Showing posts with label Vergil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vergil. Show all posts

Saturday, August 11, 2018

An Interview with a Pirate


Enjoy Helen Hollick's Interview with Vergil,
a Supporting Character from the 5-Volume
“Legends of the Winged Scarab” Historical Fiction Series
by Inge H. Borg



Helen: Hello, I believe you appear in several of Inge H. Borg’s Legends of the Winged Scarab novels? Would you like to introduce yourself?

Vergil: I am Vergil, with an e. That’s how my Puerto Rican mother spelled it.
I am a relative late-comer to Borg’s Legends, appearing in Books 4 and 5, The Crystal Curse and The Nile Conspiracy.
 


Helen: What role do you play in the novels?

Vergil: I turn into a rather important character due to my special skills acquired while plying the Southern Atlantic in search of ships. It’s how I wound up in that stinking Venezuelan prison on Margarita Island. Twenty-five years, I got for what the crappy Caracas court called ‘Piracy on the high seas.’ (I am sure, Interviewer, you are familiar with the term as you seem to have a soft spot for those engaged in the trade.)

Helen: No spoilers. But are you a ‘goody’ or a ‘baddie’? Or maybe you are both?

Vergil: Depends who you ask, doesn’t it. I think I am rather good. Especially at what I do. Well, getting caught was bad luck.

Helen: So you support the lead character? Who is he or she and tell us a little bit about him or her?

Vergil: I wouldn’t exactly say I am supporting the lead characters, high-minded archaeologists Naunet and Jonathan Wilkins, trying to save those silly Ancient Egyptian golden tablets from obsessed people like my new boss Lorenzo.

Rather, in The Crystal Curse, I support Lorenzo Dominguez, the South American billionaire and art collector; a bit of a pirate himself, to put it mildly. After he sprung me and some of my murderous buddies from jail, he made me guard his “guests” on board the Bucanero.

Helen: Now be honest – what do you really think of this lead character!

Vergil: You are talking about that Boston boy, Jonathan? He’s always wondering if I only speak Spanish, or if I understand English as he and his exotic-looking wife are plotting their escape from Lorenzo. He keeps poking me in the chest, and in his broad ‘haavaad-yaad’ accent tests me with things like, ‘Your mother’s a whore.’
But I am smart [taps the side of his nose with his finger]. I keep my cool. Although, one day, pretty-boy …

As to Lorenzo? He thinks I am beholden to him, poor bugger. He plum forgets he owns a ship. From the outside, the Bucanero may look like a wreck, but inside, she’s a palace. Very tempting, that’s all I can say.

Helen: Do you like being the ‘supporting role’ or do you wish you could have a lead part in a book of your own?

Vergil: Naw. I am kept plenty busy, especially in The Nile Conspiracy. Did I tell you I am very handy with weapons? Balancing on the skid of a helo trying to shoot off a rocket launcher takes nerves of steel—and the prospect of a juicy prize.

Helen: What is one of your least favourite scenes?

Vergil: Remember, I’d been in prison for some time. So, I suggested to Jonathan I would appreciate a little romp with his lovely wife Naunet. The ungrateful sod slams a steel door in my face. I can tell you, I really had to hold on to my pistol (no pun intended).

Helen: And your most favourite?
I have a real good chance of getting my hands on a super ultra-modern yacht, the A&N. She belonged to a shady Russian billionaire (aren’t they all, shady I mean). This yacht was confiscated by the Egyptian president for his own use. He renamed her the Khamsin. As I said, I may have a real good chance …

Helen: Thank you – that was really interesting – I look forward to meeting you again in ‘your’ novels!

Vergil: El gusto es mio, Señora Interviewer. Now, shall we adjourn to the Bucanero’s salon for coffee and cognac? The old ghost ship may look decrepit from the outside - on purpose. But inside, she's fitted out like a palace.
The ship's owner liberated me from a nasty Venezuelan prison - and thinks I have reformed. But you know how it is: Once a pirate, always a pirate. 

Quickly now, before the owner returns from his search for desperate art dealers to "sell" him their treasures. 

* * *
 Helen Hollick is presently doing a PIRATICAL Blog Tour with prominent authors and their fascination with those more or less lovable rogues of the sea.

Check out dates and links at:
https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Authors & Their Supporting Characters

Helen Hollick is Hosting a Fabulous 
Supporting Role Blog Hop 
December 6 through 17 

(Designed for us by Avalon♔Graphics LLC)  

I was given the honor of starting these Interviews on the 6th
(or being the first to jump into the dinghy to test if it leaks, if you will).

My character is - no, not Edward, as some of you who have read the Legends of the Winged Scarab might surmise - but Vergil, a pardoned pirate from Venezuela's infamous San Antonio prison on Isla Margarita.

Even though he only pops up in Book 4 (The Crystal Curse)
as a humble guard on the Bucanero II
(the refurbished "lost" real Russian ghost ship Lyubov Orlova),




and in Book 5 (The Nile Conspiracy),
on the confiscated and renamed Super Yacht Khamsin,




this dubious character begins to play a vital role in the lives
(or, shall I say, deaths) of many - some deserving, others innocent.


Here, he is taking aim at the construction site of the
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
 As they say, "Once a pirate, always a pirate."
(You can read more about his wily ways on the Excerpt tab.)

Every day from the 6th through the 17th,
meet a major supporting character
from the novels of award-winning authors
here:

Follow/Retweet:
Hashtag #SupportingRole

Supporting Role Features will be on the above blog -
whereas the Links below go to authors' websites -  please, do visit them as well.


6th      Inge H Borg
7th      Matthew Harffy
8th     Alison Morton
9th     Regina Jeffers
10th   Anna Belfrage
11th    Christoph Fischer
12th   Pauline Barclay
13th   Antoine Vanner
14th   Annie Whitehead
15th   Derek Birks
16th   Carolyn Hughes
17th   Helen Hollick  (Our wonderful host for all these great features)