ben marshall - word pirate
ベン マーシャル - 単語 海賊 scriptwriter and author
I write - so you don't have to.
Three years ago we moved off the property to a small wooden house on a big lake north of Noosa Heads.
In that time I've written a hundred and twenty-plus scripts, finished off a middle grade children's book, written an anthology of stories about death, was mentored by Jackie French through a ripping pirate yarn, did a short film script, True Love, which was produced by Ignition Films and won top gongs in Brisbane, New York and the Gold Coast, and I've just won a mentorship through the ASA to take my novel MS, The Pricking of Thumbs, to publishable standard with the lovely help of the lovely Alyssa Brugman. The Pricking of Thumbs, btw, is about circus freaks travelling across dystopian Europe to the most land-bound mountain range on the planet, the Tien Shan, in the wilds of Xinjiang. I'm also researching for a new novel set in a tiny lighthouse on a tiny island, Todojima, which lies to the north of a small island, Rebun, which lies to the north of a volcano, Rishiri, which lies just north of the northernmost tip of Hokkaido. In 1939. So the research is already proving, um, interesting and is the reason for spurious English-Japanese translations scattered about this site. My novel writing goal is to produce richly layered page-turning adventure stories, with characters that readers will care about nearly as much as I do.
Editors or potential publishers can read summaries of my projects below or check the links to read samples. You can also access a bunch of lies I tell people, on the About Ben Marshall page. Or just email me via benmarshall3000@gmail.com
Writers looking for bad advice, surly comments, and the kind of insights that are only found at the bottom of a bottle of Jamieson's can find them all in the Advice for Writers section. The Blog covers reviews of books, occasional music reviews, and references some useful resources for writers.
The Pricking of Thumbs is the novel I'm writing now. It's the story of the lowliest young freak indentured to a circus travelling from Europe to Asia Minor in the year 2070. He wants nothing more than to escape. Unfortunately, the poor sod's destiny is to be King of the Freaks, and the more who want to stop him reaching that goal, the more he fights back. Some geezers will do anything for love. Did I mention he was a murderer? Terrible profession for a protagonist, I know, but it's no good complaining to me about it - I only write this stuff. Genre: dystopian spec fic for upper-end YA / crossover / nu-adult or whatever the hell they're calling it these days.
The Pyrate's Sonne is a ripping yarn from a time where the monolithic Medieval crashed into the young and perky Age of Reason. The hero, Red, is a young pirate captain who takes on the English Navy from the deck of his murdered father’s pirate ship. He seeks revenge on the man who killed his parents while juggling the need to keep his crew rich, discover why he’s the Caribbean’s ‘most-wanted’, evade the English navy and reach London before his nemesis - all without hurting anyone or stealing anything. With the help of his crew, the scientific method, and bravery that comes when there’s no other options, Red defeats his nemesis and wins the King’s Pardon. Genre: YA historical adventure.
The Children's Guide to Death isn't for children and it's not a guide. A suicidal writer takes on a creative writing class, unaware his students are choosing death as their theme for very good reasons. During the course of the classes, the writer finds personal redemption, and a reason to go on living. It’s only after a publisher agrees to publish the book that he finds all of his writers are listed as dead. Genre: supernatural horror for upper end YA / adult readers
Strange Water A young Chinese-Australian girl’s friendship with the school bully sweeps her into an adventure featuring an ancient Russian witch, a variety of aliens, the accidental creator of the universe and life on Earth and an AI finding self awareness. To survive, they must save the galaxy. Genre: Sci-fantasy for middle readers to young adult.
Curly Bill and The Sea of Death is about a big streak of trouble who finds himself looking after his three nephews who lose their mothers in a car crash. The Sea of Death is a large body of water of the dangerous variety, in this instance Lake Eyre, which is mostly never there except when it is, and in the one spot a lake isn't supposed to be - in the middle of the desert in the middle of Australia. Curly Bill, his nephews, Jess the dog, and Maria Von Trapp get swept there in a flood and, if that wasn't enough trouble, run into some bad sorts. It's also about how Curly Bill ends up managing not to kill any of his nephews and somehow finds True Love with... well, I won't give it all away, but there's smugglers, wild animals, terrible parenting from Bill, a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle and a yacht that goes where no yacht has gone before. Genre: middle school adventure
Image above is Jose Guadalupe Posada's famous "Calavera oaxaqueña".
