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Keep a Young Heart
A Pirate’s Life for Me! A Pirate’s Life Indeed! follows a pirate-obsessed boy who is swept into a world of ghostly dangers, strange creatures, and pirate lore. What drew you to pirates as a subject for a middle-grade adventure?
Growing up, I always loved adventure. Watching old movies like Treasure Island. I loved the idea of going on adventures in search of buried treasure! Sailing the high seas on a pirate ship, seeing the skull and crossbones on the Jolly Roger flying high atop the ship’s crow’s nest! Who wouldn’t as a young boy? I’m 58 now. I still feel the same way as I did when I was 9 years old. I always believed that if you keep a young heart in life, you will stay young in spirit. I guess I have. The romance of pirates still excites me to this day. I wrote this book for myself. I never dreamed in a million years it would ever get published. Especially after working on it for the past 30 years. This is a book for all ages, not just middle school children. It’s an epic! A “TOME”! It is purposely very descriptive with narration. 25 plus characters created! I wanted ALL readers to be drawn into the story. The smells, the sounds, the sights. I wrote this with the intention that if you closed your eyes and had someone read the story to you, it’s like you are actually there, tagging along with the main character, Thomas Patch, and his crew as they go on this incredible adventurous journey in search of Blackbeard’s lost treasure of gold! The pirate genre for kids, in many ways, has disappeared in the novel story sense. I want kids and people of all ages to turn off the TV, put the cell phone down, and walk away from their computers. I really hope they will pick up this book and get lost in the pirate world. It’s all about imagination, which I think has been missing in the pirate genre since the passing of the legendary Robert Louis Stevenson, my literary inspiration!
Pirate slang, asides, and exaggeration are everywhere. How did you decide how far to push the humor without overwhelming the story?
To be honest, I just went where my imagination took me. My mind over the last thirty years opened up as I would physically write. This EPIC book of 978 pages just happened to turn out like that? Every word, song I created, the rhyming clues I put as poems on treasure maps throughout the book for the readers to follow along with Thomas Patch in the story, re-writing Who’s On First in the books chapter called, ‘WHO’S ON DECK”, to pay homage to my comedic heroes Abbott and Costello…everything has its place in the story. What is written on the page is what came out of my head as my imagination opened at that specific time. I wanted to create a story that was fun for readers, so I pushed the creativeness, narration, and imagination full speed ahead! Because that was my vision.
Do you see the book as saying something about growing up, even within all its wild fantasy?
Absolutely! Although Thomas Patch, the main character in the story is only nine, he is far advanced beyond his years. He comes from a very small, quaint little town called Schooner Bay Cove. Tucked away somewhere along the Eastern seaboard. The story takes place in the year 1718. Blackbeard’s legendary reign. All Thomas Patch wants to do is be a pirate! He dreams of it! He has no fear sneaking aboard The Dirty Cutthroat in a barrel of apples in the story! He has no fear of sailing the high seas in an old rickety rowboat! He has no fear coming face to face with a crew of dirty, rotten, cutthroat pirates! He has no fear setting out on an incredible adventurous journey with Simon, Stix, Tubby, Wellington, and Robear in search of Blackbeard’s lost treasure of gold! He follows his heart always throughout the story! Thomas Patch lives by a code….”ALWAYS REMEMBER TO DO WHAT’S RIGHT….GOOD AND TRUE”! He learned that from his father, Courageous Patch, in the book! Although this book is about seeking out thrills, dangers, and adventure, it’s the emotional decency of the main character, Thomas Patch, that hopefully shines through. His ability at nine to be so brave, to show no fear, to follow his heart, to do what’s right…good and true is quite remarkable to say the least. Even at nine, Thomas Patch proves time and time again that he can make real-life decisions and choices under pressure. His wisdom speaks volumes throughout the entire story. Thomas Patch may have left Schooner Bay Cove as a nine-year-old boy. By the time Thomas Patch makes his return home at the end of the story, he has become a man……More than a man…THOMAS PATCH IS A REAL PIRATE!
