Talk Like a Pirate Day

And why I love it.

When your surname is Sparrow, you face a lot of stuff. People don't believe it. Before the movies, they just laughed. Hell, I laughed the first time Mudd told me his name and inwardly I crossed him off the marriageable list for having such a ridiculous name. I was going to marry into a better surname than my own, trade up as it were. After the movies, they've started carding me. At EVERY con, SCA event and sometimes just for laughs.

Having "Talk Like a Pirate Day" feels like having my own personal holiday. A day when I can poke fun at having the name I do, a day when I can swagger and be Captain Sparrow to my heart's content.

And boy o boy, do I have piratical goodies coming your way today!

Covers and excerpts and maybe even a contest for ARCS of the new books.

Pirate Novel the First

Privateer's Treasure is coming Oct 8 from Ellora's Cave

Yes, this is Kestrel on the Horizon with about 5000 words of extra sex, better costuming and added historicity.

Oh and a shiny new warning!
Publisher’s Note: The high seas are a place of danger and intrigue, and some images may be disturbing. This story was previously published elsewhere under the title Kestrel on the Horizon and has been revised for Ellora’s Cave.

Pirate Novella

This is pretty much how the cover will look, with some tidying up.

Sky-rat will be out from Pink Petal Books on October 7.
26,000 words, $4.50

And we have to sing. It's absolutely essential for victory.

Some piratey music for your entertainment:

"Talk Like a Pirate Day"

"Hey it's can(n)on!" (Harry Potter crossed with TLAPD)

Best Pirate song, ever

Turkish Song of the Damned

Excerpt: Sky-rat

This comes out October 7

Henry paused at a corner and listened. He peeked around it then turned it. As he did, the door of the stateroom before him swung open, blocking the passageway. Another opened behind him, trapping him. Two men, one wearing a battered black frock coat and a stovepipe hat with the top out, the other in denim waist overalls and shirt sleeves, in the style of the cowboys in Texas, emerged from the stateroom, blocking his escape.

“Looks like we found another rich little rat creeping through the ship.” The cowboy looked Henry over and dismissed him as a threat.
( Read more... )

Not Work Safe Excerpt: Privateer's Treasure

Coming Oct 7.


Last year, they’d braved the Atlantic in the Kestrel, hearing there were rich pickings on the coast of Spain and Africa. They’d had a fine time, Spanish and French ships coming under their guns until the Kestrel could hold no more. With pockets nigh bursting, they’d tarried in Tripoli, tasting the food and the wine and the company. He’d lost several crewman to the opium dens and still more to dancing girls with eyes like gazelles and knives faster than a Spaniard’s lying tongue.

The wine was strong that night, and she had been a redhead. Harrison had seen few redheads in his life and almost none along the African coast, so he took the chance to learn where her freckles ended. They hadn’t, and her luminous Irish skin had been a rare treat among the pretty brown girls that had been much more common. It was foolish to walk back to the ship alone, but his mind was still in bed with Speckled Molly, what part wasn’t clouded with Spanish wine.
( Read more... )

Work in Progress excerpt

From my Masquerade story for Amber Allure

I felt Vistule’s tractors engage. There was some revving, like the yacht had tried running for it, but then the grappling claw caught, and the airlock tube extended. I waited for the air-exchange cycle to run so we could board. Lista was on the bridge and wouldn’t be down, and Von was busy with flux tubes and converters. But the other eight were there, armed to the teeth, and looking as wicked as possible. Sheer psychology, we convince the crew it would be more painful to fight us than to hand over their stuff. You’d be surprised how often it works.

So we’re ready to take this one, and I got a good look at the hull markings as we crossed the tube. Small, but very, very rich. It belonged to one of the three most powerful families in the galaxy. They formed an uneasy triad that controlled almost all the interstellar shipping and travel.
( Read more... )

Winding up Talk Like a Pirate day

Yo-ho. There be free goodies in the offing. Maybe. Let me know if ye be wanting them.

[Poll #1620648]

As you wish...

A picture of me as an airship pirate: ( Read more... )

From "The Ballad of Angelina Calamity" in Kerlak's Dreams of Steam

The tale is told around the campfires and the song is sung in bawdy houses and barrooms of a woman airship pirate. A wicked one-eyed woman, tall as a man and with a worse temper to boot. They say she ranged from Kansas City to San Francisco, from Dakota territory to Old Mexico before the States' War. No one knows the truth of it these days and no two singers tell the story alike. But here it is as it was told to me.

From out of the sun and down from the moon,
The airship came apace.
And over its hold a strong lady bold
with hunger in her face.
Aye, with hunger in her face.

From fine drawing room to rude pirate ship,
Lady's maid to captain now,
She sails the wide world with her flag unfurled
And wealthy men do bow.
Aye and wealthy men do bow

Her Hangman's Strumpet, the ship bore us down.
The ship all black and cruel.
And Angelina on deck she was seen,
Cursing us all for fools.
Aye, cursing us all for fools.

And...for a free ARC of a pirate novel, leave a comment and tell me which one you want.
I'll let my youngest pick tomorrow morning, probably based on which icon she likes best.

State of the Sooky

Housework: laundry and grocery shopping

Health: cat bite turning red and swelling. Will watch it until morning.

Writing:
Nick & Corban: 16214/50000
Pain Pleasure: 2160/5000
Masquerade: 7153/20,000
Songs for Guitar and French Harp: 1075/20,000

Scent of the Day: Dragon's Hide. Flame-kissed, warm, smooth, and highly protective. Dragon’s blood, leather and a hint of smoke. I love this one. Warm and sexy and smoky.