Written by: Broos Campbell
Submitted By: Lisa Jensen
Broos Campbell offers a fresh perspective on the seafaring novel with this fast-paced launch of a new series. In the last days of 1799, midshipman Matty Graves sails out of Baltimore aboard the USS Rattle-Snake of the fledgling U. S. Navy, bound for the strife-torn island of Santo Domingo. As the Rattle-Snakes fend off a press-minded Royal Navy frigate and savage island picaroons, trouble brews between Captain Trimble, a genial lush who is also Matty's cousin, and wily, acerbic First Lieutenant Wickett, ripe for his own command. But will he risk mutiny to get it? Campbell's period dialogue is expressive, succinct, and often damned funny; his characters are remarkably well-developed and he writes about shipboard life with authority. Matty is complex, resourceful young fellow with a dry wit you'll want to spend time with.