What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?
That’s a very good question. It’s also a very hard question to answer. I worked on this book for 30 years! I went through four typewriters and 3 computers. Why? I typed so much I couldn’t see the letters anymore on the keys! I worked on it on every weekend, vacation, and any free time. The loss of my father and mother was devastating. I put this book in my drawer and left it there. One day, I took it back out. Why? This is going to sound crazy. I thought I owed it to the 25 characters I created to bring them all to life. I never dreamed someone would like my writing. Let alone help me self-publish my book. The story is rock solid. Not because I wrote it, but because it says something! It makes sense! I believe the wording and flow of the book to be beautiful! The characters are funny and wonderful. THIS BOOK IS NOT ABOUT ME! It has always been about the story and what it represents. I always said that if just one person liked my writing, I was blessed. Well, if the feedback relating to my book being a number one best seller in 23 countries simultaneously in CHILDREN’S ADVENTURE MARITIME PIRATE GENRE are true? If the labeling of me as the successor to the legendary Robert Louis Stevenson and my book as the Treasure Island of the 21st Century in professional trade catalogs like Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Waterstones in the UK is in fact true, I am beyond humbled, honored, and extraordinarily blessed. In that regard, let’s see how the book does. There is room for another book! I can’t give away the title. It’s brewing? The question is whether or not readers want another book? It’s up to them, really. I wrote this book seeing it on the BIG SCREEN AS AN ANIMATED MOVIE! I would love it if Pixar, DreamWorks, or Mr. Spielberg would reach out and say, “LET’S DO THIS”! I believe it has the makings of a great animated film! To God’s ears. Time will tell. Until then, thank you for giving me the time to do this interview! It’s been my honor and real pleasure. My name is Christopher David James, and my book is called A PIRATE’S LIFE FOR ME! A PIRATE’S LIFE INDEED! Happy reading, everyone!
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Have ye ever wondered what it would be like to sail the high seas aboard a real pirate ship? Do ye want to know if pirates actually walk around with parrots/crows on their shoulders, drool, cuss, womp, burp, drink rum, sing songs of the sea, eat fish gruel stew, walk the plank, or walk around on peg legs? Have ye ever wanted to search for buried treasure? Have I grabbed your attention yet? Good! Very good! Then I just have one more question for ye mates: Have ye ever wondered what it would be like to be a pirate? If ye answered yes to this question and it’s thrills, danger, and heart-pounding adventure ye has been searching for, then look no further! Boy, do I have a story for ye!
A Pirate’s Life for Me: A Pirate’s Life Indeed is about a nine-year-old boy who wants nothing more than to be a pirate! That nine-year-old boy’s name is Thomas Patch! If ye thinks ye has the moxie, then tag along with Thomas Patch on his thrilling, heart-pounding, adventurous journey in search of Blackbeard’s lost treasure of gold! In the story, Thomas Patch comes face-to-face with Scar! The dirtiest, rotten, cutthroat pirate to have ever sailed the high sea! Scar captains a crew of highly dysfunctional pirates! They are far from being dirty or rotten to say the least! Accompanying Thomas Patch on his amazing journey in search of Blackbeard’s lost treasure of gold are two funny, dysfunctional pirates from Scar’s crew known as Stix and Tubby; a talking sea turtle named Simon who just loves to surf and drink Pirate Pop Cola and speaks seven languages; Wellington, Simon’s trusted guardian; and a crotchety and cranky old crow named Robear who wears pajamas and loves to watch Steinfeld! I have come to really love all these characters over the last twenty-seven years! I hope as you read along, you will come to love them too! Enjoy the adventure and happy reading!
Medieval Mindset
Caterina by Moonlight follows a five-year-old girl who is abandoned at a convent, forced to marry at fourteen, and learns to navigate power, love, and loss to claim a life that finally feels like her own. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I visited Florence for the first time in Oct 2019, and fell deeply in love with their city, the Medici, and Botticelli. When I got home, the characters dictated the book to me, and I spent the entire pandemic in the later 15th century with them.
