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The Age of Sail & Steam was a generation of change. With the coming of the industrial era, the world saw a pairing of the old and new technologies before one would render obsolete the other. My stories of Napoleon's South America take place in an alternate history. Bonaparte escapes his final exile and his great reward by two decades and the Napoleonic Wars continue, moving from the Old World to the New. Inspired by the stories of C.S. Forester, James Clavell, Bernard Cornwell, Richard Woodman, and countless others, I wanted to continue the great naval adventures of the Napoleonic Wars into the Age of Sail & Steam.
The idea for Napoleon's South America came from a single brief passage in Donald Thomas’ Cochrane, Britannia’s Last Sea King. The passage involved a plot involving Thomas Cochrane to free Napoleon from St. Helena and let him loose upon a South America that was in the chaotic throes of revolution to break free of the crumbling Spanish Empire. Cochrane was the 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão and lived the sort of life that would not be credible as a work of fiction. His father, who was the 9th Earl, was a man of science. He invented gas lighting and the tar pitch that would protect ship's hulls from rot. Cochrane inherited his father's ingenuity and imagination. His mind was fertile and energetic. He saw the potential of the steam engine years before the technology could actually implement it. He developed 'weapons of mass destruction' that were considered too terrible for use and were secret until the Great War.
Unfortunately, he also inherited his father's obstinate and prickly nature. Neither father nor son could accept victory unless it was achieved entirely on their own terms. Thus, the father received neither credit nor fortune for inventions that changed the way we live. Likewise, the younger Cochrane squandered his many achievements. He spent his later years in courts squabbling over how his victories were gained rather than accepting the rewards and moving forward.
Cochrane, however, is not our story's protagonist. Lord Cochrane is our catalyst, releasing a force of nature upon the world that is beyond his control. Our hero is a young British sea officer who, like most of his generation, was raised to know nothing but war. When the war ends, he knows only to look for another.
I'm not a historian, just an enthusiastic amateur. Most of my research comes from secondary sources. This isn't a serious attempt to predict 'What If . . .' My only goal was to write a 'ripping good yarn' using a setting in which Napoleonic adventures continue into the Age of Sail and Steam - the great sea battles of the early nineteenth century fought using paddle wheel steamers.
Napoleon's South America necessitates changes to many significant historical events. However, I have tried to remain as faithful as possible to the cultural and societal context and to the historical details that would not otherwise be effected. I have tried to reasonably and logically extrapolate those details that would be changed. As for those details that do not seem reasonably extrapolated or are just plain wrong, hearing about those from you, my gentle readers, is the fun in writing them. Comments and criticisms, constructive or otherwise are appreciated.
My books were originally published by Third Millennium Publishing and are currently available on Amazon for the Amazon Kindle.
I am a member of the Historical Novel Society and I encourage you to check them out: http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/.
Click here to buy Scott Langley's books directly from Third Millennium Publishing
