Welcome to a new series which will help you prepare for the inevitable release of The Island and the Sea.  Every work of art, every book, movie, video game, or what have you, has been inspired by or has built upon the work that has come before it.  Such is the case with The Island and the Sea.

I’m calling this a “reading list” for lack of a better name, but in reality this will be a reading, watching and playing list because I’ve drawn inspiration from books, movies, video games and more.  Let’s begin.

Around the World in 80 Days & Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne

I begin this series with Jules Verne because he is probably the easiest to identify influence in my novel.  I have drawn heavily from Verne because of his fantastic writing style, his colorful characters, and his sense of the journey.

I put Around the World in 80 Days and Five Weeks in a Balloon together because when I bought them, they came together in one book and because they are so similar.  In movie versions of Around the World in 80 Days they often go so far as to have the characters travel by balloon which they never do in the novel.

One thing to pay particular attention to while reading Around the World in 80 Days is the relationships the characters share.  Their interactions are fantastic and endlessly entertaining.  Verne has a wonderful ear for conversation, an aspect I try to carry over (and dare I say surpass) in my own work.

Finally, pay attention to Vernes ability to describe new and unfamiliar places like he’s seen them with his own eyes.  Its wonderful to travel the world with him as your guide.  An interesting note is that Verne rarely left his home town and definitely did not see most of the regions of the world which he describes, and yet as he describes things like the taste of a fresh off the tree banana, it’s hard to believe that he hasn’t had the experience himself.

If you’ve read Around the World in 80 Days, or if you plan to read it, be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.  Click here to download a desktop background of the image above.