This online serial drama by R. L. Jean has become one of my favorites. At first glance, the premise seems unremarkable: Sabrina, a woman from our century, is swept into the past to find herself living among pirates of the 18th century, the heyday of oceanic piracy. I’m sure this has happened to all of us at one time or another. But things are not as simple as they seem.
First there’s the situation. Something is going on. Even now, months into the story, its nature remains a mystery, but it seems Sabrina has been swept back into the past for a reason. One cannot help but wonder what this reason might be. Then there’s the background. R. L. Jean knows her subject. Every time I think I’ve caught her out on some historical inaccuracy, it turns out that she was right and I was wrong. Darn. And Sabrina has access to this information! Unlike so many characters in the ‘modern-person-gets-swept-back-into-the-past’ genre, Sabrina happened to be carrying a book about the era into which she was swept, complete with biographies of the people she was about to meet. Was this a blessed or a curse? Can she use this knowledge to change the past? And what will happen if she tries? Here too, one cannot help but wonder.
Finally there are the characters themselves. These things can be a matter of taste, but I must say that these people are growing on me. The ones from the 20th century act like people from the 20th century rather than Johnny Depp. The ones from the 18th century act like people from the 18th century rather than Johnny Depp. And they’re all three-dimensional, with plausible motives and attitudes that have evolved in interesting ways as the story progressed. I find myself waiting impatiently for the each new episode so I can learn what they’ve been up to. This is one mark of a successful serialized drama.
So if you’re fascinated by the Golden Age of Oceanic Piracy — and what sensible person isn’t — you owe it to yourself to give this one a try. The Noble Pirates, the Men Behind the Myth (http://www.thenoblepirates.com/) by R. L. Jean.
Oh my, Paul, this is wonderful! Thank you. I hope my story can live up to your expectations.
It’s because of cross plugs like this that my daily reading/viewing list has grown to life-threatening proportions. On the theory that, if an artist/writer I like likes something, I may like it too, I check out far more of these than the ad banners that infest so many sites. So I now add one more to work through the archive until I’m caught up, thence to place in my daily viewing bookmarks.
By-the-bye, I abhor Johnny Depp, both as an actor and as a hypocrite for denouncing the country that has made him wealthy enough to live abroad. He and France deserve each other.
I’m waiting for the cage fight between Johny Depp and Mel Gibson. Edward Roadhands? Road Scissorswarrior?