The Widow of Concepción
My next project is to be an
anthology. For the two years or so of The Hen Frigate’s
conception and construction, I have been going back and forth between
The Hen Frigate and The Widow of Concepción as The Hen
Frigate’s title. I think I will publish it under both.
After I
have finished The Hen Frigate, I will publish it, A Duel
Arranged, and one or more yet to be written short story under the
title The Widow of Concepción. All of these stories are set in
and around Concepción, Chile, Napoleon’s Winter Capital. |
The Hen Frigate The Hen Frigate is the working title of a novella that
was inspired by a trip to Mystic Seaport, Connecticut and Joan Druett's
fascinating book The Hen Frigates. The Hen Frigate
is more of a traditional mystery / thriller than Napoleon's Wolf or
The
River Wolf. Like those, it is set in my fictional United Republics
of South America. It takes place in December, 1841, a few years
prior to the events of The River Wolf and twenty years after
Napoleon's Wolf. Unlike those works, instead of traveling the
length and breadth of South America, Captain Eligus Bronsan (don Iligus
de Concepción) is at home in Napoleon's Winter Capital. There is
murder, mayhem, and intrigue centering around a visiting merchantman, a
'hen frigate' in that the Captain's wife lives aboard ship. I have
based this story upon the true life events of Margaret Fraser and the
miseries she endured while sailing with her husband, Captain George
Fraser aboard the legendary Sea Witch in April 1852. |