The Captain's Coincidence #MarchMadnessSale

The Captain's Coincidence
#MarchMadnessSale
$2.99 thru March 31

Decorated war hero, Captain Richard Gaines has given up his commission in the Royal Navy. He stalks the docks seeking relief from the nightmares of Trafalgar. One night, he happens upon a woman who captures his attention, and his heart. In a series of random coincidences, Richard is compelled toward Mrs. Wood, just as circumstantial evidence suggests that Mr. Wood may be a seditionist.

Returning to England after a decade away, Amanda Wood is on a mission to save herself and her daughter from the prison of her marriage. Meeting the Captain seems heaven sent when he reveals an acquaintance with her only friend and brings an invitation for a visit – and a chance to escape. Her joy is short-lived when her husband insists on going with her.

The situation takes a grievous turn when Amanda’s husband kidnaps their daughter. Richard must save her, but to do that he must engage the enemy at sea. And it appears Amanda’s husband may be a nefarious pirate. With limited armaments and a damaged vessel, Richard knows he has only one chance to rescue the little girl.

When the battle is over, to the victor, go the spoils. Yet, Richard must overcome his tormented past, in order to begin a future with the woman he loves. However, Amanda holds a secret that could destroy that very same future.

The Captain's Coincidence is the Third Book in the Reluctant Grooms Series.  However, this was the first one I finished in the original trilogy. (I published this fourth even though it's technically third.)

I love the story of Richard and Amanda. You can't choose who you love, whether they're married or not. It's fate, kismet, whatever you want to call it, but sometimes when two people meet, it's like BAM! Soulmate!

Now, I could empathize with Amanda's situation in 1810, and a man like Richard doesn't come around everyday to rescue damsels in distress. But, Amanda was married to a man she had come to despise. A man who might be a spy! But how could she escape?

I did a lot of research for this book. A LOT. A boat load, but I think it was totally worth it in the end. I had a couple of male friends read it, and they said the battle scenes were wicked cool. They didn't know I had it in me.

Captain Viscount Richard Gaines

Captain Viscount Richard Gaines was a hero at Trafalgar, in sick bay with Lord Nelson when he died. Richard finds he can no longer command, and is placed as Captain of the Marine Police for the docks in Wapping. However, Robert Carlton, the new Duke of Cantin needs Richard's help and will pay him handsomely. Even though Richard is fighting the fear of sailing that plagues him, he agrees to captain Robert's vessel, if only to drive away the memory of the woman who pierced the cold armor of his heart.

Amanda Wood

Serendipity takes a hand and tosses the star-crossed lovers together and apart, with enough twists and turns for a roller-coaster thrill ride. Richard will do anything to keep Amanda and her daughter safe. Amanda cannot leave her husband.

High seas battles between pirates and His Majesty's Royal Navy, intrigue, espionage, and spies from America, kidnapping...as Providence brings Richard and Amanda together one last time, can they finally put away the past and look toward the future? Or will Amanda's last secret keep them apart forever?

Barthomelew Wood,
Amanda's husband

Westerly Manor, Tiverton

Admiral Rupert Gaines,
Admiral of the White,
Admiral of the Fleet

Lady Bunny Churchill Gaines,
Lady Olivia's cousin

Two very important people in the story
even though they have very minor roles.








And this is the story of THE CAPTAIN'S COINCIDENCE
On Sale thru March 31.
$2.99

 Amazon

Smashwords

#MarchMadnessSale

Anne Gallagher (c) 2019

The Captain's Coincidence is FREE for a Short Time

I decided to set THE CAPTAIN'S COINCIDENCE and LADY CADORET'S LONGING to FREE across all channels, because, well, I can.

Richard is one of my all-time favorite characters. He goes through so much angst before he finally admits he's in love with Amanda. And even thought the book was a bear to write (nautical adventure involving the high seas) it's gotten very nice reviews. (So, I guess I did a good job.)

I also set LADY CADORET'S LONGING to FREE because that is the least read of all my novellas. And I don't know why. I think it's a nice story. Yes, it should be longer (as most of my novellas should be -- according to my reviews), but it's not. Perhaps we'll find Daniel and Dorcas in my new series Ladies of Dunbury.

