Captain Con & the Red Jacket
Coming soon from Lawley Publishing Company!
The boy steadied himself and put out his hand. The tall man reached down and shook it. “My name is Nick Caswell-Grant,” he said solemnly. “Thank you for all you have done for me.”
“Pop! Pop! Pop!” A volley of shots came from the direction of the woods.
“To your stations, mates! Let us take th’ ship to sea!” shouted the tall man as the people on the deck scrambled to follow his command. He then turned back to the large man helping to hoist the rowboat to the back of the ship. “Andrew, ask LaPaz to ready our cannons in response to th’ Baron’s farewell salute!” Andrew nodded and began shouting his own orders.
“By th’ way, I be Captain Con Neapolis. An’ this fine ship, young Nick, be th’ Red Jacket.”
excerpt from Captain Con & the Red Jacket by PortiaLily Taylor
Captain Con & the Red Jacket is the story of Nick Grant-Caswell, a 12-year-old boy who finds himself mysteriously transported into a world of pirates and sea battles where the thick glasses and eye patch he wears to correct a vision impairment are the sources of heroism and salvation and not the bullying he is used to.
Life for Nick in the “real world” is gray and gloomy. He longs for a different life filled with color and adventure. Instead, he’s bullied by schoolmates, teased by his sister, and ridiculed by a teacher. It doesn’t help that he must wear glasses to strengthen his weakened eye muscles. If that wasn’t bad enough, he must also push an eye patch over one lens as further therapy for his amblyopia (lazy eye).
Neighborhood bullies taunt Nick for wearing the eye patch. He runs into the woods to escape and hits his head on a tree in the process. When he wakes from the blow, the boy finds himself in a world as bright and colorful as his was drab and bleak. It is the world of Captain Con of the ship the Red Jacket and his pirate crew. They have been waiting for the fulfillment of a prophesy that a person called The Other will lead them to a land of freedom and away from the tyranny of the evil Baron von Mal. Much to Nick’s – and the pirates’ – surprise, he is The Other.
How will Nick go about leading his pirate friends to their “own true homeport”? How will they survive sea battles, treacherous storms, dungeon captivity, and other dangerous obstacles to their destination? Will this true homeport” ever be found? Will Nick discover the way back to his own home? Read Captain Con & the Red Jacket to find the answers!
PortiaLily Taylor 