Thatcher: The unauthorized biography of Blackbeard the pirate: Chronicle One - The Prince of Preobrazhenskoe

Thatcher: The unauthorized biography of Blackbeard the pirate #1

by David W. Carroll, Penelope W. Carroll

"For eighteen months, one man terrorized America, bringing commerce and a superpower to its knees, raging onto the scene and disappearing as mysteriously as he appeared, yet no one knew who he was except for the moniker...Blackbeard.

Until now.

Thatcher: The Unauthorized Biography of Blackbeard the Pirate is a trilogy that weaves the acknowledged facts of Blackbeard's life into the historic machinations that led to today's world. These novels shatter any foregone conclusion for those who think they know the story of Blackbeard. The incidences surrounding his death, the colonial hostilities it created and the iron fist employed by King George to control them began a sixty-year process that eventually led to the American Revolution, giving credence to the cliche that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
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Bastards are seldom given options.

Chronicle One begins in the frozen climes of Russia, where Thatcher Edwards is conceived in an illicit affair that could have dramatic repercussions for the Romanov dynasty. Born in his mother's native Bristol in southern England, Thatcher is schooled in the ways of commerce, ranging from the trading of goods to the peddling of flesh. His predilection for violence forces his flight to America, where boxing, pirate-hunting, nautical commerce and privateering fill up his formative years, as Thatcher tries to find his way in life and his place in Queen Anne's expanding empire.

493 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[TT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waiting anxiously for Volume II...

[Dave Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appraising ones own writing 20 years later

I am not certain how frequently or how ethical it is for a writer to re-read what he has previously accepted as a finished product and attempt to critically review. It would be an utter lie to say one is doing so objectively because so much heart and soul went into creating the narrative. And yet, despite conceiving the work, it is not extremely difficult to find its faults.

Foolish as it may be, I have tried. And, 20 years since first written and 14 years since publishing, I still see the characters that filled my imagination for many years. I can also see many flaws in my writing despite a dozen edits by both me and my wife and co-author Pen. I was, at times, more flowery in my prose than I should have been. I attribute that to the romantic nature of the title character as I perceived him. I have had a long and intimate relationship with the character so I do gush a bit. I also realize that, as we only knew about 18 months of Blackbeard's story and much of that is highly exaggerated by "Captain Johnson" who introduced him to a global audience via "A General History of the Pirates", the Boston News-Letter, the sole newspaper in the American colonies who relied on the accounts of sailors who had encountered the hirsute brigand, and the trial of Governor Charles Eden and Tobias Knight who didn't really reveal much of the man, virtually everything about Blackbeard is speculative, including this "unauthorized biography. "

So, as the very sparse historical record was a flimsy backbone, it has largely held up even as more data has become available. And as I wanted to give Thatcher a whole and plausible "life" in context with his time, I think his story holds up.

So, I'm giving myself four stars even if that feels mighty vain on my part.