Master William and The Finman
After the death of his mother, rumored to be a seal (a selkie), during The Golden Age of Piracy, thirteen-year-old William is shipped out of his home in the Orkneys to become a pirate
A dark sorcerer of the sea, a finman, unseen, follows his ship in a kayak, able to cross vast seas with three “thwarts” (strokes) of a paddle, now and then opening the bag of winds around his neck to blow William through time and space to learn a mastery of the sea and men.
William ships out with the most famous pirates of history and falls in love with Anne Bonnie, the most notorious woman pirate of the age.
It’s a huge “Sot Weed Factor” of a novel, filled with charm and comedy, as well as violence and lore of the sea. The book was five years in the making. It won first place in fiction at the Virginia Writer’s Conference.
Available through Rolling Olive Press.