A princess in search of her past. A boy driven by money. A crew that is loyal to the end.
Princess Ria is adopted, and she has lived with the acceptance that she will never know her real parents. But when she learns of the existence of her adoption...
The characters in Sea Gypsies: The Draga Isles are inspired by the Bajau (Nomadic Sea Gypsies) in the Philippines. The Bajau (or Sama-Bajau) is an ethnic group in Southeast Asia with a large population in the Philippines. They live on the waters off the coasts in floating houses. They are known to have adapted to the sea's harsh conditions and evolved physiologically and genetically.
One practice of the Bajau that is adapted in this story is coin diving. Tourists or travelers at ports would toss coins into the water, and Bajaus dive for them. The Bajau are known to dive in very deep waters of up to 200 feet.
The worldbuilding of this story is inspired by the Spanish culture in the Philippines during the colonization of over 300 years. Trivia: The Philippines is named after Prince Philip, who later became the king of Spain.
The Draga Isles is the name of the kingdom in this story. It came from the word dragar, which is Spanish for dredge.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hey, lovely readers!
Sea Gypsies: The Draga Isles (Originally Sea Gypsies: The Nether Isles) is slowly becoming my pet project. But I started this story for the purpose of improving my writing habits. I want to be consistently writing every day. So I made a commitment (not sure to whom) that I will publish a chapter of this book weekly.
I am only an aspiring writer and have a full-time job as an engineering manager, so my work gets me busy and consumes a lot of my brain power. I hope that I won't be chased with pitchforks if I do miss publishing a chapter a week, that is, if anyone is interested to read this. :)
It would help me greatly if you could leave your thoughts in the comments.
All chapters published are first drafts and are subject to revision, so fire away on those mistakes. ~95% of this story is written using a cellphone. If you see any typos or grammar issues, please let me know!
I also appreciate votes if you enjoyed reading it. I'm grateful in advance.
Enjoy!
-Hi_D
***Book Cover***
The first book cover of Sea Gypsies when it was published in late February 2023.
Cover photo credits to: JuliusH on Pixabay https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ki-generated-ocean-girl-water-7753100/
