Sar Wylda and the Legendary Goldbreaker by Jake R. Wilson

We welcome Jake R. Wilson to the blog today sharing insight into Sar Wylda and her determination to be a dinobeast rider!

High-speed races in a prehistoric world.

Sometimes it all starts with a throw-away question. In this case: “Wouldn’t it be cool if you could ride a dinosaur?” I asked it to a friend, but the idea immediately set the cogs of my brain moving. I thought it didn’t just sound cool but fantastic. Imagine having your very own ‘dinobeast’ that you could race at tremendous speeds across the world. What would that look like? I had to explore …

In ‘Sar Wylda and the Legendary Goldbreaker’ I crafted a story around these creatures called dinobeasts and the people who race them. I wanted to create a believable environment where humans live in the shadow of these stomping lizards and try their best to co-exist with them. Racing is the premier sport on the continent of Pangeum and huge stadiums across all environments have been built with Goldbreaker Superspeedway being the greatest. Sar Wylda is a twelve-year-old girl who inhabits this world. At the age of eight she loses her eyesight, and in a world without science and medicine this ends her racing dreams. A chance discovery leads to an exciting reversal of fortune as Sar is given a second chance to compete with her friends.

It’s not all about the dinobeasts or the racing in ‘Sar Wylda and the Legendary Goldbreaker.’ It’s about the everyday lives of Sar’s family, friends and the people who live in this prehistoric age. Stife, disease and calamity make life difficult, but humans can adapt, survive, and even thrive! I wrote the book showing characters with visible and invisible disabilities. Just like in real prehistory people were deeply affected by their environment and often bore the scars. I am partially deaf, so it means a lot to be able to write characters that have health conditions or impairments. Through the book we learn that these things are a part of us but do not define us.

During the day, I work as an archaeologist for a London University, and I spend a good amount of time digging through the fields of southern England. I wanted to make sure that my characters who live in this fantastical setting still felt grounded in reality. To make that happen I spent time researching and excavating Mesolithic and Neolithic sites and I have brought some of that realism into the story. All the stone technology shown is all based on real artefacts I have worked with and used myself.

Racers approach the starting line! Don’t look back and get set for the adventure of a lifetime. ‘Sar Wylda and the Legendary Goldbreaker’ takes you to an ancient land of danger, courage, and daring exploits. I hope you feel the exhilarating excitement of every race and the drama of every turn. In the words of the Red, the greatest dinobeast racer of all time, “Live fast enough to catch your dreams.”

See you at Goldbreaker Superspeedway.

Jake R. Wilson