Color of Fire, page 36
This book is the darkest in the series, and it is easily the most disturbing work I have penned to date. I wanted to immerse readers in an unbroken thread of tension, of pure desperation, grief, and suffering. That pressure peaks during the final fight scene between Hiram Bruin and Charles, a fight that has been brewing in the shadows for years. The vision I had for this book was like a clock face that marches on, one where every sweep of the dial hand makes the situation only grimmer and harder to turn away from. Eliza’s grief in losing Charles at the start of the novel is amplified by the increasing despair she feels in realizing that the institution of slavery in the English colonies means human bodies are counted as financial assets. And despite Charles’ secret plan to manumit the slaves he has unwantedly inherited from his drunkard, cruel father, his enemies’ greed and that of the island creditors allow for no cursory sympathy. Bills must be paid, and the faces of the enslaved are translated into currency and little else. When Eliza turns to Hiram Bruin for aid, the king of the pirate underworld, it is a choice made from utter hopelessness.
English people of the Regency period were obsessed with the ancient world and classical myths, and it only felt fitting to pair the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with Eliza’s descent into her own version of a Caribbean Hell. I wanted to showcase her character arc from a place of trauma to strength, to have her evolve as an unlikely survivor of all that she endures. Like Orpheus, Eliza is intruding into yet another world, a male dominated space, one where thieves hold the reins of power and men trade human lives for the luster of gold. She is blind to how terrible her situation truly is until it is too late. She, like Orpheus, is trying to recover someone she has lost while also holding on to her sense of self. This tragically occurs after enduring the loss of a familiar world where she had finally felt she had attained some measure of order and conquered chaos following the loss of her first lover, Jean, and the overdue reconciliation with her husband, Charles, in the previous two books. The violent absence of Charles from her life is especially harrowing because he was the one man who had made her see how the world could be; their shared story transformed an irredeemable situation into a brighter possibility of hope. Now she is forced to reframe the underworld into a glimmer of salvation, but as the novel unfolds, it is clear that such idealism is doomed to fail. That is, until she decides to choose her own destiny and not have the men around her dictate her circumstances, and to ultimately save the man she once viewed as an enemy.
Captain Hiram Bruin, i.e., Hiram Beaks (sometimes spelled Breakes) is a real historical figure steeped in a different kind of myth, making him a perfect character for me to explore. My apologies for sticking with his crafted alias (Bruin) for three books straight, but I felt that was a necessary part of his character identity. Little is known of him, except that he was unusually tall for the time period and regarded as handsome. He was also ruthlessly violent and strangely obsessed with religious ideals in a career path that seems at odds with such notions. The tales of his escapades with Anna Snyde (who is also referred to with various spellings of her married name in different historical accounts) and the subsequent murder of her husband, Beaks’ first captain and one-time mentor, are true, as well as his exploits with the capture of the Acapulco ship and the kidnapping of nuns from a cloister in Minorca and his exceptional cruelty towards people of the Catholic faith.
His home island of Saba (pronounced like SAY-bah), part of the Dutch West Indies, is a stunning island, and I was so grateful to have the opportunity to visit it. If you have never seen images of its extraordinary beauty, I encourage you to look it up. It was actually used as the backdrop for the original King Kong film in 1933, and it is truly awe-inspiring. The views of its southern island neighbors of St. Eustatius, St. Kitts & Nevis, and Montserrat are likewise jaw-dropping to behold. When I saw this view in person, I knew it would be the perfect backdrop for a tense and heartrending proposal from the scheming Bruin. I love to contrast tropical beauty with darkness, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing that particular scene. Historically, the Beaks were one of the founding families to settle this Dutch colony, and his younger uncle lived well into the mid-nineteenth century as its leader. It is a Caribbean community frozen in time, idyllic and unique among islands.
Hiram Bruin is one of the most disturbing villains I have written, and the scene with Eliza and him on the porch at Pleasant Hall was one of the very first scenes I ever wrote for the series. Interestingly enough, Hiram Beaks is credited for coining the now-famous pirate catchphrase “Dead men tell no tales…” and I couldn’t resist including it in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed filling in the blank portions of his mysterious background. While historians claim he killed himself by throwing himself into a canal in Amsterdam, I posit this: why would a wanted man want to be found? One could argue that he slipped back into myth itself, or, as I have done, that he reinvented himself with a new name and chose another English colony to operate his shadowy dealings from. He was granted a British privateer’s commission from the governor of Gibraltar, and as a privateer, he could operate in and around English colonies with impunity.
