CarrackBooks.com
Who the heck is Georges Carrack and why should you find his novels interesting
(and if you do, how do you contact him)?
I did not begin my career with an eye to writing historical fiction. I grew up on a farm in upstate New York and endured a pretty normal high school before going off to college for a mechanical engineering degree. The Viet Nam-era draft did me a favor and derailed my engineering career. Just as well; I don't think I would have done very well at it anyway. The problem was not technical things...I like those. My granddaughter still thinks I can fix almost anything - even broken balloons.
My problem was the concept of sitting in a cubicle calculating...something...for years on end. But at the same time my wife-to-be introduced me to sailing. It was just...a hobby.
But then the Army decided to send us on a truly awesome full-year "working honeymoon" in Germany. When my hitch was up I returned to New York to get my MBA; after that I followed a proper baby-boomer path into technical business. I supported my family by rising through the corporate ranks by marketing compressors, pumps, industrial controls, truck trailers and other such exciting products that our economy needs to create jobs and wealth.
But the place for playing at the hobby of sailing was not just anywhere - it was San Francisco Bay. From San Francisco Bay you can sail anywhere. Hawaii is just out there to the west. If you sail out under Golden Gate Bridge and turn left, Mexico is not far - if the wind blows.
Oh, what to do?
​
I had always thought I might write something. My colleagues in the MBA program had dubbed me the "prolific pen". I had written several one-page "technical articles" (poorly disguised advertisements) for trade magazines over my career, and who knows how many reports. I had devised other sketches for novels and thrown them away for lack of depth or plot or whatever you call it that makes a story whole.
I did well enough being mechanically-inclined to retire early. Thankfully it was before the crash of 2008, or I might still be at work. But once you leave, you're gone. Pardon me if I remind you of the "Lonely Planet" guidebooks, but if you're in Mazatlan, Mexico when the market takes a dump, you're still in Mazatlan...and then Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Huatulco, Chiapas, El Salvador, Costa Rica...and so on. Should we go through the Panama Canal next month? If the wind blows...
We soon found that "full-time cruising" was not what it was promised to be. It's hot in the tropics (duh!), and summer offers hurricanes, and it gets terribly steamy, and without air conditioning your brain slows to the speed of a snail...particularly if you consume enough beer to stay cool.
Oh, I haven't mentioned that I never did take any writing classes...anywhere...ever.
My whole approach to life has always been that if you want to learn something you must first try to do it. That way, after you have failed a few times, or just do it poorly, you at least have learned what questions to ask about doing it right.
So it was then, after having written my first two novels, that I encountered a woman who not only knew something, but knew where I might learn more. She thought I should attend a "writers' conference" in Las Vegas. Mayor Goodman showed up with his two showgirls and gave the keynote address, and I listened to the "craft" and "technical" speakers with the ear of one who has "already spilt his own blood".
I went home and edited.
I hope you enjoy the result.
- Georges
Contact Georges:
I must first make my apologies and propose a caveat. Look at your calendar. If it is winter in the northern hemisphere (i.e. somewhere between November and May), my response may be painfully slow; painful to you - not to me; I'm somewhere south of the border on my sailboat.
Technology has advanced at a pace I can scarcely relate to since we sailed south in 2006. Wi-Fi seems to be everywhere. Cell phone coverage reaches far out into many little bays where previous communication was restricted to taking the dinghy to shore and finding a pay phone. If your Single Sideband radio modem is working you can e-mail all day long from fifty miles offshore. Nevertheless, communications can sometimes be daunting. If we're in the middle of a three-day crossing (or just finished one), we don't care if you did call (no offense intended, really, but we're tired!). "But it's a business," you say? Sort of, but...I'm a writer.
Having said all that:
​
E-mail: carrackbooks@gmail.com
or visit me on Facebook at:
