I had just finished the edits from my BETA reader and editor to The Golden Gate when the power blinked and I lost my work. Thank you, Hurricane Ian. No complaints. I’ve got a bit of experience losing work (anyone remember AutoCAD back in the day) and know the second time is faster. That’ll have to wait until after the storm. So far it appears that Tampa, which was dead center just 24 hours ago will be mostly spared. My thoughts are with the folks to the south.
The Golden Gate (available for preorder here for an 11/1 release) is the second book in the Gold Rush books of my Tides of Fortune series. Many of my readers call this their favorite series and it is my favorite to write.
Gold Fever moved Nick, Shayla, Rhames, and the gang from the Caribbean to the west coast—just in time for the Gold Rush. I lived in the Gold Country of California for almost 20 years and always wanted to write something about the area. After running out of Caribbean adventures I decided to move the pirates to the west coast.
During my time there I had come across something that I found fascinating. The entire Fishermans Wharf area, almost to the Trans America Pyramid was at one point Yerba Buena Harbor. What is now extremely expensive real estate was once part of the bay.
Many argonauts, as the gold seekers were known, were in such a rush to hit the gold fields that they abandoned their battered ships and headed for the hills. The harbor became a cluttered mess and the ships were eventually stripped and became “land”. A system of wharfs extended the cities streets to reach the new terra firma and the land was deeded to the ships owners.
Even then, the newly created land was valuable and with the general lawless state of the city at the time, gangs fought over the wrecks.
The Panther was never abandoned but became boxed in by newer arrivals.
Be safe!