Ironborn follows an orphan living on the street, surviving off his wits, who has a deal go sour and winds up on the open sea as part of a naval crew fighting an oppressive tyrant. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I’ve always loved stories of people who start out with nothing and overcome overwhelming odds in real life and in fiction. Crutch starts as low as you can get, literally, surviving on rats and cockroaches in the sewers of Ironbay. He has no friends and the people he has contact with, like the gangs or the city guard, steal from him or try to kill him. Crutch is also crippled in one leg.

On the surface of it, there is no way someone like Crutch could succeed or even survive. But somehow he finds a way. That’s a story I love telling. Trodden down people society has written off finding some way to succeed when everything looks impossible.

Crutch is not as strong as other members of the crew, but what he lacks in physical strength he makes up for with intelligence and sharp wit. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

At the beginning of Ironborn Crutch is not just physically weaker than everyone around him, he’s also friendless. He has never really had a close friend in his life. One he had for a short time was hanged and another was eaten.

I wanted readers to see Crutch’s journey learning how he could use his intelligence to win over opponents stronger than him. But even more importantly, I wanted readers to see Crutch grow emotionally, learning to be part of a team, to trust people around him, and to find real friendship and comradeship.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

That there are thousands of solutions to every problem and you just have to find one that works for you. That the most powerful and important thing in life is the people around you, the friendships you make, and the people you stand with and stand by when challenges come and your back’s against the wall.

Most important of all, that no matter how bad things look there’s always a way to survive and push through.

Can you tell us what the second book will be about and when it will be available for fans to purchase?

There are already five books in the Ironborn Saga available on Amazon with more to come (the sixth is almost finished as I write this). In the second novel, Our Blood Our Land, mutiny is afoot and the pirate captain Wyld Dog takes back the Auld Faithful. Wyld Dog uses Crutch as a pawn to pillage merchant ships.

Meanwhile, Estovia, ruled by the power-hungry tyrant, Emperor Solokov, invades Papageenar, the agricultural heartland of the Ironborn territories. The Ironborn have to find a way to stop his army from cutting off Ironbay’s supply of food and starving them into submission.

Wyld Vengeance is a fun, fast-paced romp of a prequel revealing how the mild-mannered noble William Wyld became the ruthless king of the pirates Wyld Dog. You can get the novella Wyld Vengeance free at my website: http://andrewcavanagh.com.

Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon

Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2024/07/21/always-a-way-to-survive/