Texas Ranger Captains or Navy Captains

I've just finished reading the hardback book I bought at our Lockhart Evening With the Authors fund-raising event. It's the first in a series of 1800's US Navy adventure novels, The Shores of Tripoli.

Just for fun, I'm throwing out some comparisons of the The Shores of Tripoli to my about-to-be self-published novel about the Texas Rangers in 1855--A Different Country Entirely.

I paid $28 plus tax for the Tripoli novel I bought from the Barnes and Noble table at the event, and it was published by Putnam Co. His book is going through a gatekeeper publishing house, and mine is going directly from my house to Amazon. No gatekeeper, no national distribution.

I'll charge $15 on Amazon for A Different Country Entirely. His Kindle edition is $14, and I'll charge $4 or $5. We'll both be on Amazon, but I'll only be on Amazon, and he'll be in Barnes and Nobles stores and libraries nationwide   He'll sell thousands of copies, maybe tens of thousands. I'll sell dozens, maybe hundreds.

I sat with James Haley, the author of the Tripoli book for over an hour as his table host, so I heard him say quite a  few things. Among them that he was contacted and contracted by Putnam to write the six-book series--one book a year, which is the pace I've been writing, editing, and publishing my 'craft' novels while I enjoy retired life.

I hope you might read both books with an eye for how they are similar and different.

Here's my own take: I think A Different Country Entirely compares darned well with his Tripoli book. Little modest unbiased me. 

While my main character is a young early Texas Ranger off on a politically complicated, ill-advised mission into a forbidden land, his main character is a young US Navy officer off on a politically complicated, ill-advised mission into forbidden waters--and land.
We both sent our main character to rescue maidens fair taken by the indigenous people of the desert. And surprise, both succeed, his with benefits, mine not so much.

I think my characters, historical and fictional, are as robust as his, and I think my dialogue is better. His characters speak as authors wrote in the early 1800's--more formally and sometimes stilted. My characters speak as I've heard Texans speak since the 1950's.

He covers more macro-history context, but almost lectures it from time to time.

I think I do better at painting a feel for the details of the main character's environment while on the military missions, but maybe not.

We both only included only one sex scene, and both scenes are to provide a sympathetic character an introduction to the joy of sex by a willing young women in an odd situation, and both scenes somewhat stretch things.

We both get mileage from anecdotes about farting. (Some men never grow up. Instead we write adventure novels.)

Both stories have a likable character who is a military officer son of a wealthy North Carolina plantation owner who defends the practicality of slavery to his main character friend.

Both have military captains--mine of Texas Rangers, his of warships--who are flawed and aggressive and self-promoting as they blunder along more or less doing what their political bosses want.

Both have slave characters who are smart and likable. Mine has a larger role.

Both novels are definitely from a white American male perspective of the world and don't wash out the racism that permeated our culture in the 1800's. His is quite critical of the Arab world through the lens of the American navy officers, with a shot or two at the British. Mine reflects the Texas Rangers' casual violence towards Mexicans, Blacks, and Native Americans, with a gig or two at the French and German settlers in Texas as well.

Both use subterfuge to lure the enemy close. He uses flags flown by warships. I use a badly made dummy of a woman.

Both have battles in which American firepower prevails, but in the end the Americans captains confront that they are far from home and short of men and supplies.

He works released caged lions into a battle. I don't, but wish I could have.

Both use letters written by the main character to others to review the reader of what he just read.  I think I do that less obviously than he.

Both have an Afterword to tell readers which characters and events are fictional and which are historical.

My thanks to author Haley for the use of his novel as a serendipitous foil for mine.

I'm finishing the final editing and Kindle formatting of A Different Country Entirely and will post in large letters when its available on Amazon sometime very soon. A week or two from now, I hope.

Have a fun Halloween!