"There were two specific events that defined the tumultuous Elizabethan era more than any others; one was the circumnavigation from 1577-1580 and the second was repulse of the Spanish Armada in 1588." Author Justin Newland joins us with a look at what inspired him to write The Midnight of Eights. Scroll down to read the full of his interesting post.
About The Midnight of Eights
by Justin Newland
1580.
Nelan Michaels docks at Plymouth after sailing around the world aboard the Golden Hind. He seeks only to master his mystical powers – the mark of the salamander, that mysterious spirit of fire – and reunite with his beloved Eleanor.
After delivering a message to Francis Walsingham, he’s recruited into the service of the Queen’s spymaster, where his astral abilities help him to predict and thwart future plots against the realm.
But in 1588, the Spanish Armada threatens England’s shores.
So how could the fledgling navy of a small, misty isle on the edge of mainland Europe repulse the greatest fleet in the world?
Was the Queen right when she claimed it was divine intervention, saying, ‘He blew with His winds, and they were scattered!’?
Or was it an entirely different intervention – the extraordinary conjunction of coincidences that Nelan’s astral powers brought to bear on that fateful Midnight of Eights?
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What inspired me to write The Midnight of Eights?
A Guest Post by Justin Newland
The main reason was to explore England’s coming of age during the Elizabethan era. Because before that time, England was a remote, misty Isle on the edge of mainland Europe and European affairs. After the Tudor era, England set its feet into its early adulthood towards becoming a player on the world stage.
There were two specific events that defined the tumultuous Elizabethan era more than any others; one was the circumnavigation from 1577-1580 and the second was repulse of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
I was inspired to write about both of these events in a two part series; the first, The Mark of the Salamander, follows Drake’s epic journey around the globe, and the second, The Midnight of Eights, culminates in the defeat of the Armada.
Although written as a stand-alone, Book two continues the storyline of Book one, and begins when Nelan returns to Plymouth from the sailing the Seven Seas with Drake.
From a cursory glance, you would think that Spanish Armada should have achieved its objective. This was to sail with an army and supplies from Spain to the Netherlands to pick up more Spanish soldiers, who were fighting there against the Dutch, sail across the English Channel and invade England. The ultimate purpose of the Armada – and the invasion of England - was to depose Queen Elizabeth, who had already been excommunicated by the Pope, who called her a heretic and pretender to the throne.
If the invasion had succeeded, we would now all speak Spanish and you’d be reading this in Spanish, because that would have been its effect on our world today.
In those days, King Philip of Spain governed a huge Empire that stretched from South America to Mexico and Panama to the spice Isles in the Far East. England’s ‘empire’ composed of England, Wales and Ireland. Calais, England’s last foothold on mainland Europe, had been lost early in Elizabeth’s reign. The comparison is stark.
Why did the Armada fail?
Was it to do with the leadership of the Armada? Early in 1588, the Armada’s experienced Admiral Santa Cruz died and was replaced by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, a land-based military commander who had no experience of naval warfare.
Was it the outdated tactics used by the Spanish, who used their 150 vessels as a cargo fleet, and not as a naval instrument to attack the English fleet?
Was it related to the fact that the Spanish ships, galleons and galleasses (with rowers), often had high castles at the stern of the ships, and because of their bulk, were slow to manoeuvre, and could only sail when the wind was behind?
The English ships were more streamlined and smaller, and so faster and even their cannon were better made, lighter and so more easily moved around on deck, while the Spanish cannon was fixed to the deck, limiting their firing range.
Was it Spanish seamanship, who had sent ships around the world for decades (e.g. with Ferdinand Magellan) decades before Drake achieved the same feat in the Golden Hind?
Did these factors result coalesce into an overriding arrogance that expected victory? And was compounded by their firm belief that God was on their side? After all, the Pope had blessed the Armada flag. Victory was assured, wasn’t it? Did that make the Spanish disdainful of the English, who, as Protestants, and heretics, were seen as lesser, and therefore easily defeated?
Yet, the English prevailed.
Why? Was it, as Queen Elizabeth said afterwards, that God’s will prevailed and He sent the winds that dispersed the Armada? Or was it, as I discovered in the research, a completely different set of extraordinary circumstances related to the number 8 that conspired to aid England’s attempt to retain its sovereignty?
Read The Midnight of Eights and decide for yourself.
Justin Newland
18th March 2025
Author Justin Newland
JUSTIN NEWLAND’s novels represent an innovative blend of genres from historical adventure to supernatural thriller and magical realism.
Undeterred by the award of a Maths Doctorate, he conceived his debut novel, The Genes of Isis (ISBN 9781789014860, Matador, 2018), an epic fantasy set under Ancient Egyptian skies. His second book, The Old Dragon’s Head (ISBN 9781789015829, Matador, 2018), and is set in Ming Dynasty China in the shadows of the Great Wall.
Set during the Great Enlightenment, The Coronation (ISBN 9781838591885, Matador, 2019) speculates on the genesis of the most important event in the modern world – the Industrial Revolution.
The Abdication (ISBN 9781800463950, Matador, 2021) is a mystery thriller in which a young woman confronts her faith in a higher purpose and what it means to abdicate that faith.
The Mark of the Salamander (ISBN 9781915853271, Book Guild, 2023), is the first in a two-book series, The Island of Angels. Set in the Elizabethan era, it tells the epic tale of England’s coming of age.
The latest is The Midnight of Eights (ISBN 9781835740 330, Book Guild, 2024), the second in The Island of Angels series, which charts the uncanny coincidences of time and tide that culminated in the repulse of the Spanish Armada.
His work in progress is The Spirit of the Times which explores the events of the 14th Century featuring an unlikely cast of the Silk Road, Genghis Khan, the Black Plague, and a nursery rhyme that begins ‘Ring a-ring a-roses’.
Author, speaker and broadcaster, Justin gives talks to historical associations and libraries, appears on LitFest panels, and enjoys giving radio interviews. He lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.
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Book Title: The Midnight of Eights
Series: The Island of Angels (This is book 2 of 2. The first book is called The Mark of the Salamander. Book 2 is written as a stand-alone, or can be read after reading book 1.)
Author: Justin Newland
Publication Date: 28th October 2024
Publisher: The Book Guild
Page Length: 288
Genre: Historical Fiction
Images in Post: Provided by the author, courtesy of Wikipedia
