The Pirate Princess (2010 novel)

"The Descent"- illustration by Alena Mana
Where you can buy The Pirate Princess:
Lulu (hard print copy): http://www.lulu.com/shop/steven-mace/the-pirate-princess/paperback/product-22049377.html

Amazon Kindle (ebook for Kindle version): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pirate-Princess-Steven-Mace-ebook/dp/B0057FKOJA

Smashwords (ebook version): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/295024

The Pirate Princess is a much shorter novel than Copper Moon Rising, almost a novella, and was written during intervals between 2006 and 2010. It's a straight-forward fantasy adventure tale, and I suppose it can be categorised as young adult fiction. Pirates were a popular theme during this period, perhaps due to the success of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films. The Pirate Princess is set in a fictional unknown fantasy world, in a region that has geographical and cultural aspects similar to Arabia, the Mediterranean and Caribbean locations in centuries past. My main sources of inspiration for this novel were not only the aforementioned films, but also popular pirate tales and mythology. I was always fascinated by tales of famous pirates Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Bartholomew Roberts and seedy Port Royal, harbour of buccaneers. It was Bartholomew Roberts who established the 'Pirate code':

  • ·        Every man shall have an equal vote in affairs of moment. He shall have an equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized, and shall use them at pleasure unless a scarcity may make it necessary for the common good that a retrenchment may be voted.

  • ·        Every man shall be called fairly in turn by the list on board of prizes, because over and above their proper share, they are allowed a shift of clothes. But if they defraud the company to the value of even one dollar in plate, jewels or money, they shall be marooned. If any man rob another he shall have his nose and ears slit, and be put ashore where he shall be sure to encounter hardships.

  • ·        None shall game for money either with dice or cards.

  • ·        The lights and candles should be put out at eight at night, and if any of the crew desire to drink after that hour they shall sit upon the open deck without lights.

  • ·        Each man shall keep his piece, cutlass and pistols at all times clean and ready for action.

  • ·        No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man shall be found seducing any of the latter sex and carrying her to sea in disguise he shall suffer death.

  • ·        He that shall desert the ship or his quarters in time of battle shall be punished by death or marooning.

  • ·        None shall strike another on board the ship, but every man's quarrel shall be ended on shore by sword or pistol in this manner. At the word of command from the quartermaster, each man being previously placed back to back, shall turn and fire immediately. If any man do not, the quartermaster shall knock the piece out of his hand. If both miss their aim they shall take to their cutlasses, and he that draw the first blood shall be declared the victor.

  • ·        No man shall talk of breaking up their way of living till each has a share of 1,000. Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service shall have 800 pieces of eight from the common stock and for lesser hurts proportionately.

  • ·        The captain and the quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize, the master gunner and boatswain, one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter, and private gentlemen of fortune one share each.

  • ·        The musicians shall have rest on the Sabbath Day only by right. On all other days by favour only.
"The Ship"- illustration by Alena Mana


Of course classic pirate literature such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island was an influence and also it is worth mentioning that stories in The Arabian Nights were an inspiration for aspects of this novel. The novel's premise- mirroring Copper Moon Rising to a degree- concerns two royal children, a Princess Ayesha and her brother Prince Karagan, escaping from their palace when it is ransacked by an invading imperial army. They escape from their kingdom to the seas, and what follows is effectively a rite-of-passage adventure. I don't wish to give much more away about the plot of this book- only to say that I have plans to write a sequel to in which Ayesha's ultimate fate and that of many more characters will be revealed. The sequel will be, hopefully, a vast epic fantasy adventure aimed at an adult readership.


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