Here is some link love if you'd like to get them before they're not
free anymore. (Hover over the grey links and click. It will take you to the page directly.)


itunes
https://itunes.apple.com/us/author/anne-gallagher/id485660383?mt=11

Kobo
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/search?query=Anne%20Gallagher&fcsearchfield=Author

Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/AnneGallagher

Barnes&Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-captains-coincidence-anne-gallagher/1118908138?ean=2940046587098

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Anne-Gallagher/e/B005S5TCL0/
(As of this writing the books have not been set to free yet. It usually takes a couple of days for the bots to catch up with the other channels.)

And let's not forget a little shameless promotion for the latest in my repertoire--
REGRETS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The first novel in the latest series Ladies of Dunbury
on sale for a limited time for $2.99

Happy Reading!

Anne Gallagher (c) 2016

The Captain's Coincidence is Finished

Good Morning. Yay! It's done, it's finished. I wrote THE END on Valentine's Day at 12.23 pm. Yay!

I'm letting it sit over the weekend. Marinate a little. I'll give it a complete read-through tomorrow. And then it's off to the critique partners. I'm hoping to be able to publish by the first of March. If all comes back okay.

I'm also going to try something different with this novel. I'm going to offer it as a pre-order on a select few vendors. (Smashwords, Kobo, Apple, B&N) I don't know if it will make a difference to anyone, but I thought I'd try it.



I'm heading straight into LADY OLIVIA'S UNDOING another novella. This will be one of the prequels to THE SEDUCTION OF MR. SUMMERVILLE. The other prequel, THE LADY'S SECRET I'm hoping to have finished before Easter break. (Okay, knowing me, Memorial Day Weekend.)




And I think that's it. I'm catching up on every day life right now.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you next week.

Oh, and the covers are just mock-ups I did for my designer. She's the one with all the talent.

Anne Gallagher (c) 2014

Historical Research -- Travel Time

In writing any kind of historical, I cannot stress the amount of research necessary to make it believable. No, some people don't really care when the Battle of Hastings occurred or who sat in Parliament on the day Prince George took his seat as Regent, but for those of they who have studied such things and find a mistake in a novel, it rankles.

Writing THE CAPTAIN'S COINCIDENCE nearly brought me to my knees on some pages. Not only did I need to learn about ships (and crew and sailing), I also needed to learn how long it takes to travel (on both land and sea, by horse, by carriage, by ship) distances (both nautical and land -- big difference) and meteorology. You cannot sail a ship without wind.

Now, I have my trusty map of England always by my side as I write. My current formula to get anywhere in the country is 25 miles per hour on horseback. However, that's a hard ride for the animal, probably at a full gallop for the duration, which is why you always read about "changing horses".

Needless to say, whenever one of my characters needs to go somewhere, I adjust my ratio accordingly. Four coach horses travel faster than two, but there is the added time of changing the horses. (A coach and four can usually travel up to 75 miles in the course of a day -- with the caveat it's dry weather and good roads and not loaded with unnecessary luggage. Also if you were not apprehended by a highwayman, or broke an axle or wheel and didn't die when the carriage flipped over.)

In working on COINCIDENCE, I had to figure out how to sail around the country (from London to Liverpool), which is a lot harder than you might think. First we have to decide on the ship, its size, how many sails, the crew to work the sails, wind speed, wave height, and weather conditions. Fun stuff that. For the longest time, I couldn't make my timeline work because it was taking too long to get from one place to another. I finally realized that ships sail at night. They don't stop in port to sleep. (duh)

Here is my quick formula for ships -- each sail x 6 men. (This particular vessel is a 74 gun Ship of the Line, with main sails, top sails, and gallant sails, not to mention the sails over the bow and stern.) For each "side" of the sail, between 6-9 men worked the lines and rigging of these massive ships. So in rough estimates this ship would need 108 crew for the sails alone. And that was only one "watch" (shift of work = 4 hours). However, most sailors worked two watches and then had two off. Needless to say, there were over 300 men on board to work the sails alone. You might think that's a lot, but it's really not when you consider that so many men died during battle.