In that time I've written a hundred and twenty-plus scripts, finished off a middle grade children's book, written an anthology of stories about death, was mentored by Jackie French through a ripping pirate yarn, did a short film script, True Love, which was produced by Ignition Films and won top gongs in Brisbane, New York and the Gold Coast, and I've just won a mentorship through the ASA to take my novel MS, The Pricking of Thumbs, to publishable standard with the lovely help of the lovely Alyssa Brugman. The Pricking of Thumbs, btw, is about circus freaks travelling across dystopian Europe to the most land-bound mountain range on the planet, the Tien Shan, in the wilds of Xinjiang. I'm also researching for a new novel set in a tiny lighthouse on a tiny island, Todojima, which lies to the north of a small island, Rebun, which lies to the north of a volcano, Rishiri, which lies just north of the northernmost tip of Hokkaido. In 1939. So the research is already proving, um, interesting and is the reason for spurious English-Japanese translations scattered about this site. My novel writing goal is to produce richly layered page-turning adventure stories, with characters that readers will care about nearly as much as I do.
Editors or potential publishers can read summaries of my projects below or check the links to read samples. You can also access a bunch of lies I tell people, on the About Ben Marshall page. Or just email me via benmarshall3000@gmail.com
Writers looking for bad advice, surly comments, and the kind of insights that are only found at the bottom of a bottle of Jamieson's can find them all in the Advice for Writers section. The Blog covers reviews of books, occasional music reviews, and references some useful resources for writers.
The Pricking of Thumbs is the novel I'm writing now. It's the story of the lowliest young freak indentured to a circus travelling from Europe to Asia Minor in the year 2070. He wants nothing more than to escape. Unfortunately, the poor sod's destiny is to be King of the Freaks, and the more who want to stop him reaching that goal, the more he fights back. Some geezers will do anything for love. Did I mention he was a murderer? Terrible profession for a protagonist, I know, but it's no good complaining to me about it - I only write this stuff. Genre: dystopian spec fic for upper-end YA / crossover / nu-adult or whatever the hell they're calling it these days.
The Pyrate's Sonne is a ripping yarn from a time where the monolithic Medieval crashed into the young and perky Age of Reason. The hero, Red, is a young pirate captain who takes on the English Navy from the deck of his murdered father’s pirate ship. He seeks revenge on the man who killed his parents while juggling the need to keep his crew rich, discover why he’s the Caribbean’s ‘most-wanted’, evade the English navy and reach London before his nemesis - all without hurting anyone or stealing anything. With the help of his crew, the scientific method, and bravery that comes when there’s no other options, Red defeats his nemesis and wins the King’s Pardon. Genre: YA historical adventure.
The Children's Guide to Death isn't for children and it's not a guide. A suicidal writer takes on a creative writing class, unaware his students are choosing death as their theme for very good reasons. During the course of the classes, the writer finds personal redemption, and a reason to go on living. It’s only after a publisher agrees to publish the book that he finds all of his writers are listed as dead. Genre: supernatural horror for upper end YA / adult readers
Strange Water A young Chinese-Australian girl’s friendship with the school bully sweeps her into an adventure featuring an ancient Russian witch, a variety of aliens, the accidental creator of the universe and life on Earth and an AI finding self awareness. To survive, they must save the galaxy. Genre: Sci-fantasy for middle readers to young adult.
Curly Bill and The Sea of Death is about a big streak of trouble who finds himself looking after his three nephews who lose their mothers in a car crash. The Sea of Death is a large body of water of the dangerous variety, in this instance Lake Eyre, which is mostly never there except when it is, and in the one spot a lake isn't supposed to be - in the middle of the desert in the middle of Australia. Curly Bill, his nephews, Jess the dog, and Maria Von Trapp get swept there in a flood and, if that wasn't enough trouble, run into some bad sorts. It's also about how Curly Bill ends up managing not to kill any of his nephews and somehow finds True Love with... well, I won't give it all away, but there's smugglers, wild animals, terrible parenting from Bill, a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle and a yacht that goes where no yacht has gone before. Genre: middle school adventure
Image above is Jose Guadalupe Posada's famous "Calavera oaxaqueña".
