Author Bio:
HELEN HOLLICK
First published in 1994, Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Her Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she writes a nautical adventure/fantasy series, The Sea Witch Voyages. She is now branching out into the quick read novella, 'Cosy Mystery' genre with her new venture, the Jan Christopher Murder Mysteries, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A Mirror Murder incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working as a library assistant.
Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She lives in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon, runs Discovering Diamonds, a review blog for historical fiction, and occasionally gets time to write...
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.helenhollick.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelenHollick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.hollick
Amazon Author Page: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick /
Newsletter: http://tinyletter.com/HelenHollick
Book Title: When The Mermaid Sings
Series: The Sea Witch Voyages
Author: Helen Hollick
Publication Date: 21st June 2021
Publisher: Taw River Press
Page Length: 190 Pages
Genre: Historical/Nautical Fantasy
Book Title and Author Name:
When The Mermaid Sings
(A prequel story to The Sea Witch Voyages)
By Helen Hollick
Book Blurb:
A prequel short read story to the Sea Witch Voyages of Captain Jesamiah Acorne
When the only choice is to run, where do you run to?
When the only sound is the song of the sea, do you listen?
Or do you drown in the embrace of a mermaid?
Throughout childhood, Jesamiah Mereno has suffered the bullying of his elder half-brother. Then, not quite fifteen years old, and on the day they bury their father, Jesamiah hits back. In consequence, he flees his Virginia home, changes his name to Jesamiah Acorne, and joins the crew of his father’s seafaring friend, Captain Malachias Taylor, aboard the privateer, Mermaid.
He makes enemies, sees the ghost of his father, wonders who is the Cornish girl he hears in his mind – and tries to avoid the beguiling lure of a sensuous mermaid...
An early coming-of-age tale of the young Jesamiah Acorne, set in the years before he becomes a pirate and Captain of the Sea Witch.
Praise:
“Ms Hollick has skillfully picked up the threads that she alludes to in the main books and knitted them together to create a Jesamiah that we really didn't know.” Richard Tearle senior reviewer, Discovering Diamonds
“Captain Jesamiah Acorne is as charming a scoundrel as a fictional pirate should be. A resourceful competitor to Captain Jack Sparrow!” Antoine Vanner author
“Helen Hollick has given us the answer to that intriguing question that Jesamiah fans have been aching for – how did he start his sea-going career as a pirate?” Alison Morton, author
“I really enjoyed the insight offered into Jesamiah's backstory, and found the depiction of our teenage hero very moving.” Anna Belfrage, author
“I loved this little addendum to the Jesamiah series. I always had a soft spot for the Lorelei stories and enjoyed that the author cleverly brought her over from the Rhine valley to fit into the story.” Amazon Reviewer
Trigger Warnings:
Sexual content, adult language.
Buy Links:
Available on #KindleUnlimited.
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0968RQ6FS
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0968RQ6FS
Book Excerpt:
A DISPATCH FROM THE AUTHOR
A brief bit about the Sea Witch Voyages:
I wrote the first Voyage (Sea Witch) back in 2005 after thoroughly enjoying the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Like most avid readers, however, I wanted more than just the movie, I wanted to read something that was as entertaining and as exciting. A nautical adventure with a charming rogue of a pirate captain, written for adults (with adult content) but with a dash of supernatural fantasy as well – elements of which had made that first movie such fun to watch. I found many nautical-based novels, but they were all ‘serious stuff’ – Patrick O’Brian, Alexander Kent, C. S. Forrester ... all good reads but without the fantasy fun, and barely a female character in sight. I simply could not find the book I wanted to read. So, I wrote my own.
The first Voyage led to more books in the series, and also generated several emails from fans who wanted to know how Jesamiah had become a pirate in the first place.
When the Mermaid Sings answers that question.
* * *
(Excerpt 4)
Virginia Summer 1708
Too many times had Phillipe bullied and hurt Jesamiah for him to find the courage of defiance. Too many times had he paid a high price for wanting to fight back; he had found, long ago, that it was safer – less painful – to comply rather than resist, knowing that to submit was the easiest and quickest way to be left alone.
Cackling his triumph, Phillipe pushed Jesamiah hard between the shoulder blades, and he fell forward. Sitting astride him, Phillipe pressed Jesamiah’s face into the wet earth.
“Say it!”
A knot twisted like the pain of a bullying blow in Jesamiah’s stomach. For all the consequences, for all he would suffer, he would not say that filth. Could not! Would not! Phillipe punched him in the ribs again; tears of grief were pricking behind Jesamiah’s eyes, stifled sobs choking in his throat. It hurt. It always hurt. The blows, the humiliation, the anguish.
Phillipe pushed harder, forced Jesamiah’s face deeper in the dirt; held him down. “Say it! Say it!”
The degradation hurt so much, both physically and mentally. The thought that it would be so easy to give up, give in, poured into Jesamiah’s screaming brain. Breathing was becoming difficult. He could die here, smothered by the soil that covered his mother’s grave and the weight of his brother sitting astride him. He could leave all this suffering and sorrow behind.
All he had to do was give in and die.
~ Get up! Fight back! ~ The words, a young girl’s angry voice, slammed into his mind.
The weight lifted, a departing kick to the ribs and Phillipe moved a yard away, laughing.
Numb, an inner strength spreading through him, Jesamiah scrabbled to his knees, then stood, his legs, his entire body trembling.
Phillipe was laughing. “Perhaps I’ll sell you,” he mocked. “Someone might want you. I know I don’t!”
The words tore into Jesamiah’s mind again. ~ Fight back! ~
Rage swept in like a tsunami thundering across the ocean. A blind, red, engorged rage that overcame Jesamiah’s fear, and swept aside all puzzlement about that strange voice in his head.
The anger born of years of abuse erupted; his punch was crude and inept, but it hit home. Taken by surprise, Phillipe staggered backwards, the laughter choking into a bellow of angry pain as blood spurted from his broken nose. More punches as Jesamiah’s fists pounded into his half-brother; his feet kicked, his knees rammed. No mercy as the whimpering bully sank to his knees, crying out in fear as Jesamiah continued to pummel him with blow after blow, after blow. Phillipe, was sobbing, pleading for mercy, but for Jesamiah there was no awareness of what he was doing, nothing beyond a desire to beat this monster to a pulp.
(Excerpt edited. Original contains adult language and violence.)
How I met Jesamiah Acorne (the tru-ish) story
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