’t fighting back.

I see. It’s a good thing you did. But, we spoke all this time only about your job… Can you tell us a bit more about you? Your life, your interests and hobbies outside of your career?

Well, there’s not much other than drinking and gambling, and there’s plenty of that in Port Royal. I’m not really tied down to any place, although I’ve been with plenty of ladies.

Do you ever think of stopping? You know, settling down, and so on. Do you have a specific goal you’re pursuing before doing that?

There isn’t really a place I can settle down where I’d feel at ease.

Understandably so, I can imagine a life like this might make it difficult to envision something different. There are a lot of legends about the sea back in the day...hidden treasures, monsters, certain personalities - without going too much into it if you don’t feel like it, but have you ever encountered some of those?

I hear the stories all the time of ghost captains and sea monsters and buried treasure. Most of it is the product of rum-fueled thought and false hope. But some of these stories exist to serve a purpose, and I would like to know those purposes.

I hope you’ll find out your answers out there! But, I’m afraid we’re getting out of time for tonight - is there anything you’d like to say to our audience? You can say whatever you want!

Piracy is not a life for the faint of heart. It’s hard work, and there isn’t always a reward. But it does allow more freedom than naval service, and you do get a say in most matters.

It definitely sounds like it. I’m glad you found your freedom like this, and I’m sure we can’t wait to read more about yours and Kestrel’s life in “Gentlemen of Fortune”! Thank you so much for your time tonight!

Thank you. It was great to be here!

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And this concludes our interview for today!
A reminder that a new #hashtag has been launched today - #CharactersHell ! You can find how it works in this blog post!
As always, you can have your characters interviewed in this blog! Just send me a message on Twitter to sort you out in one of the slots!
See you next time!


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