Another miscalculation on my part was to figure out where the shipping lanes would be. You can't just sail willy-nilly through the Channel, you need a plan. England relied on America for cotton, not to mention sugar and molasses from the West Indies. As well as trade from all over the world. Mail packets came and went. And let's not forget the Royal Navy had 3 different ports they used, as well as patrolled the waters of the English Channel out to the Atlantic. Needless to say there are a lot of ports in England and certain cargo only went to certain places. And then there were the ships sailing from one place in England to another. Upcountry goods and services tended to be shipped to London rather than hauled over land by horse -- coal, hay, grain, cotton goods. It was cheaper in the long run. However, no matter where the goods were going, the captains still needed to be aware of the shipping lanes. (When ships meet and must pass each other in opposite directions they do so port side to port side. Just FYI.)

And let's not forget about rocks, shoals, sand bars, little islands, and other things that you could crash into. Traveling by sea was just as dangerous as traveling by coach. Sometimes more so as the weather played a major factor in all things nautical. Dangerous roads could stop a coach. What are you going to do in the middle of the ocean when you're struck by lightning? There's no place to hide.

To travel in Regency England I liken it to a long road trip. Where now it would take a few hours traveling by car, back then it would take days, or sometimes weeks depending on how far you were going.

Here are a few of my estimates

By Coach (with good roads and fine weather)

London to Manchester = 5 - 7 days
London to Edinburgh, Scotland = 10 - 14 days
London to Plymouth = 1 day

By Ship

London to Liverpool = 3 - 4 days
London to Boston/New York = 6 weeks
Falmouth to Boston/New York (mail packet only) = 4 weeks

Now of course, these are just estimates, and one could never really know how long it would take unless one were there. Barring any more tedious research and mitigating factors, this is what I'm sticking to.

Tell me -- Back then, would you rather have traveled by coach or by ship? (And yes, I realize neither was convenient unless you were wealthy.)

Anne Gallagher (c) 2014

Intimate Portrait -- Captain Richard Gaines

As we approach the release of THE CAPTAIN'S COINCIDENCE, I thought now would probably be a good time for his Intimate Portrait. I know who Richard is, but you might not.

Richard

Captain Richard Gaines is one of my most endearing heroes. Well, I like him anyway. However, Richard is also one of my most troubled heroes. He's suffering from mental battle scars.(In doing my research I found Trafalgar was the bloodiest sea battle in the Campaign with over 20,000 men, and 52 ships lost - however not one ship was British.) He's filled with angst and anxiety, sleep deprived, depressed, PTSD, can't find anything to snap him out of it. Until he meets Amanda.

Amanda

Problem is, Amanda's married. Yes, she is. To a despicable man, the most villainous villain I have ever created. (Worse even than Thomas Entin-Hicks from MASQUERADE.) Amanda was also best friends with Penny when they were children, so that's part of the plot line. 

When I first began to write Richard's story 10 years ago, I think (looking back on the manuscript now) he was actually my prototype for Ellis (Marquess of Haverlane LADY'S FATE). You know, that strong silent type, feels inwardly, doesn't say much. However, in  rewriting this book, I'm going to give Richard "more".  I'm not sure what the more is at this point, but he won't be too much like Ellis when I'm done.

After Trafalgar, Richard resigned his commission. I know, that's really not done but he did. (It's my book after all.) Since then, he's become somewhat of a detective. Not so much a Bow Street Runner, more like Columbo. He has bodyguards to let out for visiting dignitaries and such, and is often hired to find missing or stolen objects that no one else can seem to find. And because he's rich and has impeccable connections, (His father is cousin to the Earl of Brumbley, Winsbarren's father -- which is how Richard met William through Winsbarren as Winsbarren and William went to school together -- follow that logic if you dare) he's often invited to balls and parties. 

However, he doesn't go to be sociable, he only attends to keep his ear to the gossip. Which is why he's such a good detective. After he helped save Penny (MASQUERADE) Lady Olivia took a liking to him. He's quite possibly the only man in London who isn't afraid of her -- only her matchmaking schemes. 

Amanda's husband

In this story, Amanda has come back to England with her husband who's interested in the cotton mills. (He's a Southerner, with a cotton plantation and slaves, which is how he made his fortune, among other ways.)