Caterina’s voice evolves from innocence to sharp awareness. Why was it important to keep the narrative grounded in Caterina’s perceptions rather than broader historical commentary?
I think a reader learns more when they have a direct, first-hand experience through a character’s eyes. By immersion in Caterina’s experiences, one will hopefully be drawn into her emotions and her evolution, and absorb the actual history of the times by osmosis. Her transition from the medieval mindset (all is God’s will, and we must accept our lot and suffer in silence, and hope for reward in heaven after death) to the Renaissance expansion of mankind’s possibilities, the growth of humanism and secular accomplishment, and the ability to reinvent oneself, while enjoying creativity, beauty, music, and art. It is a struggle we still see today, between fundamentalism and progressive humanism.
The novel repeatedly asks what kind of life a woman can build within imposed limits. How did you explore that tension between restriction and self-determination?
Caterina is only exposed to church doctrine for the first decade of her life but finds it frustrating that the answer to all her questions is “Because it’s God’s will.” It is her friend, Lucretia, who first leads her to taste the outside world, who struggles against the restrictions of the time, and who helps expand her world. Lucretia is very clever when it comes to navigating the rules and living a full life. Even Botticelli, who paints Caterina as a muse, questions his own desire to paint other than religious-themed work, wondering if he will be damned for it. Caterina grows throughout the book and learns how to protect and assert herself, despite the imposed limitations of the era.
What do you hope readers take away about resilience, joy, and self-creation?
That we have the unlimited capacity for re-invention – to make the most of our lives, and that ultimately, love is the fabric of the universe that binds us together.
Author Links: Facebook | Website | The Renaissance Woman
Be Authentic
In Heart’s Dzyer, you share some of the most intimate aspects of your relationship with your boyfriend via letters exchanged during his time in prison. Why was this an important book for you to write?
This was an important book to write because his family was grieving, and I wanted to give them something about him that they may not have known.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you share your experiences. What was the most difficult thing for you to write about?
Even though I was candid and I wrote about difficult things, I did black out some private things that I didn’t think were appropriate to be shared with everyone.
What advice would you give someone who is considering sharing their own memoir?
I would advise that person to be authentic. I kept his spelling inaccuracies because, as someone with dyslexia, it would have been inauthentic to portray him as a perfect speller.
Did you learn anything about yourself in the course of putting Heart’s Dzyer together?
I don’t know if learning is the first thing that comes to mind. If anything, my experience dredged up a lot of emotions. Some days were harder than others. Sometimes I had to take a break because I needed to process emotions. So I guess I learned that I needed to give myself time to process, and I had to be compassionate toward myself as well.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
This book is a painstakingly typewritten version of more than 193 letters written between 2011 and 2015, all typed up verbatim post-mortem. Even though I started writing to Snail in 2011, we had known of each other since 1995 because we attended the same middle school. After his death in 2023, I decided to transcribe all of his letters to me to honor the life that he lived and to give his loved ones a little piece of himself. All proceeds will go toward his family.
The Mystery of Connection
Prima Nocta explores soul connections and relationships by way of interconnected stories presented from various perspectives and within different historical settings. Where did the idea for this unique novel come from?
It grew from questions I couldn’t quite let go of: how we misunderstand each other, how connection forms, and why certain relationships feel inevitable. And… what defines a soul? I was particularly drawn to the idea of “fated” connections, but not confined to a single lifetime. Using the concept of samsara (the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth), I imagined the same two souls meeting again and again across centuries, each time shaped by different circumstances, yet drawn together by something deeper.
Structurally, I wanted to explore that idea through multiple historical settings: grounded pasts, recognizable presents, and speculative futures. Examining how perspective shifts radically between two people experiencing the same moment. The result became a kind of metaphysical echo: the same connection, refracted through time, culture, and identity.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think make for great fiction?
Interesting? More like fascinating!
What fascinates me most is how subjective experience is.
