Text on a background depicting two sailing ships in rough seas.
The text reads:
What is What God Made Shark?
WHAT GOD MADE SHARK (70,000) is a fantasy novel about the relationship between responsibility, systemic power, and personal liberty. It uses Caribbean and Celtic folklore to build an allegory for the European exploitation of native communities and unearths the stories of indigenous bravery buried by years of colonizer-led history. The world within has a similarly rich cultural fingerprint to that of Natalia Hernandez’s The Name Bearer, addresses complex issues inspired by real history in step with those found in R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy War, and the high stakes swashbuckling action fans of Falencia Jean-Francois’s Devil of the Deep will love. Readers prioritizing femme BIPOC leads, compelling queer casts, and narratives aiming to both entertain and impact will want WHAT GOD MADE SHARK in their hands.
Text on a background depicting two sailing ships in rough seas.
The text reads: What God Made Shark Plot Pitch:
Thanks to the magic of star-sugar, the ships of Brae Cairn have gone from surfing the sea to sailing the sky. But the greed of northern crowns comes at a cost, paid in blood by the enslaved indigenous people of the Viridis Isle forced to cut their cane. One of these slaves, Zailvia, refuses to obey and so becomes cursed by an omniscient basilisk, sleeping as ink on her skin. Faced with the rope, she flees to the Rosethorn, a pirate vessel captained by the esoteric Lilyvine. Aboard, Zail learns to hold heavy responsibility as a sailor and take what’s rightfully hers as a pirate.
Hunting her is Tadgh, a dragon rider drafted by the church of the Great Wyrm, who’s chance to become the first dragoon of their crown conquered homeland hinges on capturing the basilisk bearer alive. The church elders watch them closely, ready to snatch their precious yet precarious privilege at the first misstep. Tadgh must become a merciless dragoon, the walking heat of His sun, or risk dying a worthless dog.
As slave and soldier, Zail and Tadgh cyclone around one another in a hurricane of hearts. They force each other to look inward and ask what they are willing to do to break their chains while both learning that freedom isn’t something you are given, it’s something you take.
Text on a background depicting two sailing ships in rough seas.
The text reads:
Why What God Made Shark?
Sapphic Sky Pirates
Dragon Riders
Authentic Indigenous Caribbean and Irish folklore
Inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy (18th century)
BIPOC & Trans leads
Enemies to Allies (and maybe more?)
Magic tattoos & Sword fights
Loveable animal companions
Black & Boricua Trans Author
Anti-colonial themes
#FreedomIsSomethingYouTake
Yo #BluePit I'm a #POC #TR #DIS author, #Q -ing my #NA #HS #F novel "What God Made Shark" for #BluePit📖
A runaway slave turned sky-pirate fights a church of holy dragon riders in a world inspired by the indigenous cultures of the Caribbean & Ireland. #POC & ##LGBT cast. #FreedomIsSomethingYouTake