Richard meets Amanda briefly one night in London and falls in love with her at first sight. Unfortunately, she's on her way to Manchester to view the cotton mills with her husband. Richard thinks she's a witch and woven a spell over him as he just can't forget about her.


As I started rewriting this novel, I found Richard had more than his fair share of coincidences. Hence the new title. It's been a twisty-turny road to get this novel finished. I had to chuck all my previous research and start from scratch, which has led to more research. And in trying to get it finished quickly, I missed two very important scenes that my lovely critique partners were more than happy to point out to me.

However, we're almost there. Just a couple more chapters and I think we can publish by the end of January. At least that's what I tell myself.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great week!

Anne Gallagher (c) 2013

Exploding Brains and the Dread Pirate Roberts

Good Morning. Yes, that is exactly how I feel -- like my brains are exploding. Last week I mentioned how I was writing rather nicely along and then I spent 5 days (total) outlining my new series. Well, no sooner had I gotten back to Richard, and was writing  rather nicely along, and I got stuck.

I had a great story, but by Chapter 10, there was nothing left to it. 28,000 words would leave me with a novella. I messed up somewhere. No matter which way I wrote, I got stuck. Couldn't move the story along. Not forward, not back.

On Thanksgiving night, somewhere in the back of my stupifed, triptophan-ed, way-too-much-dessert-sugar-rush-brain, I realized I wanted to watch a movie. (Bear with me) "Oh, what is on Thanksgiving night, I wonder," I said to myself. And as the years of Thanksgiving nights zoomed through my memory banks, The Princess Bride came to mind. What a funny movie. I thought to myself. Cary Elwes is so cute. And I just love Inego Montoya. Who wouldn't love Robin Wright. And Andre the Giant. He used to wrestle in South Attleboro when I was a kid. What was her name in the movie? Buttercup, that's right. and she was in love with Eric, who was really the Dread Pirate Roberts.

And BOOM, there is was. A small eruption inside my head and then my brains exploded all over the desk. I would have screamed I was so excited, but I was afraid I would scare my daughter.

THE. DREAD. PIRATE. ROBERTS. was going to fix my book. Okay, not the real Dread Pirate Roberts, but after some searching on the internet, I added my own pirate. The Dread Pirate Moody. Christopher Moody was a real pirate. From 1713 or so in the Carolinas.

So on Thanksgiving night, when all I wanted to do was crawl into my yummy jammys and nap on the couch, I ended up at my desk in the cold cold basement, working out a perfectly new plot line with a pirate (yay) that I can easily insert into the already written narrative and finish writing Richard's book.

My brother used to say, "I'm so smart, I scare myself sometimes." I know how he feels.

Tell me -- How do you feel about pirates? They were big in the 90's when Fabio graced every romance cover. Do your brains ever explode? Have you ever used a pirate in any of your stories?

Anne Gallagher (c) 2013

Historical Research -- Ships and Boats

Good Morning. Well, now that the book signing is over, I've finally gotten back to Richard's story -- The Captain's Lady. And I haven't done an Historical Research post in a long time, so I figured I was due.

 As we know, my main character, Captain Richard Gaines is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress.  He resigned his commission soon after the Battle of Trafalgar and wanders the Thames at night searching for relief from his nightmares. He's fine, more or less, during the day, but he can't sleep.

Anyway, I was having a conversation (email) with a friend of mine, a very learned friend and as I was describing Richard's story (briefly) I used the words ship and boat synonymously. My friend corrected me "You do know that ships carry boats. Boats are small vessels."

I had to grin. Yes, I do know that, but as I told him, I'm a writer and don't necessarily use the same word to describe the same thing, hence, ship/boat. I had done a boatload (excuse the pun) of research before, but leaving the book sit for so many years, once I got back into it, I realized I couldn't do what I wanted to do with the plot. (You tend to learn things when you do research and what I learned was that England and the US were going to be going to war when Richard's story was set. So I couldn't have Richard cruising the waters off North Carolina. Well, I suppose I could have but then the book would have been more historical than romantic.)

So, I started doing more research. About boats. Excuse me, about ships. Specifically, Ships of the Line. The Royal Navy had several different classes of Ships of the Line, which could carry different complements, had various guns, could perform different jobs.

