Pirates vs. Dragons comes out on July 27th. You can save 40% off the cover price when you buy the album on that day. And right now, the Kindle version of this book is available FOR FREE on Amazon. Go download your copy and learn about the backstory behind the music.
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Day 57: We’ve continued here in the shipyard almost another week so far. The pirates have given me a bit more freedom here on the island—mostly because I’ve been earning my keep while we are in dry dock…and it’s not as if I have any way to escape. I’ve been singing two or three sets a night now, and people are really digging the new songs.
Jenny—or, I better get used to saying “Andrew”—has never been a part of an airship’s crew, though she’s been at sea since she was thirteen. Hers is a fascinating story. I hope my song does it justice.
She’s been showing me around the shipyard during the day. We’ve gone places I normally wouldn’t be allowed to go alone. The ironworks—Lord, that’s a noisy place. Banging metal, clattering of steel along the track-like tables. The shipwrights are constantly hammering on the hulls of the ironclads and airships.
She’s also taken me inside the taverns where “real” pirates can be found—not like the places where I have been playing, where the patrons are mostly sailors who are a little shifty, and not total cutthroats. You won’t find a regular sailor in one of these dens of skullduggery. You will find sea shanties, roaring laughter, voices raised in quarrels and brutal fistfights. Noisy and alive!
Thanks to “Andrew,” things are a little more bearable.
Last week, she showed me her biggest secret—and I thought she couldn’t surprise me any further. She has a dragon egg in her sea chest! I don’t know where she got it, but it is beautiful. It is a mottled scarlet, about a foot long, with sprinkles of gold scattered all over the shell. I can understand why she is keeping it secret. If the rest of her crew found out about it, she would lose it for sure. These treasures are more precious than gold to pirates.
Jenny/Andrew is a fascinating person. I wish Gwen could meet her. I know that they would get along famously. She’s becoming my best friend here in this strange pirate world I am part of now.
She’s obsessed by the thought of joining Murphy’s crew. I’ve got to admit that the thought of having another ally on the ship is tempting. But I know what Murphy’s reaction would be if she were found out.
She shares my views about dragons being the noble side of this war with the pirates. She’s been begging me to introduce her to Murphy…and she’s wearing me down. Tomorrow, I may break down entirely.
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I’ve managed to sneak a bit of pencil stub from the ship’s doctor, and a few scraps of paper from the cook. I’m recording my thoughts with them so I can reveal Black Jack Murphy’s infamy when I finally return to civilization.
There’s a universal truth about pirates. They hunt treasure, and they don’t care who they have to rob to get it.
There’s a universal truth about dragons. They hoard treasure, and they really don’t like for people to try and take it.
I was kidnapped by the infamous air pirate Black Jack Murphy and his crew of the airship The Lady Jean. They wanted me to chronicle their dragon hunts. Little did Murphy know where my sympathies lie! So, this journal — and the resulting CD, coming soon from Mage Records “Pirates vs. Dragons” — tell the true stories of Pirates vs. Dragons. The CD combines rousing sea shanties about pirates being pirates with songs about the majesty of dragons, and the journal details the privations I suffered. There’s a little something for both sides here–and I bet you find a new favorite or two.
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