Of Irish Pirates and other Wonderful Women
Bill's Blog Shorts: Check 'em out. You never know what's in 'em.
Just a quick blog about my successful (first ever) book signing. Not ever having done such a thing I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. The signing of books, of course, is pretty much what you might imagine. But I don't think I had ever considered the impact that having close, personal interaction with "my" readers would have. It's like discovering a whole new set of friends you didn't know you had. It is a very humbling and gratifying experience to be sure.
That it was held in the Irish Pirate Trading Co. at Emerald Isle was so perfectly matched to my novel it seemed too good to be true. Having seldom been the recipient of such serendipity I had no experience regarding how to react. So I just thanked my lucky stars and ran with it. (Sorry, mixed metaphor police!) But the coincidences don't stop there.
Helping to arrange the event was the beautiful and gracious LaVel O'Neal (pictured with me above), who upon reading the novel discovered the fact that Anne Bonny's mother's maiden name was Brennan. Brennan, as it turns out, happens to be the maiden name of LaVel's mother – which now has her wondering if she, also of red hair, might be related to the infamous piratress Anne Bonny. Please, please, gods of Incredible Coincidence, let it be so, because that would just be too cool.
Adding to the atmosphere of the occasion was a surprise visit by local pirates Sapphire Malloy and William Glasseye, aka Jackie Turner and Jesse Turner. These are two wonderful re-enactors who shared pirate stories and trivia for which I'm eternally grateful. (And in yet another coincidence, Turner is the surname of actor Orlando Bloom's character, Will Turner, in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.)
Special thanks, of course, go to Tammy N Rick Lyons who made the whole thing possible. And I would be remiss in not thanking Tammy for also dressing up as a piratress and for loaning me the use of her tricorn hat for the picture with Jackie and Jesse.
Note: If you haven't caught Pirate Fever yet, check out BLACK HEARTS WHITE BONES on Amazon. A rousing and compelling story about infamous pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
For more reviews, profiles, and interesting tidbits on writing, check out www.billfurney.com.