A "gun" was a cannon, mounted inside the boat. (Different classes of guns -- some were bolted to the floor, others were on a "bungee" system of ropes -- and no they were not called bungees, but I can't remember what they were called. Suffice it to say, when the cannon fired, it recoiled and then bounced forward. The ropes were used to keep it from blowing out the back part of the ship.)

74 Guns were considered small ships. With 4 men to handle a gun, (more or less), powder monkeys (boys who ran down the line and gave each gun the powder for the cannon), and ball men ( on one website of nautical terms I found several euphemisms that have come down through the years about balls -- brass balls, busting balls, etc. ). So below decks during a battle, there were about 100 men slaving away trying to keep the cannons loaded and firing.

Above decks, there were sailors (men who climbed the ratlines to unfurl the sails 3 men per sail, 3 sails per mast, 3 masts per ship), midshipmen (who took care of the decks 6 per side) carpenters, sailmakers, coopers, officers, petty officers, junior officers, mates, master mates and a whole array of other men who had lesser jobs. The life was hard, disgusting, dirty, the food horrible, the pay (if you weren't an officer) negligible. Which was why impressment was so prevalent during the Napoleonic wars.

On a 74 gun, a typical complement was 220 men. (Notice the word complement has an e not an i. Two different words.) That's a lot of men on a boat. With the guns taking up most of the hold, you can just imagine what the sleeping quarters were like.

And this is just a 74 gun Ship of Line. Can you even imagine what a 90 gun was like? 350 men? I can't fathom it.

Do I really need to do all this research for a romantic novel? The true answer is yes and no. I could have just skipped to the parts I really needed. Who was whom on the vessel and what they said or did. Do I have to know the names of the parts of the ship? Do I have to know the difference between a yeoman and a first mate or a petty officer? Not really. Will it add anything to the story if I mention the binnacle was wrapped in brass? Kind of but no, not especially.

Then why do I take so much time to do all this unnecessary research? Especially as I'm not even placing Richard on a Ship of the Line. As there will only be one very small battle between a cutlass and a trabocolu. Because I need to know what I'm talking about. If I said the bosun was manning a gun, I would be oh so very wrong and someone, somewhere would call me on it. Will I actually use most of the research I've done? Probably not. However, what I do use will be accurate and that is important. To me doing all this research helps set the "tone" of the novel. If I can't get the right tone, those scenes will be worthless.

So ask me what my favorite part of the research will be?

Watching the Horatio Hornblower series with Ioan Gruffud and Master and Commander with Russell Crowe.

Swashbuckling, dashing, an oh-so-romantic Naval heroes. Now you know why I do my research.



Tell me -- Do you appreciate an author who does detailed research? Or would you rather just skip to the romantic parts?

Anne Gallagher (c) 2013

When the Story Isn't Working

Writing is hard work. That's a given. And if any of you think that all we have to do is just sit down at our computers and words magically spill from our imagination, well, sorry to say you're wrong. Okay, maybe they do come magically, but then we have to take those words and revise, edit, sometimes even delete them to get the best finished product we can.

My Intimate Portrait for this coming Sunday was going to be Richard Gaines. He's been a minor character in a few of my novels. His novel THE CAPTAIN'S LADY was actually the second one I wrote, to publish after THE LADY'S MASQUERADE. Only those were side tracked to write different things. As I learned the craft of writing a GOOD novel, I realized Masquerade and Captain's Lady were not ready for publication -- AT ALL. Not until I'd done some major rewriting.

Last year, throughout the year, I took on the task of diving in to MASQUERADE to revise and edit. There was a lot of work to do. I wrote this book in 2007. Five years, three novels, and four novellas later, it did not hold up. The plot was convoluted, the characters had changed drastically. I was also foreshadowing events for the last book of the series, so I needed to make serious changes.

As any good writer knows, you need to let a finished product sit for awhile. You basically need to be able to forget what you wrote so you can look at it with "fresh eyes". Which is why the revisions for Masquerade took almost a whole year. With each major change, I needed to let it sit again.

