The novel A hopeless scoundrel has been written by Ángel Miranda, author of two of the most successful Spanish historical comics of recent years:Swords of the End of the World and Lezo , which in 2020 broke all records for a work of fiction financed by crowdfunding.
Throughout this first voyage, the reader sails alongside characters of the stature of Elcano or Urdaneta, crossing the inclement Strait of Magellan, surviving on the Spice Islands, fighting in the battle of Villalar ─which turns 500 in April─ and walking the Camino Real until ending up in the wonderful Seville of the beginning of the century.
Pure adventure, a touch of humor, fast-paced chapters and gritty characters. At the same time, a story faithful to the original documents. A formula that seeks to demonstrate how historical rigor does not have to be at odds with an agile and exciting plot, narrated with a fun and genuine period language.
A pre-launch crowdfunding
It is published through a micro-patronage pre-launch that invites readers to be part of the project, appear in the acknowledgments and receive a low-cost deluxe edition with rewards such as collector's prints, nautical charts, vintage engravings, the facsimile of a chivalric novel or a handmade wooden box.
The success of the author's two previous works through this system has been the prelude to later ranking among the top sales positions in bookstores nationwide.
This collector's edition features 16 illustrations by graphic artist Alberto Taracido. In addition, the audiobook version is an innovative proposal from the production company Fast Pig Records, which accompanies the narration with 3D holophonic sound technology, an immersive experience that has hardly been used in this type of fiction. This technique allows you to add effects and sounds that seem to move around the listener, making them feel right in the middle of the action.
A historical novel with its own voice
Carrión, a luckless scoundrel It is the first novel of a trilogy in which this old sailor narrates "his hard deeds and his loose infamies, sincerely". He does it in the first person, looking back on a past full of adventures and mishaps, with a period language that transports you to that historical moment in a genuine way. There is no lack of a touch of sly humor typical of a veteran soldier, along with a string of expressions and expletives from the investigation of expeditions, novels and accusations of insult from that century. A narrative style that, despite its historical veracity, runs with clarity and fluidity, offering an innovative formula.
The reader will find many nods to the picaresque and the classic adventure novels The book describes the time and historical events rigorously, based on extensive documentation, but it does so in an agile and exciting style in which each chapter contains an adventure of its own. This formula seeks to provide the story with authenticity through the setting, period curiosities and believable dialogues, but it does so in a natural way, without filling the pages with data that weighs down the rhythm or is out of plot context. The historical events flow together in a well-structured plot, which never loses its emotion or narrative pulse.
The author, Ángel Miranda
After dedicating his professional career to cultural journalism and the field of communication, in 2016 he published the travel book Aboard the Galleon , which narrates the journey of him embarked on a naval replica of the Nao Victoria Foundation.
That same year his first historical comic was born, Swords of the End of the World (script and project), with great public and critical success. The work narrates the combats of Cagayán, in which an old Juan Pablo de Carrión ─the protagonist of this novel─ faces during his last years a horde of Japanese pirates in the Philippine Islands in 1582.
In 2020 Lezo comes to light , his second comic, becoming the largest crowdfunding for a work of fiction in Spain. His rigorous and at the same time spectacular style have made him an unprecedented success in national historical comics, with 8,000 copies already sold.
Meet A luckless scoundrel
Crowdfunding: https://vkm.is/carrion
Sample of the novel in PDF :Google Drive / Dropbox
Audiobook , chapter 1 WITH 3D sound (requires headphones ) / YouTube
Audiobook , chapter 1 WITHOUT 3D sound (for speakers ) / YouTube