Welcome Readers, Curiosity Seekers and Pirates!

A cup of tea, a shaggy dog at my feet, and an old laptop warming my lap-- ready for the next adventure, sharing tantalizing tidbits I run across as a writer of supernatural/science/historical fiction. So glad you could join me on this journey! My plan is to write one post a week, The Wednesday Weekly you might call it. (Or the Wednesday Weirdness, or the Wednesday Wonderment, or...whatever you might decide to call it behind my virtual back or, even better, right out front by way of a comment. I would love to hear from you and welcome your thoughts. Sometimes I will put out a question for you to answer and look forward to reading your responses. So, here we go!

Currently, I am researching for my next novel which will be the first book in my Young Adult series, Time Shadow. No title for the book yet, so it goes by the working title of Shadow 1. It concerns a 16 year old girl living in the lovely old town of Edenton, North Carolina (my hometown) who is launched back to the year 1718 where she must solve a murder mystery that has a direct impact not only on her own personal happiness but on the future of the entire planet. Now, seeing as this begins in Edenton which is part of the Inner Banks (directly connected by the Albemarle Sound to the more well known Outer Banks) and seeing as Blackbeard the infamous pirate was known to inhabit the Inner Banks and seeing as he met his demise in November of 1718 on Ocracoke Island just 100 miles as the gull flies, it might be reasonable, dear Reader, to assume that Edward Teach AKA Blackbeard would play a part in the story. And, he does! I have uncovered many stories regarding Captain Teach, some more reliable than others, of course. One of the most fascinating resources is an account written in 1724 by a Captain Charles Johnson (although there is speculation that this was a pen name for Daniel DeFoe of Robinson Crusoe fame) entitled, A General History of the Pyrates . Don't you love old spellings? Be forewarned if you read his book yourself,  that "f's" were not only used as we use present-day "f''s" but sometimes also in place of "s's" we use today as in the following passage:

"Before he failed upon his Adventures, he marry'd a young Creature of about fixteen Years of Age, the Governor performing the Ceremony. As it is a Cuftom to marry here by a Prieft, fo it is there by a Magiftrate; and this, I have been informed, made Teach's fourteenth Wife, whereof, about a dozen might be ftill living."

(Spell-check was not at all amused by these 18th century spellings and persisted in slashing angry red lines under the offending "f" words.)

That "young creature of about sixteen years of age" was a plantation owner's daughter by the name of Mary Ormond and the governor performing the marriage ceremony in Bath, NC was none other than the governor of North Carolina, one Charles Eden. Hmmm...the governor, for which the town of Edenton was later named, consorting with pyrates? The plot thickens!

Photo from WITN.com

Blackbeard's sunken ship,  Queen Anne's Revenge, was discovered in November, 1996 just off Beaufort, North Carolina by a private research team. Since then, researchers from the North Carolina Department of Resources Underwater Archaeology Branch have recovered 17 cannons from the ship, 2 of which were brought up in the past month. Several more remain in the ship. Many other artifacts found in the wreck are on display at the NC Maritime Museum in Beaufort ( http://www.qaronline.org/exhibit ) and can be seen in a traveling exhibition at Edenton's 1767 Chowan Courthouse Sept 6 to Oct 19. I've heard that Blackbeard, himself, may pay a visit to Edenton during a special celebration Oct 11-12! ( http://www.visitedenton.com ) Now, that sounds like a hoot.

Have a good week dear Reader. Thanks for stopping by...Y'all come back now!

Kate
http://seasnowhauntedlighthouse.com/
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15890071-sea-snow?from_search=true