Robert “Doc” Gowdy is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a Ph.D.
in Literary Criticism and Theory and an emphasis on Nineteenth-Century British literature. His specialization in literary theory is psychoanalytic criticism and theory, particularly Lacanian psychoanalysis, with further emphases on Milton and Eighteenth-Century British literature. Doc Gowdy is currently an adjunct assistant professor at Texas Woman’s University where he teaches various literature classes. His interest in writing is long standing, but aside from academic writing, his first novel, Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy is his first foray into fiction. Captain Bonny Morgan is based on archetypal themes and patterns from mythology, such as fairies, goddesses, and the Hero’s Journey, and based loosely on Doc Gowdy’s active duty service in the United States Marine Corps with special emphasis on the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean at the turn of the Eighteenth-Century.

His latest book is Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy.

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Welcome to Book Marketing Buzz, Doc. Can we begin by having you tell us a little about your book?

Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy is about the first steps in bringing down an evil galactic empire, the empire of Emperor Tulla the First. Captain Bonny Morgan, a beautiful galactic pirate, is contracted by an unknown “entity” to kidnap Princess Cosette, the Emperor’s step-daughter, in an effort to set events into motion. After Captain Morgan kidnaps Princess Cosette, her sister, Princess Lysette, sets out to find her kidnapped sister with the help of her beautiful but extremely mischievous slavegirl, Tink. The story is all about Tink and Princess Lysette’s adventure, and all the political intrigues, hidden agendas, unexpected revelations, and bold, daring gambits by everyone involved at every level of the conspiracy to overthrow the Emperor Tulla.

The novel contains a whole host of wonderful characters that I’ve become quite fond of. There is, of course, Captain Bonny Morgan herself, a beautiful, but mysterious, galactic pirate of an unknown species. Princess Lysette, the beautiful biological daughter of the Empress Flaccilla, and step-daughter to the Empress’s husband, the Emperor Tulla.

Princess Lysette is the sister of the kidnapped Princess Cosette. Tink—perhaps my all time favorite character of the novel—is Princess Lysette’s slavegirl. Tink assists Princess Lysette on her journey to find her kidnapped sister. Tink is very beautiful, extremely mischievous, quite funny, and has a secret, well hidden, past. Along the way, Tink and Lysette meet the former pirate, Jon Black, a burly, jovial man who owns a café on the slave planet, Miin. Jon Black is also of the same species as Captain Morgan. While on Miin, Tink and Lysette also meet the beautiful young noble, Lady Brit, who they enlist as another ally in their adventure. When Lysette, Tink, Lady Brit, and Jon arrive on the pirate planet, Spiller’s Point, they meet Bully, the colorful owner of the Pretty Red, a seedy pirate tavern. Next they meet Colleen O’Malley, the fierce, but beautiful, leader of the pirate faction known as the O’Malley Brethren. Colleen O’Malley has a sophisticated, technologically advanced hideout facility on the snow planet, Prilla. It is on Prilla that Captain Morgan, along with the others, meets John Francis Padrick “Gunns” Mannigan, a former Shield Marine General that Captain Morgan has also been contracted to find.

Gunns Mannigan has a loyal and trusted friend with him on Prilla, the burly Sergeant Major Sean “Buster” O’Malley, another former Shield Marine and Colleen O’Malley’s brother. While on Prilla they also meet Kana O’Shay, a former slavegirl turned pirate. Kana is a very resourceful pirate in that she is known as Colleen O’Malley’s “cleaner” because she can “clean” the identity from anyone or anything. Eventually, when everyone arrives back on Spiller’s Point, they meet (and Kana enlists as her partner) Blaze, a beautiful, redheaded Fenian pirate who becomes very helpful along the way. And among Captain Morgan’s pirate crew aboard her ship, the Fancy, there is Miss Bernadette Tell, Morgan’s first mate, and Mr. Quist, the Fancy’s Bosun.

On the evil side of the ledger, there is, of course, Emperor Tulla. But perhaps the most central Imperial character is Admiral Kul, the head of the Imperial Night Watch, an organization similar to the Nazi SS. Admiral Kul’s aide is Commander Pangko, the Admiral’s “go to” man. Captain Be’elle is the Captain of Admiral Kul’s personal Imperial Super Carrier, Death’s Talon. And the Talon’s executive officer is the rather unsavory Commander Pellon.

There are, of course, other characters, but the ones I’ve mentioned are pretty much the central characters of the novel.

What is the first thing you did to promote your book once your publisher accepted your manuscript?

Although I’m self-published, the first thing I did after the novel’s publication was to do some research online to find out the best way to promote my novel at a reasonable, affordable price. I found it at Pump Up Your Books and signed on immediately. Dorothy Thompson is a gem.

If you had to pick just one book marketing tool that you’ve used to promote your book, which would you say has been the most effective?

So far, the Internet.

Do you do more promoting online or offline and which do you prefer?

Online. I prefer online because more and more people are buying their books online.

Do you use social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to promote your books and have you had any success with it?

I have a Facebook page under the name Robert Gowdy, and have done some promotion though it, mainly through my friends and students. I’d say it’s been modestly successful.

Do you own a blog and how often do you update it? Did you set up your blog solely to promote your book and what is its effectiveness?

I don’t currently own a blog or webpage. However, I expect to have perhaps both in the near future. I’d especially like to have a Captain Bonny Morgan webpage.

Do you recommend authors getting publicists to help them promote their books? Do you have one?

I don’t have a publicist, but I would recommend that an author do what is within their financial means to do so. If a publicist fits within those means, then by all means do so.

If an author prefers to do it alone rather than hire a publicist, where should they start?

I have basically gone it alone. I self-published Captain Bonny Morgan: The Cassandra Prophesy, and expect to self-publish its sequels. I would start with Wasteland Press, a great self-publishing firm online that does outstanding work for affordable prices. Once an author’s book is self-published, I would suggest then going to Pump Up Your Books and Dorothy Thompson to promote his or her book. You will go on a virtual internet book tour, which is great because more and more people are buying their books online.

Thank you for coming, Doc! We wish you much success!

You are indeed welcome. Thanks for having me.

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