Lord Dunmore, in particular, was known to have made alliances with many questionable men and outright criminals. As for his historical role, he was recalled as governor of Nassau in 1796, and the reasons for this are still unclear. I have no doubt that the scandal of his daughter, Lady Augusta Murray, and her illegitimate attempt to marry into the royal family, the various investigations of his notorious corruption led by Lord Grenville’s men, and the complaints from islanders like William Wylly and the House of Assembly, played a heavy hand in his subsequent removal from the island.
This brings me to the topic of pirates. By now, you know I love to expose lesser-known elements of history. The line between private and privateer (a private individual or a ship licensed by the government to legally plunder and attack other ships) was blurred, and the infamous privateer’s license was oftentimes not worth the paper it was printed on. There is a trend in modern society to regard pirates as noble outlaws, akin to Robin Hood figures of the sea. And while there were undoubtedly many elements to question and protest in the late 18th century, pirates were far from the rebellious heroes they are often portrayed to be. First and foremost, they were roving bands of violent men and outright criminals, and while there were some exceptions to the rule, they were few and far between.
Some common myths that I tried to dispel were that pirate ships were floating bastions of democracy, ones where, for example, enslaved men could find their freedom. While it is true that many Black pirates existed, very few of these sailors were regarded as equal partners by their white counterparts. As David Cordingly points out in Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among Pirates, that these Black pirates “did not carry weapons is an indication of their status as servants to the rest of the company” and that “pirates shared the same prejudices as other white men in the Western world.” Another fable I tried to disprove was that pirates always seized other ships for dazzling amounts of treasure, glittering piles of gold, silver, and gemstones, when in fact most pirate hauls amounted to little else than basic trading commodities like barrels of tobacco, bales of silk and cotton, spare ship parts, or carpenter’s tools. When Eliza sees what prizes Bruin and his men were able to take from the Neptuno, it sickens her to witness such senseless death. I did not want to romanticize any aspect of piracy in Color of Fire. By the late 18th century, the Golden Age of Piracy was long over, and the few remaining pirates who roamed the seas were ruthless and violent. Piracy was a desperate operation in the period between major wars among the European powers, as privateers made little money during peacetime. However, they would not have to wait long until the West was completely embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars that erupted a few years after the close of my series. But that is a tale for another time.
If you ever have the chance to visit Nassau, Bahamas, I highly encourage you to check out Fort Charlotte, which still towers over the town today, the historic streets of Nassau, including Christ Church Cathedral, dating from 1670, as well as the ruins of William Wylly’s plantation site at Clifton Heritage National Park. There you can walk in the footsteps of Eliza and Charles. While the island has modernized and is usually booming with cruise ship visitors, its colonial past is still accessible to the curious reader today. For those of you who would enjoy exploring the aquatic world like Eliza, I highly recommend a stop at the Exumas and the famous Thunderball Grotto, which inspired Bruin’s treasure cave. The Bahama islands offer so much more than a brief cruise stop, and I have always savored my travels among them, whether it be on Eleuthera, the Berry Islands, its countless cays, or Harbour Island (which has many features named after Lord Dunmore to this day). For further reading, check out my bibliography. I’ve personally read and recommend all the books and articles mentioned, and I’ve added several new items to the list since the last book. While the Strange Eden series has reached its close, this is not the end. It is only the beginning. Thank you for being so supportive. I hope you will join me for another foray into the humid, dense airs of the past in the not-so-distant future.
As always, the past is a very different place, and it may not always be palatable. But it serves as an invaluable lesson to us all. Thank you for taking the journey with me. I am grateful and honored by your company.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Strange Eden series was my debut venture into the world of publishing, and I cannot thank you enough, dear reader. Thank you all for the incredible support you have shown my books. Because of you, my books have both hit #1 bestseller status for Historical Caribbean & Latin American fiction on Amazon, not once, but multiple times. I have so enjoyed all the messages, reviews, and excitement you have shown, and I am especially honored when readers who don’t normally read historical fiction, or haven’t read it in quite some time, pick up one of my books. I am not backed by any traditional publishing house, and I handle all the aspects of book publishing and marketing on my own, so your support means the absolute world to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so grateful that you are here.