Two people can live through the same moment and walk away with entirely different truths. The tension between shared reality and individual perception is where I find the most compelling stories.
I’m also drawn to the mystery of connection: that instinctive sense of recognition we sometimes feel with a stranger. It defies logic, yet feels undeniable. Even in something as structured as dating, we often know within minutes whether a connection will mature or fade. That raises a deeper question: what, exactly, are we responding to?
There was a lot of time spent crafting the character traits in this novel. What was the most important factor for you to get right in your characters?
Voice was everything.
Each character needed to feel fully inhabited: distinct not only in personality, but in language, rhythm, and worldview. Language shapes perception, so their diction had to reflect their time, culture, and internal life. Dominique, for example, would never use a word like “guillotine” (it hadn’t been invented yet).
It also had to reflect who they were as a person. To write them honestly, I couldn’t remain at a distance. I had to step into each character’s experience and live it as fully as I could.
And, truthfully, many of those moments stayed with me. I found myself emotionally affected while writing them. Even found myself in a few restless nights, concerned for a character even though I fully knew what would happen to them.
Can we look forward to more work from you soon? What are you currently working on?
Yes! Another novel set in the Prima Nocta universe is currently in beta review. While it connects to the first book, it stands entirely on its own.
It follows Dominique, one of the central figures, as he takes on a lifelong journey across medieval Europe and Asia, ultimately arriving at a Tantric ashram in the Himalayas. It’s a ‘bildungsroman’ in the truest sense: a story of both physical and spiritual transformation. The people who guide him along the way, especially two amazing women who shape his spiritual journey, are also central to the plot.
Where Prima Nocta explores connection across lifetimes, this next work explores what it means to seek understanding within a single life… and what must be surrendered to achieve it.
And yes, there’s more beyond that. Another book is in development, and a fantasy trilogy is beginning to take shape.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon
What if your soulmate existed — again and again — across centuries, worlds, and lifetimes, but each time, something went wrong?
Prima Nocta is an emotionally rich novel that explores love at its deepest level — beyond time, beyond reason, and beyond the body.
Told through twelve sensual, interconnected stories that span from medieval France to a fractured but hopeful future, this book invites you into the lives of six couples:A hunted scholar and a witch who sees his soul.
A grieving Japanese lord and a geisha who knows too much.
A serf’s daughter haunted by dreams, and the Duke who shares them.
A gangster, a trollop, a writer, a physicist… and the threads that bind them all.
Through reincarnation, mysticism, quantum theory, and raw human longing, these lovers must discover not just each other, but also the truth behind reality itself.
This novel is deep, lyrical storytelling about:Fated soulmates
Sacred sexuality
Emotional and spiritual healing
Metaphysical mystery
What early readers are saying:“A celebration of human connection that left me in happy tears.”
“Sensual, intelligent, and unforgettable.”
“Imagine if Cloud Atlas and The Time Traveler’s Wife had a love child — this would be it.”
For readers who love:Deep love stories with spiritual and metaphysical undercurrents (and spicy moments)
Stories that challenge the essence of love, connection, memory, destiny, and time
Mature content advisory: Contains emotionally intense adult themes and explicit sensuality.
Learn more at: https://djprattauthor.com
Literary Titan Gold Book Award: Fiction
The Literary Titan Book Award honors books that exhibit exceptional storytelling and creativity. This award celebrates novelists who craft compelling narratives, create memorable characters, and weave stories that captivate readers. The recipients are writers who excel in their ability to blend imagination with literary skill, creating worlds that enchant and narratives that linger long after the final page is turned.
Award Recipients
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Literary Titan Gold Book Award: Nonfiction
The Literary Titan Book Award recognizes outstanding nonfiction books that demonstrate exceptional quality in writing, research, and presentation. This award is dedicated to authors who excel in creating informative, enlightening, and engaging works that offer valuable insights. Recipients of this award are commended for their ability to transform complex topics into accessible and compelling narratives that captivate readers and enhance our understanding.
Award Recipients
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