But now I have the challenge of doing the same thing for THE CAPTAIN'S LADY. I decided to scrap the original novel. Totally. I began writing a whole new book the other day. I wrote two whole chapters. And I realized that storyline wouldn't work either. Neither would my "new" Amanda. I didn't like her attitude. So I went back to the original story, which I've always loved.

However, although the plot remains basically the same, the setting is going to be different. I never did the research required when I wrote this book way back when. Now that I have done so, I found Richard cannot go to America to save Amanda. England was right on the cusp of the War of 1812 with America. For Richard to go would be a complete nightmare to figure out how to get him there and get out. Historical accuracy and all that.

So I've changed the storyline a little bit. I'm hoping it works. The original setting was in Boston. This new setting is in Manchester, England. And perhaps a little teeny bit of America. I'm not sure. Truthfully, the biggest problem I have is if I change the story completely, I'll have to change the cover copy in all the previously published books. And that, my dear readers, is a horror show. I'm just not up to the task.

And maybe you're wondering why I just don't scrap this project all together. If Richard is such a minor character, why bother writing him at all. Well, because he's been with me from the beginning. As well as William and Robert. Their stories have been told, so I think I owe it to Richard to tell his.

It may take me a little while longer to get this finished (depending on  how much I can save from the original manuscript -- which at this point I'm thinking not much) but I know how the story starts, where it goes, and how it ends. Hopefully, I can have it ready by Thanksgiving.

That being said, I've torn my rotator cuff again, so I'm not sure how or if I'll really be able to write. I went to the doctor yesterday and now have several other appointments with several other doctors, MRI machines and CAT scans so we'll see how it plays out.

 I may not be posting for awhile depending on what happens. I hope you all have a great week.

Anne Gallagher (c) 2013

The A-Z Challenge Letter C

C is for Captain Richard Gaines. The hero in THE CAPTAIN'S LADY.

Richard is a naval hero who remained with Lord Nelson during his death after the great battle at Trafalgar.

When Richard goes to America, he meets an uncommon woman who captures his heart. His travails through the deep South to find her kidnapped daughter lead him through the travesties of slavery and upon his return to England, he finds he's brought more back from America than he bargained for.

Interpreting Heroes

As a writer of romance, I tend to think of the men in my stories as heroes.  They save the day, defeat the villain, rescue the girl.  In my Regency series, however, my heroes are not the typical reformed rake, or libertine.  They do not ride in, in a blaze of glory and slay the dragon.  They tend to be common placed, normal, everyday members of the aristocracy.  (Well, I couldn't let go of all my tendencies, could I?)

A question was posed to me awhile ago, which I thought was interesting enough to write a blog post about.

If your heroes were set in the present day, what would they be?

Interesting concept.  I had to think about it.  So let's break it all down and see what I come up with.

These are my heroes and what they do in 1810.

William  -- The Earl of Westerly.  Second son of the Duke of Chesnick.  Joined the Horse Guards in 1800.

Ellis -- The Marquess of Haverlane.  Oldest son of the Duke of Chesnick.  Member of Parliament, has the ear of Prince George.

Robert -- The Duke of Cantin.  Takes care of his family.

Richard -- Retired Captain in the Royal Navy.  Captured Bonaparte the first time.

Rory -- The Earl of Bailey.  Studies ancient Peloponnsian text.

So, if I transferred them to the present day, here's what I think they would do.

William -- Texas Ranger.

Ellis -- Vice-president.

Robert -- CEO of the family shipping line.

Richard -- Navy Seal.

Rory -- College professor.

Now, naturally, what is not seen in all these descriptions are the underlying causes which make them the perfect man for them to NOT fall in love, hence become Reluctant Grooms.

William -- Dealing with PTSD.

Ellis -- A widower with a two year old who is still in love with his dead wife.

Robert -- Burned by an ex-fiance.

Richard -- Never stayed in one place long enough to find the right woman.

Rory -- Conceited, vain, highly intelligent and looks down his nose upon those not in his social circle.

Thinking of these men in present day has allowed me a broader scope in how I want to write about them. People are people, whether in 1810 or 2010.  They all have the same hopes, dreams, ties that bind, and experiences that break.  This was an interesting exercise.  As writers, we're told to stretch our imaginations, cast the net as widely as possible.  How'd I do?