A modern video gaming teenager of mixed racial heritage struggles to adjust to a wind-powered world when a strange weather anomaly, spawned by an ancient Voodoo spell, tosses him over two hundred years back in time to 1803 -- a time long before teenagers were invented. After the death of his mother, his estranged father had attempted to "man him up by enrolling the 14 year old Connor in a Caribbean sailing boot camp for troubled youths. He resisted like a cat on a leash till he was washed overboard by a strange white squall. After being rescued by the crew of an ancient British Man-O-War, Connor initially thinks it's all an elaborate hoax devised by his father, a cosmetic surgeon for the elite. Reality finally asserts itself, however, and he finds himself assigned to the ship's surgeon, a glorified butcher, who Connor instructs in modern concepts of sanitation and a better use for high proof spirits beyond that of drunkenness. Eventually his experiences with naval regulations and raw human interactions involving different cultures, pirates, a Voodoo Priestess, and the Haitian struggle for independence combine to manage what no modern boot camp would ever risk lawsuit or imprisonment to accomplish. In the end, given a chance to return to his previous existence, what will he choose to do?
About the Author: I once thought I knew what I knew, if you know what I mean. But, then that old crutch of blind faith was kicked away- apocalypse - the foundation of my faith turned to shifting sand. I was forced to reevaluate my core belief structure. First from the pulpit and then in print, I began challenging all presumption. The deeper I dug the more I learned to appreciate the neglected art of heresy. So, it is my inside knowledge of how religion has been twisted to coerce and control and my fearless enjoyment at spinning an exciting yarn that makes me a natural for crafting and selling such a wild ride. Imagine those to follow in its wake. My fist novel, Lyleith Awakening is available at Amazon.com. My poems, essays, and short stories have appeared in such widely divergent publications as The Vagabond Traveler, The Pakistan Christian Voice, The Taj Mahal Review, Oasis Ezine as monthly contributing editor, and The Rose and Thorn Literary Journal of which I was a founding editor. I also served as Poetry Boards Manager for the AIN site of AOL's Literary Boards where I critiqued poetry and short stories for ten years as NOVLPapa. A collection of my poems and essays, A Male Poopery of Expression, will soon be in print. As a painting contractor specializing in faux finishes and expressionist/post expressionist wall art, as well as a reformed ex-Conservative Evangelical Christian veteran of the pulpit & president of our "Toastmasters" Club I am as comfortable addressing an audience as I am writing in solitude. I can sell it.