I dedicated this novel to my husband, who has shown me the most steadfast and undying love and support for the historical world I recreated. Hearing and seeing your reactions, especially for this last book, has kept me going and encouraged me to keep writing. Thank you for being my rock and for all the Maccies and drops I could ask for. Thank you for your incredible insight, especially regarding character arcs and archetypes, and for believing in this project from the very beginning. Your nerdy love for the world of comic books and anime is the perfect blend for my history geek self. I love you so much, and I am so excited for our future. My favorite part of writing is getting your feedback and all the many conversations we have about the past. Thank you for reaffirming my belief in happy endings.
A huge thank you to my mother, for the countless ways you have always supported me and my art from day one. “Thank you” is not a strong enough word for everything that you do for me. I am grateful for your wise Scorpio ways and all the lessons you have taught me. Thank you for your opinions on stories, whether they are in book form or film format. It helps sharpen my storytelling skills. Thank you for taking care of so many things so that I could focus on writing. Thank you for helping pack up all the book mail for readers around the globe and for keeping me company in the post office line. These books wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for you. You are my Bunnay.
As always, I would like to thank God, my Circle, and all of my ancestors. I would also like to thank Elizabeth Daisy Williams, a very special person and my best friend. One of the greatest outcomes of taking the risk and hitting publish on these books has been our friendship. It still feels so surreal that these books helped bring us together across the Atlantic. Thank you to Kevin Chapman: I am so honored that the process of reading my books has rekindled your love of reading in general, and your excitement about the series is such awesome encouragement. Here’s to many more years of friendship! And thank you once again to Norimasa Suzuki for helping me heal and for all our conversations about geopolitics and history.
I am extremely blessed to have two amazingly talented editors who worked with me for the duration of this series: Cath Lauria and Barbara Bowen. Cath, thank you for saving this series at the beginning when I presented you with a jumbled mess and you confirmed that it had to become a series. Thank you for your direction and guidance every step of the way over the years! Barbara, thank you so much for always being ahead of schedule and focusing on details like no other. You always leave me confident that my work is in its best shape after your perusal. The two of you make editing enjoyable, which is something not many authors can say.
Thank you to all the many artists I have had the pleasure of commissioning work from. A special thank you to Lindsey Carr for your beautiful 18th-century-style illustrations that are featured at the start and end of the book. You understood my vision so clearly and quickly, and I absolutely love how their character portraits turned out. I would also like to thank Karina Giada, who created a beautiful watercolor portrait of Eliza. She listened to what I envisioned for the scene and captured it so well that I used it as inspiration for when I started writing months later. It was such a fascinating process to have another artist bring to life something that only previously resided in my head. I am incredibly grateful for Nakita Gonzalez, who captured the most amazing photos for my author headshot at virtually the last minute. You took a nightmare situation and made it into a beautiful moment. And finally, a huge thank you to Lark Sloan, who also came to the rescue close to my deadline and crafted the most perfect maps for my series and the Fortuyne’s journey across the sea. If you want to see even more fantastic character art commissioned for this series, follow me on Instagram at @ginagiordanobooks.
Thank you to the Bahamian people for their generous hospitality and beautiful, vibrant culture. It was my absolute honor to have my first published works feature your stunning islands, and the Bahamas will always have a very special place in my heart. A huge thanks to Perry Claire for providing rides for all of my ten-plus research trips and for pointing out all the bush medicine on the side of the road along the way. I would also like to give a shoutout to Michelle Dawn, who has created a very special community of support on Bookstagram. Marketing this series would have been immeasurably difficult without the community of book lovers, both readers and authors combined, that you have gathered under your wing. Thank you also to the staff at the Earl Gregg Swem Library of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, for providing me with access to Lord Dunmore’s personal letters, including his infamous recall letter from the Duke of Portland in 1796, to enhance my research.
Last, but not least, I would like to thank my assistants, Goonie, Tippy Bouvier, and Teddy Roosevelt. Goonie, you understand book marketing like no one else. Thank you for messing up all my notes and sitting on them when I really needed to see what was around me. I also enjoyed it when you stole my seat and didn’t care about my deadlines. Your distractions kept me sane. But in all seriousness, thank you for helping run my social media on days I didn’t feel like doing it. Tippy, please stop stressing out about everything. You’re a cat. Teddy, thank you for honoring me by allowing me to pet you. I truly enjoyed writing this next to you.
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